Students- Would you Write Someone Else's Essay?

I have to say I'm pretty appalled by a lot of the answers here.

Of the ones saying "No, I wouldn't", many are saying they're too lazy, or couldn't be bothered, or aren't sure whether they could write well enough, or their writing style would be too sophisticated to pass for an average student. All of these are appalling. Very few are saying they wouldn't do it because it's wrong, and that's a really, really serious problem.

Does nobody get that academic fraud (which is what writing a term paper for someone else is) is problematic on many levels? Some things to consider:

-- When someone hires someone else to write their papers, that act alone can throw off the curve (for classes graded on a curve) for the entire class. This affects other, innocent students doing their own work.

-- The student who is willing to let someone else do his work is, essentially, setting him or herself up for a lifetime of lying about who s/he is. S/he will be using the degree s/he has received as a means of representing knowledge and skill and ability that an employer is evaluating in order to make a hiring decision. This has a twofold problem: First, the employer is getting someone who won't actually have the knowledge and skill that is being represented by the degree. And second, the employer may pass on someone who is actually more qualified, because s/he actually did all the work in college, but, because s/he had to balance the academic requirements of a bunch of classes, could not achieve as high grades. This is a loss for the honest student and the employer.

-- Our whole society depends on a certain level of personal integrity, which seems to be getting eroded pretty significantly. Students turning in work they didn't write is one issue, but academics turning in faked research for publication is another. The consequences are dire. And big businesses lying their asses off about everything that takes down entire economies (as happened in the 2007 recession in the US) is another consequence.

The problem is, when we are willing to lie, cheat, steal, or deceive about any one thing, it can pretty quickly lead to rationalization of behavior in other areas. The reason so many corporations are so corrupt is that they are filled with people who had no problems cheating on tests, paying others to write their papers or do their research, and the like.

Would you want your personal physician to be someone who didn't do his or her own study in school?

Would you want the architect who designed your house or apartment complex to have had someone else do much of their work, so they don't have a firm grasp of safety and engineering standards?

Would you want the pilot of your aircraft to have skated through their study of navigation, aviation, safety procedures, and the like?

And then there are thousands of other places where this sort of fraud can have small impacts that add up to a society where there's no sense of honesty or integrity.

I went to Oberlin College, a small liberal arts school. One of the somewhat unusual features of Oberlin is its Honor Code, which is taken very seriously. Each professor, each semester, must spend 10 minutes of the first or second class talking about the honor code and its meaning. Basically, you must do your own work in all cases. You must cite all sources. You cannot cheat on any academic work. And, in a pretty unusual step, if you know about or observe anyone else cheating, turning in a paper they didn't write, or any other dishonesty, you are obligated to report it. Non-reporting of an honor code violation is as serious a violation as having cheated.

Finally, because of the honor code and the seriousness with which it is taken, there are no exam proctors, and professors are not allowed to be in the room while an exam is being taken. Students are expected to uphold the honor code personally and communally. Violations are addressed by a special board made up of students as well as faculty.

Amazingly, that honor code is still serving the Oberlin community, and from my recent conversations with staff there, they believe that it works and that the students believe in and uphold the honor code. That certainly isn't the case at many other schools.

Perhaps I'm old fashioned, but I feel like personal and academic integrity are really crucial to an orderly and fair society, and I'm pretty surprised, and pretty disappointed, to see how lightly so many others take it.

 

I can't disagree with the dilemma here. In a society where 1/10th of 1% of the population owns over 90% of of the total wealth, and many people are struggling hard to get by, there are circumstances where people have to make decisions that they would not make in a perfect world. I didn't meant to imply that this issue is as cut-and-dried as I made it out to be.

The part that was appalling was the very cavalier way in which some people indicated they'd have no problem with it at all, and dismissive responses like "boohoo" just further the sentiment.

I know there are a lot of people in the world who have no ethics, just disappointing to see it pointed out so starkly.