Plagiarism, culture, and education: Grounding the discourse in respect and creating space for unlearning

Every English lesson in high school concluded with the introduction of a new word, its meaning and its usage in a sentence. "Harrowing" was one such word, meaning "distressing". "My grandmother told us many harrowing stories" was the sentence taught in class. This information got firmly imprinted in our notebooks and minds. The notebooks were precious reference points during assessments. And lo! The same word "harrowing" appeared in the assessment. Most students who comfortably replicated the very same grandmother's sentence in their answer sheets were delighted to get a full score for the answer. However, a few students who ventured into fresh territory with sentences like "Going on a bicycle in the neighbourhood was a harrowing experience" scored a zero. Thus, we grew.