Duke Senior’s Commencement Speech Appears to Plagiarize 2014 Address by Harvard Student

[Anonymous]

I bet at least one of those other 50 speeches also plagiarized passages from elsewhere. That person is probably so thankful they were not chosen and have their future blown up on the internet for the world to see.

Rats travel in packs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bet at least one of those other 50 speeches also plagiarized passages from elsewhere. That person is probably so thankful they were not chosen and have their future blown up on the internet for the world to see.

Rats travel in packs.

I mean it was pretty obvious and indicative of a lazy person...don't defend it, even anonymously it is an embarrassment to Duke and I despise Duke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone else gone down the rabbit hole of her linked in? The line in her speech about feeling pressured to over achieve (yet still go out 3 days a week), felt strange.

There is so much on her linked in, one wonders how she finds the time. I can't draw final judgment but it makes me question what these colleges are looking for in kids. It feels like kids need so much to get into top schools, but this lapse in judgment on the speech, makes me wonder what is all there?

A lot of these kids lie and cheat to get into these schools. Colleges don’t care because it makes them look good if their average gpa is 4.6 and they all started a non profit and worked in a research lab and won awards. Lies, lies, lies.

[Anonymous]

I’m trying to understand if someone graduated first in their class, wouldn’t they be capable of writing their own speech? Why would someone do what she did?
But then again, my child tells me of cheating that is pretty rampant at his private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to understand if someone graduated first in their class, wouldn’t they be capable of writing their own speech? Why would someone do what she did?
But then again, my child tells me of cheating that is pretty rampant at his private school.

Was she first in the class? I didn’t catch that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to understand if someone graduated first in their class, wouldn’t they be capable of writing their own speech? Why would someone do what she did?
But then again, my child tells me of cheating that is pretty rampant at his private school.

Was she first in the class? I didn’t catch that.

You’re right, there is no indication of that. Not sure why she was selected. Apart from that, why would an otherwise intelligent person do this?

[Anonymous]

The speech wasn’t by first in the class - it was a competition anyone could enter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The speech wasn’t by first in the class - it was a competition anyone could enter.

It's obvious, the original was horrible and the plagiarized version was worse, not impressed with either school but who really cares?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both speeches suck, hyperbolic ramblings with too many adjectives mean you are trying to hard. Even with a re-write they couldn't make the first speech any good...pathetic.

They should do away with these displays of narcissistic rambling, nobody cares, get to the diplomas and be done with it.

Amen!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m trying to understand if someone graduated first in their class, wouldn’t they be capable of writing their own speech? Why would someone do what she did?
But then again, my child tells me of cheating that is pretty rampant at his private school.

She wasn’t valedictorian

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone else gone down the rabbit hole of her linked in? The line in her speech about feeling pressured to over achieve (yet still go out 3 days a week), felt strange.

There is so much on her linked in, one wonders how she finds the time. I can't draw final judgment but it makes me question what these colleges are looking for in kids. It feels like kids need so much to get into top schools, but this lapse in judgment on the speech, makes me wonder what is all there?

A lot of these kids lie and cheat to get into these schools. Colleges don’t care because it makes them look good if their average gpa is 4.6 and they all started a non profit and worked in a research lab and won awards. Lies, lies, lies.

Yep. But it’s a different level of lying and cheating if you’re stealing $300,000 in financial aid and applying to prestigious fellowships and scholarships with a fabricated life story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone else gone down the rabbit hole of her linked in? The line in her speech about feeling pressured to over achieve (yet still go out 3 days a week), felt strange.

There is so much on her linked in, one wonders how she finds the time. I can't draw final judgment but it makes me question what these colleges are looking for in kids. It feels like kids need so much to get into top schools, but this lapse in judgment on the speech, makes me wonder what is all there?

A lot of these kids lie and cheat to get into these schools. Colleges don’t care because it makes them look good if their average gpa is 4.6 and they all started a non profit and worked in a research lab and won awards. Lies, lies, lies.

Yep. But it’s a different level of lying and cheating if you’re stealing $300,000 in financial aid and applying to prestigious fellowships and scholarships with a fabricated life story.

I think it’s just as bad- schools just think it’s worse because it embarrasses them. High school kids lie and cheat to get to the elite school. It works for them. Why stop? So much reward. I used to think elite degrees were impressive. And I used to be intimidated by the intellect of Supreme Court Justices. Haha. Those were the days.

[Anonymous]

The consequences don't always serve as a deterrent, especially if it is shame, because young adults who chose to lie and cheat don't have any shame about it.
And as PPs have mentioned, there are often upsides to "exaggerating" and bending the truth for young adults these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, the justification is almost as bad as the original offense here. To claim that you didn't intentionally plagiarize because the passages in question were provided by someone else shows a complete failure to understand the concept. I wonder how much original work she did as a student? And her apology is half-*ssed - this is not an "oversight," it is stealing someone else's work.

She hired a PR firm to manage this crisis., LOL....

I thought she was a poor first-generation student from Pakistan?

Poor Pakistanis don't go to Duke or any US university. Foreigners don't get financial aid.

um bs
they totally get merit aid

[Anonymous]

This is so embarrassing for Duke.