Here is another sign of the times in which we live.
The Associated Press says a Charleston, S.C., college has begun using a new grade to flag a student who has been caught cheating. Instead of getting an "F," the student will earn an "XF." The paper reports:
Students caught cheating at the College of Charleston will now be graded for their efforts -- they will received a mark of "XF" -- which means they failed the course because of academic dishonesty.
Students who cheat or plagiarize will receive the grade if their actions involve deception or are premeditated, said Jeri Cabot, the dean of students at the college of about 12,000 students.
The XF grade will remain on a student's transcript at least two years. After two years, if there are no additional violations, the student can petition to have the grade removed.
"It's our position that as long as you have a clear record, the X will come off," Cabot said, "but the F stays."
Each year about 60 cases of cheating and plagiarism are reported to the school's honor board, a consistent rate the past five years.
Most cases involve students copying material from the Internet for papers. Sometimes, students purchase completed papers off the Web, Cabot said. One instance included two students in separate sections of an ethics class bought and submitted the same paper, Cabot said.
But mostly, she said, the problem is students pasting sentences or paragraphs from the Internet.
Cabot said some of the blame goes to high schools that don't teach students about plagiarism.
Timothy Dodd, the executive director of the Center for Academic Integrity, said many high school students are no longer learning to write clear and insightful papers.
"Instead of writing, students are learning to compile," he said. Their writing "tends to be strands of regurgitation."
The research literature would lead one to believe that academic dishonesty is near epidemic. Various studies show that somewhere between half and three-fourths of college students admit to cheating.
One study indicates that younger students seem to cheat more than older ones. Those with lower GPAs tend to cheat more than great students -- presumably because lower-performing students have less to lose. Those who play sports seem to cheat more than those who do not.
The University of Maryland uses "XF" on a student's transcript to indicate academic dishonesty, too. What's your local college's policy on the issue of academic dishonesty?
Here is a Web page from North Carolina State University with some research links on academic dishonesty.
Google Coupons
Talk about a new disruptive technology. This week, Google Maps started allowing businesses to upload images and coupons to Google Maps for free. Next, Google plans to sell ads on the Google search engine and point potential customers toward the map-based coupons.
If this works, then in the future, when you are getting ready to go to a dry cleaner or restaurant or hardware store, you will know that you can enter the store name in a Google Maps page and get a local ad from that store. How can/will newspapers and others respond?
Thirty-Seven Percent of Ad Dollars Are Wasted
A new book that's out now says that two of the main problems with advertising are that the marketers have no idea how they will measure whether an ad is successful and they don't do enough follow-up to find out whether an ad has worked.
Restaurant Biz in Worst Slump in 15 Years
The combination of high fuel prices, high air-conditioning costs and flat income has pinched the casual restaurant business in ways owners have not seen in more than a decade. The fast-food business is still hanging in there and upper-end business is still OK, but restaurants that cater to middle-income America are hurting as customers choose between paying their fuel/electricity bills and dining out.
Ad Age reports:
Following a week of disappointing sales reports, John Glass, restaurant analyst for CIBC World Markets, reported Aug. 8 that restaurants are facing their worst sales slump since the 1991 recession. Indeed, total comparable sales grew just 1.4 percent in the second quarter.
"This time around, the consumer faces a more volatile mix: Rising energy costs and interest rates have slowed personal consumption expenditures, while unit growth, especially in casual dining, has impeded same-store sales growth," he said. "While we are not in a recession, we have more industry-inflicted damage this time around."
Related story from the Chicago Tribune says:
Almost 30 percent of respondents in a June survey of 680 Californians by BIGresearch said they had cut back on eating out in response to high gasoline prices. That's up from 21 percent in the same survey a year earlier.
A May survey of 400 consumers nationwide found that almost a quarter of them reported spending less when they did eat out, according to restaurant consulting firm Sandelman & Associates.
The numbers were even greater for the people who said they earned $25,000 to $50,000 annually. Forty-one percent reported eating out less, and 29 percent said they were spending less, said Bob Sandelman, chief executive of the San Clemente firm.
[The] Cheesecake Factory was one of the first to detect the trend. With an average guest check of $17, it has seen same-store sales slide by about 1 percent in each of the last two quarters.
"People are watching what they are spending," said Howard Gordon, the company's senior vice president for business development and marketing.
Although its restaurants remain packed during the prime dinner and lunch hours -- which is why the chain's sales per store average $11 million, the highest in the industry -- traffic has fallen off in the early evening and late at night, Gordon said.
The company, with 107 Cheesecake Factory and seven Grand Lux Cafe restaurants, attributes the drop to a decline in the number of seniors patronizing the chain during the early dinner hours and fewer teenage diners coming in late at night.
Diesel Soot
The Washington Post reports that there is new evidence that locomotive and ship engines emit about twice as much diesel soot as was previously thought. The Environmental Protection Agency now calls this a high priority -- while train lobbies say trains are much more efficient than trucks.
Unmarried and Single Americans Week
Thanks to Al's Morning Meeting reader Cheryl Hosmer for pointing out that the week of Sept. 17 to 23 is "Unmarried and Single Americans Week." Here is some data from the Census Bureau to help you think through how to report on the state of the single American these days.
Singles
89.8 million
Number of unmarried and single Americans in 2005. This group comprised 41 percent of all U.S. residents age 18 and older.
54 percent
Percentage of unmarried and single Americans who are women.
60 percent
Percentage of unmarried and single Americans who have never been married. Another 25 percent are divorced and 15 percent are widowed.
14.9 million
Number of unmarried and single Americans age 65 and older. These older Americans comprise 14 percent of all unmarried and single people.
86
Number of unmarried men age 18 and older for every 100 unmarried women in the United States.
55 million
Number of households maintained by unmarried men or women. These households comprise 49 percent of households nationwide.
29.9 million
Number of people who live alone. These persons comprise 26 percent of all households, up from 17 percent in 1970.
Parenting
32 percent
Percentage of births in 2004 to unmarried women.
12.9 million
Number of single parents living with their children in 2005. Of these, 10.4 million are single mothers.
40 percent
Percentage of opposite-sex, unmarried-partner households that include children.
672,000
Number of unmarried grandparents who were caregivers for their grandchildren in 2004. They comprised nearly 3-in-10 grandparents who were responsible for their grandchildren.
Unmarried Couples
4.9 million
Number of unmarried-partner households in 2005. These households consist of a householder living with someone of the opposite sex who was identified as their unmarried partner.
Dating
904
The number of dating service establishments nationwide as of 2002. These establishments, which include Internet dating services, employed nearly 4,300 people and pulled in $489 million in revenues.
Voters
36 percent
Percentage of voters in the 2004 presidential election who were unmarried.
Education
82 percent
Percentage of unmarried people age 25 or older in 2004 who were high school graduates.
23 percent
Percentage of unmarried people age 25 or older with a bachelor's degree or more education.
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