I write a lot, and I like it.
Writing a paper is a college tradition that often involves late nights at “Club Hayden” and discarded energy-drink cans. Regardless of which degree program you choose to pursue, writing is simply a hurdle to be jumped.
But, according to a November article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, an alarming number of college students are choosing to buck the whole paper-writing ordeal in favor of having someone else do it for them.
Written by Ed Dante, a pseudonym for a writer living on the East Coast, the article is an admission of how he has made an ample living writing papers for students through a custom-essay company.
Dante is a real person, and he describes the extent to which he helps students complete writing assignments and graduate with various degrees. Working for an online company full-time since 2004, Dante makes a good salary each year by writing papers for any subject except math. He has written undergraduate, master’s, and Ph.D. documents, has attended dozens of online universities and taken endless online classes, all on behalf of college students.
For a variable price, a student can have just about any assignment completed by a professional. Sure, Dante most likely doesn’t know anything about macroeconomics, Botticelli’s early work or Heidegger’s later philosophy. But, he is an expert at mining Wikipedia for sources, navigating search engines, and extending papers using big words and long-winded explanations.
It would be naïve to assume that cheating isn’t occurring at just about every level of university activity. A New York Times article from last summer reported that 61 percent of undergraduates have admitted to some form of cheating on assignments and exams. While many students cheat because they are lazy, there are many who are not prepared for the rigors of college life.
College is a commodity nowadays. Education has become a means to an end for a high-paying job. William Astore, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force who teaches history at Pennsylvania College of Technology, wrote in a recent Mother Jones column that treating education as a commodity avoids allowing students to truly understand themselves and forces them to strive for pragmatic goals.
In a large research-oriented environment, like ASU, undergraduate teaching is often delegated to graduate students, whose main interest is their personal academic progress.
It is ridiculous that schools like ASU are able to sidestep much of the real teaching that goes into an exceptional education.
In a perfect world, professors would be focused on teaching and foster environments within their classes where students are encouraged to meet with them outside of class.
I can’t say exactly why students commission people like Dante to write their papers, because it is academically dishonest and ethically reprehensible. But, I also recognize that teachers need to prepare students for success on writing assignments and give them the support they need to complete difficult academic work.
Teaching doesn’t bring in money and prestige. Research does, and it seems that at this, and other new American universities, money and prestige are what we desire most.
No, Ben won’t write your next essay. Send him comments at bnegley@asu.edu
