WASHINGTON POST, Monika Nalepa
Melania Trump told NBC’s Matt Lauer that she had written the speech herself. If we take her at her word, then it is helpful to look at the post-communist educational system that Melania experienced growing up in Slovenia. In that system, what is typically considered plagiarism or cheating was exceedingly common and even encouraged.
Although she did not complete her degree from the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, she still obtained most of her education in the immediate aftermath of the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. The post-communist educational system at that time was a place where the line between original work and plagiarism was often hard to discern and the issue of intellectual ownership was never discussed.
Scholars who study plagiarism associate it with the dominant mode of learning. Learning via rote memorization, rather than the critical questioning of ideas, is more likely to lead people to appropriate others’ intellectual work. If memorization is how academic performance is judged, students will do better when they merely replicate what they have learned.
Memorization was an important component of education in post-communist Europe. This was a legacy of communism, when the dominant subjects — Marxist Ideology, The Foundations of Leninism, The Fundamentals of Socialist Economics, and so on — could not be criticized in a classroom setting without raising the suspicions of the authoritarian secret police.
After the fall of communism in 1989, ...the educational model developed under communism persisted. There was much memorization of historical facts and minimal debate about various theories. Another important element of the post-communist educational experience was the prevalence and acceptance of cheating.
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How did does such a norm set in? First, cheaters weren’t called “cheaters.” They were called “borrowers” and were considered street-smart. I left Eastern Europe more than 15 years ago, but I am skeptical that much is different. Culture changes slowly.
To be clear, the provenance of the plagiarized portions of Melania Trump’s speech remain unclear. Perhaps she plagiarized them directly, or perhaps the responsibility lies with Donald Trump’s campaign staff. But if Trump herself was responsible, we can begin to understand the origins of the problem by looking at post-communist education. If plagiarizing is seen as “borrowing” and not cheating, then it makes the striking parallels between Melania’s and Michelle Obama’s speeches all the more understandable.
Monika Nalepa is an associate professor of political science at the University of Chicago.
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The Republican convention has been part coronation (his nomination Tuesday night), disaster (his wife Melania's plagiarized speech), and soap opera (the palace intrigue plaguing team Trump). Needless to say, the Republican nominee has not fully taken advantage of nights one and two at the convention. TuesdayTues Tuesday's night’s speeches featured a sharp Chris Christie ( The general opinion is that the New Jersey Governor continues to debase himself for Donald Trump while getting nothing in return.) rebuke of Hillary Clinton, inspiring the crowd to spontaneous cheers of "lock her up!”