WSJ: Cheating is "Easier Than Ever" and "Rampant"

Plus, cheating is up among undergraduates at Dartmouth College. Plus, a parent asks for advice on "widespread problem" of cheating.

Issue 25

Wall St Journal Big Story on “Rampant” Cheating

Add the vaunted pages of the Wall St. Journal to the high-profile news outlets that have gone big on covering college cheating in the past year, joining the Today Show, CNBC, NBC, a Forbes cover story and (in my opinion, the story with the best writer) The Washington Post.

The headline of the WSJ story is pretty straight forward: “Cheating at School Is Easier Than Ever—and It’s Rampant.” If you have a subscription, it’s worth a read.

The Journal goes through the usual, staggering litany of cheating incidents over the past year and mentions Chegg by name. But new here, the WSJ focused on job boards and auction-style cheating websites, even posting their own ad on one and recording the offers that came in. For example:

In February, auction website homeworkforyou.com featured one student post looking for someone willing to do weekly school assignments, exams and a project for a business class at York College in Queens, NY., over a two-month span. The winning bidder would also need to pose as the student and respond to classmates in a group assignment. The student specified that an “A” was the desired outcome and that the “willing to pay” fee was $465.

By the next day, 29 bids had come in. The average was $479.41.

The article also notes that most of the people and sites that sell cheating services refer to themselves as “tutors.” And that most of the sites say their rules or terms prohibit using the material to violate academic integrity policies.

The Varkey Foundation, Sallie Mae and Others Whitewash Chegg Cheating

This week in Forbes I wrote about that “student summit” hosted by Chegg and The Varkey Foundation.

I tuned in and hung around for the first hour and change, through the opening remarks by the foundation’s founder and professors from Harvard Business School and other institutions. In the time I watched, there was not one single word about cheating or academic integrity - like it was not even an issue with Chegg.

The point of the Forbes piece:

It is time, however, to ask companies and foundations and colleges to stop giving them credibility and the appearance of propriety. Mistakes happen, no one can know everything. But feigning ignorance about Chegg is no longer tenable. Standing by a company that pays shareholders from the spoils of dishonesty is a bad look. When you’re supposedly an education leader, claiming not to know about it looks even worse.

Undergraduate Cheating at Dartmouth College is “Higher Than Normal”

The student paper at Dartmouth College has reported that, “Undergraduate academic dishonesty incidents higher than normal this academic year.”

Though the final numbers are not public yet, this news comes at a bad time. Dartmouth Medical School is struggling through a very public cheating scandal of its own.

Back to the undergraduates. According to the paper, Office of Community Standards Director Katharine Strong,

said that at the beginning of the pandemic, she did not believe rates of academic dishonesty would necessarily increase with online learning. She noted that reports coming across her desk recently have been similar to pre-pandemic violations but have involved more students than before. 

It also describes Dartmouth Physics professor Yorke Brown as saying

it is a “tremendous mistake” to try and raise barriers to cheating and identify it as a crime or punish people for it. Instead, he said a less competitive class leads to an “ethos” of cooperation.

Maybe it’s me, but an ethos of not raising barriers to cheating may just be one of the reasons it’s happening. “We just want to spend time together to grow intellectually,” Brown said.

Parent: What Do I Do About My Child’s Classmates Cheating?

MSN and The Atlantic have a segment called Homeroom, in which they take advice questions about schools and education.

In a recent one, a parent wrote in to ask what should be done about the “widespread problem” of cheating which they claim is hurting their son’s chances of getting the grades needed to go to a good college. The parent says:

From what I’ve gleaned from discussions with other parents, cheating is a widespread problem, and we’re not the only frustrated family. I know that other parents have brought the issue to the attention of the school, and when the school confronted cheating students, it became a battle. One family even hired a lawyer! 

In response, the writers encouraged the parent to “take on this fight, even though it might be exhausting and you will probably make some enemies along the way.” They give some great advice, honestly. Adding:

Ignoring the problem, however, sends a message that cheating should be condoned, which will set students up to make detrimental decisions for years to come.

In the next “The Cheat Sheet” - “Widespread Academic Dishonesty” at Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business. Plus, a look at the “administrative load caused by cheating.”

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