Weekly Question - Why will it be important for future teachers to cite their sources and seek permission to use copyrighted work?

To me this is a fairly simple question, although there are multiple answers.

The first answer is simple; EVERYONE should do this, at least legally. I'm not saying that teachers are wrong in not doing so (as it is a difficult thing to have enough content for your students and yet be able to keep up with copyright laws), but it's something that everyone should at least TRY to do. If a person gets in the habit of simply using copyrighted work or not citing their sources on a regular basis then not only is it dishonest to the people who see his or her work (thinking that the work is original to that person), but it may jeopardize another person's claim to something (such as monetary factors if someone were to photocopy their textbooks) as well as even put the violator at an increasing risk of being tried on copyright infringement. And that's something that nobody wants.
Every person should try to make it second-nature to follow copyright rules, for not only others' sake but also for their own.


This brings me to my second point. Every person should have copyright awareness on their minds at all times while working with intellectual or commercial property (especially in this day and age), and the best way to do this is to learn at a young age and do it through your whole life. And what's one of the best ways to learn about this at a young age?

By example.

If teacher's in the classrooms are constantly citing their sources when they bring something to class, or make sure that the students know that he or she got permission to show a movie a reprint a book, then the students will become more aware of it themselves. I personally have little awareness of this in the classroom, as teachers have always shown movies or said facts without citing the source or acknowledging that it was OK for them to show the copyrighted material. And now that I have only really become aware of this now, I am going to have to be extra cautious not to step on any toes in the future, because who knows what I might do by habit!


So let's not raise the chances of our future students "shafting" some company or person by failing to follow copyright laws, by making sure that we all do it properly.