The Academic Plague: a response

Wade, by all means talk about this in class. I think it is important that people understand this.
Joel, lol you are too sweet but I think the University is taking care of it lol. (I'll answer your other qs in a minute)
Aryn, that is exactly right. Also, you can be accused of plagiarism years after your degree and it may be revoked if the suspicion is confirmed; thus, the material that you submit to the University not only does not belong to you, but it can also be used to destroy your career at any point along the way.

SO... Here is what we have so far.
I (and you) pay the University a fee that allows us to take classes. The rationale that the University holds to is that by agreeing to take the course you are signing the ownership of all documents submitted for that course over to the University. If you don't want to do that, your only option is to not take the course in the first place. This works in theory: "I don't HAVE to go to University, therefore, I do not have to agree to these terms and conditions." However, in a society like the only we currently live in, this can be seen as jeopardizing our right as citizens to equal opportunity and the chance to improve or maintain our standard of living. It is also important to note that anything you do during your academic career at the University is subject to the ethics standards held by that particular institution. For example, if I wanted to do a photographic journal of street life for my own personal and economic gain while I was a student and did not wish to submit it as course work, I would still be bound by the ethics codes that the University subscribes to. Thus, I am sure that one may argue that, while affiliated with such an institution, NONE of the work that you do strictly belongs to you.
Thus, the choice that you are given is:
Go to University and accept the fact that none of your hard work and ideas that come out of that work actually belongs to you...
OR, go and work minimum wage and revel in the fact that you own your own ideas.

I am not by any means suggesting the later of the options, however, I would like to think that my ideas are my own and that when I graduate I may be free to build and expand on the knowledge gained from my experience without facing the consequences of having my degree revokes or having the University continue to use my work for their own purposes without adequate reimbursement for my contribution. In essence, I am paying the University to work for them... Maybe it is naivete or ignorance, but I always thought it was the other way around.
The other interesting thing to note about this whole thing, is that I often post my work on this blog. This is work that I have done for classes and submitted for grading. When this work is entered into the plagiarism database, if they search the internet, my work will show up as plagiarised because it is published on here without the consent of the University.... It is a messy situation with no real answer .....
Any thoughts?
~V