If you haven't already read the fascinating article The Shadow Scholar on The Chronicle of Higher Education's website, you really need to go check it out right now. No, seriously. This isn't just some geeky something or other for those of us who work in higher ed, although that's how I first heard about it. This is an article written by a guy who works for a custom-essay company, making his living helping students cheat their way to bachelor's, master's and even doctoral degrees. And it is truly alarming.
I'd like to point out several things about this article. I attended a small liberal arts college in Ohio, where I studied English, music and theater. I knew almost all of my professors, and most of them I studied with repeatedly, taking as many as 5 or 6 classes from the same person. Those professors knew me, and they knew my writing. They would have known if I turned in a paper that wasn't my work. I whole-heartedly believe that. From the article...
"For those of you who have ever mentored a student through the writing of a dissertation, served on a thesis-review committee, or guided a graduate student through a formal research process, I have a question: Do you ever wonder how a student who struggles to formulate complete sentences in conversation manages to produce marginally competent research? How does that student get by you?"
I find myself pondering the same question. I can understand how, at a larger university where a student in a given class might be one of two or three hundred, a professor might not realize that an essay was plagiarized or ghost-written, but at least at my college, I am pretty sure this would have been tough to get away with.
But for me, the blame shouldn't necessarily fall on the author of the paper, though I would question his or her sense of ethics. I don't believe it's actually illegal to write papers for someone. I'm not even sure that it's illegal to ask someone to write a paper for you, although it certainly would be a breach of most any school's honor code. But I wonder, if you are a doctor or a lawyer or hold some other title reliant on various advanced degrees, and you didn't actually do the work...is THAT illegal? Is it illegal for someone to collect money for services if they didn't really do the work that would prove they are competent to hold their job title?
Recently, I was discussing the whole issue of advanced degrees with several friends. We all agreed that nowadays, in many circles, just having a bachelor's degree is deemed inadequate - not just by employers, but by our peers. Those of us who haven't gone on to earn further degrees often feel judged or looked down on by our friends who have more than one plaque on their walls. But the members of the conversation were divided on the real merit of these degrees. Many of us felt that for those who aren't pursuing a career in a highly specified field, on the job experience and supplemental training can be just as valid, if not more so, than a master's degree. My husband and I both work in communications, and neither of us has ever felt the need for another degree, though we both love school. The return on investment is pretty small in our cases, and so it's unlikely that either of us will go back to school unless it's purely for our personal edification (re: getting a master's in English lit for fun).
I find this article really maddening when I think about the number of times I've gone around and around about graduate school, and wondered if I would be more respected, higher paid, happier, etc if I had an MBA - a degree I have zero interest in - or some other master's degree...and then I think about the number of people who have those degrees and do make more money than me who maybe didn't even write their own damned work.
A fun anecdote - I've never cheated on a paper, but I remember a time during my senior year of college when I was extremely swamped - working on two plays at the same time and finishing up a very full semester - and I turned in an egregiously sub-par paper in one of my lit classes. The professor of that class was one of my favorites, and also my advisor, and he was a huge fan of mine. I had been too busy to really do a very good job, but I knew that he liked me and figured I'd get my normal A with very little effort, so I cockily turned in the assignment having spent about 25% of the time I normally would have writing it.
When I got my paper back a few days later, it had no marks on it. Unusual. Even though I always wrote A papers, this professor always made a point to highlight certain things he thought were very good, or ask me questions, etc in the margins. No marks. On the very last page, in red ink, he'd simply written a C- and the line, "If any other student had turned this paper in, I'd have given it an A."
I remember being so angry at the time, but not really at my professor - he was right. He was holding me to a higher standard - the standard I had set for myself. He was also teaching me a lesson - that if I wasn't willing to put any effort into my assignment, then neither should he be.
I'd just like to take a minute to say thank you to all the teachers who taught me so well over the years - Lucy Schall, Andy Price, Michael Olin-Hitt, Doug Hendel, Rudy Roggenkamp and so many more. Thanks for making me accountable to myself.
