An article/confession was published in Friday's edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education which discussed a man's job as a writer of academic papers for hire. The confessee humorously includes badly written emails from clients, half-brags about his salary, and admits to having written everything from personal statements to PhD dissertations. The article is interesting, entertaining, and perhaps even shocking at times, but mostly tells educators what we already suspected about academic dishonesty--that it is easy, pervasive, and getting worse.
But this post is not about the millions of high school and college students who cheat, and I suspect that the article isn't about that either. Pseudonymous or not (and quitting his job or not), "Ed Dante" is Michaelangelo yelling "I am Praxiteles!" when his forgery is mistaken for the real thing. He makes a point of saying that he has "attended three dozen online universities" and written papers toward hundreds of degrees, in an apparent attempt to both bolster his esteem and undermine the American education system. He offers no solutions to a problem, delivers no scathing exposé on a specific company, and hides behind a pseudonym. His confession is not one because he risks nothing and says little that most people do not already know. "Ed Dante" is proud of himself for helping to weaken our education system, and he wants you to know it.
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I was just on craigslist the other day, and there were job postings for an essay writing website. I was horrified as it goes against everything I believe as an educator. It plays into just this generation of education: entitlement to the best, but getting it through the easiest, laziest ways possible. And, I blame students, educators and parents. Everyone is lazy and they hate whatever takes hard work. My old tutoring center has programs to "assist" kids during the application process. And that market comes from obsessive, over bearing parents. What does that teach their kids? That cheating is okay as long as it gets you where you are going. Did you see the response to the Florida U cheating scandal? One student was angered by the fact that they could get expelled. He said that cheating is inevitable and teachers should get over it. But how can you blame him when you look at our country or our politics? I'll get off my soap box...lol
ReplyDeleteI am horrified by these things, too. I initially felt sort of sleazy about doing SAT tutoring, thinking how much I was helping to increase the economic divide. But when it comes down to it, the students still have to take their own tests. Even if I feel a bit unsettled about taking money to help people take a test supposedly assessing unpracticed ability, I am not helping anyone cheat. I do not write their papers or take their exams for them.
ReplyDeleteI don't think tutoring is cheating at all. In fact, I think you can help engender that necessity for hard work in a student. Plus the SAT is bullshit and the test requires that you take a class basically. What I didn't like was the assistance given during the application process for college. Tutors would help write admittance essays and things like that. And, this crosses a fine line.
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