The short distance between rote and plagiarism

The 106 students at Patra University's Department of Business Administration who were caught cheating after submitting the exact same paper are nothing but products of the Greek education system. They had sat the university entrance exams and got into university by correctly parroting their lessons, fulfilling the requirements for tertiary education with hard work and a lot of money (cramming schools, accommodation once they got into Patra University, etc).

The rest is pretty familiar stuff. The student unions of the country's political parties provide notes, cheat-sheets and other aids; the requirement for attendance at lectures varies depending on the department; the state of Greek universities is well documented - as is the act of plagiarism committed by the 106 students.

The question, however, is why plagiarism should be considered a reprehensible and punishable act...