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Rachel Goldberg

The Shadow Scholar: The man who writes your students' papers tells his story (The Making of Americans book circle) - 24 views

started by Rachel Goldberg on 22 Mar 12
  • Rachel Goldberg
    #1 Rachel Goldberg on 22 Mar 12
     
    "Today, most state standards in language arts do not require children to learn the parts of speech in the early grades" (Hirsch 96). The book goes on to show how a lack of education in writing and grammar as a younger child, only increases as one gets older. Hirsch mentions that "college teachers report that when students actually make it to college, they do not write or spell adequately" (97). The book supplies a sample essay written by a college student who received an A for that paper. However, Hirsch illustrates how this student writes with improper English and, clearly, does not understand the basics of grammar. It brings into question how papers are being graded and whether students are being taught what they need to learn. Further, Hirsch writes that "short-answer and multiple-choice tests have become the preferred evaluation method, so that faculty members can avoid having to read student papers" (98). Therefore, this brings up the question: are schools thinking more about what is best for the students or for the teachers?

    The article attached is from the point of view of a man who names himself the shadow scholar. He claims to have written hundreds of papers for college students, graduate students, etc. Therefore, if students are not learning how to properly write, how much are they willing to pay someone to write for them? And, further, what sort of people are becoming our doctors and lawyers and financial consultants - people who are literate, or people who know how to foot a bill?

    ARTICLE:

    http://chronicle.com/article/article-content/125329/
  • Lindsey Wilkinson
    #2 Lindsey Wilkinson on 22 Mar 12
     
    Although I do value proper grammar and a talent for writing, I very respectfully disagree with the question you posed, Rachel. I do not in any way support the idea of paying someone to do your work for you, however, I do not believe that doctors, lawyers, financial consultants, etc. need to have adept writing skills. From my studies, I have learned that our minds can often be wired differently to give us natural abilities in particular areas. For example, financial analysts clearly must be gifted with numbers and higher level math. I see no reason to fault them for not taking time to fully develop their writing abilities when their focus, interest, and time lies in the mathematical/financial field. Doctors, lawyers, and consultants can greatly enhance society by contributing in their respective fields, and I would rather them enhance those skills then ensure that they have perfect grammar. Just as writers have doctors and lawyers when they need legal or medical assistance, doctors and lawyers can have writers when they need assistance in writing. On another note, as a business student myself, I happen to know that we do have a large focus on writing skills. Business is about communication and although we do not have an artsy knack for writing like other majors, our writing can contain succinct, profit-enhancing reports that can highly contribute to a business.

    Secondly, I find the prevailing problem with this article not to be a lack of writing skills in our students (although the writing of the students using that service were appalling)
    but a lack of morals and ethics. The fact that "60% admit to cheating" and that paying someone else to write an essay is so common is a tragedy. I feel that the biggest issue this poses is the laziness of students and the lack of ethical standards in their work, not the major or grammatical abilities.
  • Caitlyn Cozart
    #3 Caitlyn Cozart on 22 Mar 12
     
    I completely agree with what Lindsey had to say. I do not by any means agree with students paying someone to write their papers. I had no idea students do this and I find it awful. I agree with Lindsey that doctors and other professions do not necessarily need to write. They often don't need to and the ones that want to, will. I do believe during schooling, students should know how to write. It is a common life skill that everyone should have a basis knowledge of. I was shocked by the end of the article when Ed Dante states, "The 75-page paper on business ethics ultimately expanded into a 160-page graduate thesis, every word of which was written by me." That is just completely not right. Students should work for their graduation and their grade. If they need to write a paper to graduate, they should have the writing skills able to write this thesis paper. I agree with Lindsey about cheating among students. Students are increasingly becoming lazier and lazier. Therefore, its not a matter of fact of if they can write, its that they don't want to write. This a very interesting and shocking article. I enjoyed reading it.
  • Rachel Goldberg
    #4 Rachel Goldberg on 22 Mar 12
     
    I agree with many of the things both of you said. When I wrote that comment above - it was just to get myself thinking and other people thinking. I do think that as a doctor or business person you have to an amazing writer to be successful at your career. However, I do agree with Caitlyn that everyone should at least have a basic knowledge of writing, because it is a life skill and an important one. At the same time, though, I do have to respectfully disagree with you, Lindsey, when you say that lawyers do not have to be adept at writing. Most of law school is comprised of writing, being able to win a case, argue points, have command over language. However, I do agree with you Lindsey that everyone has their talents and that if you are going into a particular career, say Business, what is most important is having a thorough understanding of that particular subject matter. I also agree with both of you that cheating is REALLY the main issue at stake here. What is being presented by Ed Dante is that students are unethically passing off papers as their own, which is allowing them to gain financial success later in life. That is not fair. But thank you both for responding - I did not expect to get responses so fast! =P
  • Chelsea Townsend
    #5 Chelsea Townsend on 22 Mar 12
     
    I found this article absolutely shocking and extremely unethical. I had no idea students go to such extremes to cheat. In no way do I support students paying someone to write their papers. Students are consciously taking someone else's work and calling it their own. I cannot believe that over 60% of undergraduates have admitted to some form of cheating. I believe that everyone should know the basics of writing, whether they will use it in their future profession or not. The writing of the students who use the service is absolutely horrendous, and it is crazy to believe that these students, who cannot even formulate a simple sentence, are graduating. This article shows how lazy people are and how far they will go just to receive an A or to have a paper written for them.
  • Tiffany Morgan
    #6 Tiffany Morgan on 22 Mar 12
     
    "I work at an online company that generates tens of thousands of dollars a month by creating original essays based on specific instructions provided by cheating students. I've worked there full time since 2004. On any day of the academic year, I am working on upward of 20 assignments." It's disappointing that students go to extreme lengths to get out of writing essays. If students are too lazy to write, then they shouldn't be in college etc. It is not fair for someone who cheated to get an A, and someone who worked hard to get a B+. Some students want an A without doing any work.
  • Alee Douglass
    #7 Alee Douglass on 22 Mar 12
     
    "And these students truly are desperate. They couldn't write a convincing grocery list, yet they are in graduate school. They really need help. They need help learning and, separately, they need help passing their courses. But they aren't getting it." I volunteer in a 3rd grade classroom, I am there for reading and social studies, and during my time, I am walking around asking if the kids can find what they misspelled and respell it for me. I am very nervous about the lack of spelling, grammar, and phonic awareness in classrooms today. If the students aren't getting it in school, they are not going to get the help anywhere else.
    The FCAT writes is finally adding spelling to the checklist, and I am thankful, because maybe now there will be some sort of emphasis placed on the ability to spell correctly. Unfortunately, the fact that spelling wasn't on the FCAT writes before has lead to it becoming pushed to the back burner while students struggle to pass the essay portion of the test.
    This article was really eye opening to me overall; I had no idea that there were services like this, and if they exist, I feel as though it is just a matter of time before they trickle down into high and middle schools. Scary.
  • Lindsey Wilkinson
    #8 Lindsey Wilkinson on 22 Mar 12
     
    You know Rachel, my parents, who are both lawyers, would kill me for overlooking the fact that lawyers write so much and so well. My mom actually went to law school because she thought she could do better than my Dad's horrible writing which he was submitting to law school. So I completely agree with you there. :)
  • Hope Kim Doit
    #9 Hope Kim Doit on 24 Mar 12
     
    I think the way the teacher grades a paper affects the students writing performance. I dislike writing so much and I am really bad at grammar, so I never tried writing blogs or any writing for fun unless I am told to do so in a class. With that in mind, I never get a chance to practice in this area. In high school, I had a couple English teachers that required us to write research papers every year. On top of that, they grade it really hard. If it was not for their hard grading, I would not be able to strive and learn how to write properly. I tried hard to learn the basics of grammar. I might not be as good as a writer today, but my writing capabilities definitely became a lot better because of how my teachers paid attention to the papers that they were grading.
  • Elise Costa
    #10 Elise Costa on 26 Mar 12
     
    As a future educator, this article was terrifying. Not only does it make me question the ethics of the students, it makes me question how these professors don't recognize it. I can understand not noticing in a large undergraduate class were there are multiple TAs and the paper is maybe ten pages. However, I cannot fathom how Masters and Ph.D students get away with it. I communicate with my mentor/advisor for my Masters multiple times in a week (text, phone calls, emails, meetings). There is no way to avoid it. If students actually type like this, how does a professor not notice when they turn in decent papers? It really doesn't make sense. I don't doubt this story at all because I have heard of these companies. It is upsetting to me that professors are not careful enough to notice or do not spend enough time with their students. Every Masters class I have had, I have had to email them at least once during the course of the semester. In higher education, the experience becomes more personal than undergrad.
    I also did not find it shocking that so many students do not know how to write properly. I moved numerous times when I was little that I never actually had a grammar class. I know I don't write with perfect grammar but it is a learning process.

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