Despite being a Seventies grammar school boy, I am not really an educational traditionalist. I don't want to bring back the cane (no, it never did me any harm, but it didn't do me much good, either). However, I do think it might be wise if schools could revive the idea that cheating is, on the whole, not conducive to a good education.

I make no apology for copying and pasting a survey about plagiarism from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. Almost 60 per cent of A-level teachers said that internet plagiarism is a problem in course work. Of those, 28 per cent suspected it in at least half of the work submitted. Even these figures might be underestimates, given teachers' natural tendency to protect their pupils and schools.

The usual suspect in this crime against the humanities (and the sciences) is the internet. But the problem goes deeper than that. Many sixth-formers seem unaware that there might be anything wrong with internet plagiarism, as reflected in some barefaced examples - one pupil's “work” even included adverts from the website.

“In my day” we had what might be called honest cheats, writing crib notes on scraps of paper and shirt cuffs. They knew that it was wrong, which was why they had to be discreet - and why few risked cheating in public exams. But now, say 55 per cent of A-level teachers, pupils “don't have sufficient understanding” of the line between plagiarism and research.

And why should they? After all, they are products of a school system where learning and study have been degraded; where getting grades at all costs is what seems to matter; where teachers give them printouts to copy rather than books to read; where “good” secondary schools set pupils work without text books or guidance on which websites to trust; where even primary schools have finessed pupils' SATs results.

Some teachers told researchers they feared that being too rigorous might put their A-level students at a disadvantage against less scrupulous schools. Little wonder that plagiarism is rife once they reach university. To clean up A levels, many of them would now like to see course work removed altogether. That might appeal to us old school skivers. But it is really sidestepping the problem.

Schools surely need to do more to instil in our children the value of learning for the sake of learning, and inspire them to read and study. Then they will be well placed to take a firmer line with copycats. It does nobody any favours to turn out teenagers with A levels that mean little more than the ability to cut and paste an essay in seconds. Maybe we could start by teaching such old English proverbs as “cheats never prosper”. Or to adapt Proudhon - and not Marx, as some might copy from those dodgy websites - Plagiarism is Theft.

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