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Teaching Students How to Steal

By Ron Lee
Published: 04/19/24 Topics: Copyrights, Education, Photography, Reputation Comments: 0

 

How students are being taught has always been important but has been prominently in the news for some time. There is controversy in all grades from pre-school to college, undergrad and grad degrees.
 
People on the right say students of all ages are being indoctrinated or brainwashed with woke, socialist, or even communist ideas.
 
People on the left say there is no such thing. Their lessons are intended to teach better ways of seeing the world and the right is out of touch.
 
No matter the viewpoint, it would be good to hope there could be foundational knowledge on which all ends of the political spectrum could agree.
 
But not a guy we’ll call "Mr. Smith" for this story.
 
He promotes himself as an educational consultant of some sort, paid handsomely to consult and advise teachers and schools. Unfortunately, his behavior reveals he is teaching students  to cheat and steal by his example.
 
By contrast, Robert Fulghum became a respected author and educator by writing the book "All I need to know I learned in in Kindergarten."  He espoused valuable wisdom like, say "please" and "thank you", tell the truth, and admit mistakes.
 
Apparently, Mr. Smith did not read the book, because when caught stealing he used every trick in the book to get away with his crime.
 
Using his ill-gotten gains as a supposed educator, Mr. Smith invested in real estate. He was happy when another company covered the cost of having some technically sophisticated photos taken of his properties, for their own use.
 
Mr. Smith liked the photos, so much so in fact, that he had his assistant ask if he could buy the photos in his real estate advertising. But upon hearing the price of a  license for the photos, he refused saying that the price was too high.
 
At this point, Mr. Smith had not yet showed his lack of ethics.  Only later did the photographers discover that Smith was using dozens of the copyrighted photos on websites to rent out his properties and make large income from them. He may have used them free for years without any remorse for his theft.
 
So what did Mr. Smith do when he was caught red-handed? When the photos were discovered online? Did he follow Fulghum’s advice to tell the truth?
 
Of course not.
 
Instead, Smith hired an attorney to dream up every devious legal trick, to cheat, and to lie, in hopes of letting Smith off scott free. Finding himself in court, of course, Mr. Smith fabricated excuses:
 
  • I thought I paid for them.
  • I thought my assistant paid for them.
  • The assistant stole the photos, not me.
  • She downloaded them thinking they were free.
  • It has been been far too long to pay for them now.
  • The devil made me do it.
 
OK, he did not claim that last point, but maybe he should. Because Mr. Smith fabricated all the others while raking in dough from his real estate.  
 
The outcome of this theft has not been determined, but it must be expected that Smith will do as he has done before. He will lie, and twist, and blame others instead of taking responsibility. What a bad example for students.
 
Hubris causes supposedly sophisticated people to look down their noses at creative people like photographers. That is nothing new. High income individuals consider themselves superior and treat artists as inferior. And they try underpay them or not pay at all
 
It is sad that the photographers must pay court and lawyer fees to force Mr. Smith to fess up and to pay up, for what he so clearly stole. But sadder still for the world of education.
 
Mr. Smith will continue to promote himself as an expert on education. People will continue to hire and pay him at a much higher rate than photographers, and they won’t even know that Smith is a theft and a liar.
 
That means Mr. Smith will continue on his life-long journey to teach kids and other students how to be a thief. That is sadder than any story Politian’s could argue about education.

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Author: Ron Lee – Contributor, Signatours Photo Team
Blog #: 0988 – 04/19/24

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