When I was in school (Class VII - 1977, , 31 years back - phew), I was told by my Math Teacher,
"there is no harm in copying from the guy sitting next to you, in fact this indicates your smartness, but it is really the height of foolishness to copy as is without applying your own mind".
Somehow, this message has not left me till date.
And may be thats the reason for success in applying some of the abstract concepts to solve real life problems!