

Other People’s Papers

An article at The New Inquiry is a conversation between a college-level philosophy teacher and a person who writes college papers for money. Much of it concerns the prevalence, ease, and mechanics of cheating on papers, whether the work is plagiarized or commissioned. But this explanation of why so many students cheat saddened me:
I think that the system, grading in general, grading as a gold standard of employability, college as the necessary step between high school and employment, all of these things alone aren’t necessarily wrong. But when you get them all together in this network, and college is going to define your future, the grades will determine where you go, one, for a fifth of you, those of you who are going to grad school or law school or med school. For the rest of you, to get that job, you need that paper that says, “Diploma,” which means you need to pass. That’s all that matters.

If the only purpose in going to college is to get a diploma (not knowledge, not an education, and not good grades), then its no wonder students assume that you should get one just for paying the tuition and arranging for the required papers by any means necessary. Link -via TYWKIWDBI, where you can join the discussion.

(Image credit: The "Gold Guys")

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Did it ever occur to you that the reason you can’t get into grad school is that people like you have raised the bar. Now you are competing with kids that can’t write their way out of a paper bag, but they can hire people like you to write wonderful papers for them.

Just think about it. While people like you screw up the education system, you screw yourself by having to compete with the bad students who hire your kind. So, work hard and keep trying, and maybe with a little luck you won’t have to compete with kids that were dedicated enough to hire someone who was even better than you. Although, don’t let that get you down, you can always hire those guys too, then it will be “fair” again.
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Slowly been coming to the conclusion that undergrad degrees are just a way to make sure everyone starts off with debt that they'll never be able to pay.
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I agree. I mean, did you even count the syllables in your haiku? Way off.

I still remember the quote one of my high school literature teachers had on the door to her classroom, from George Bernard Shaw:
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I will not bother reading the entire article an merely comment (from personal experience) on the drop quote. I have not completed a course of study since kindergarten. Every job has been gotten by demonstrating what I know with enthusiasm.

Employers who cannot tell the difference between cheaters and knowledge-seekers get what they deserve.
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