A must read (but depressing) article in The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Shadow Scholar. The man who writes your students’ papers tells his story. By “Ed Dante”.
Two examples:
From my experience, three demographic groups seek out my services: the English-as-second-language student; the hopelessly deficient student; and the lazy rich kid.
For the last, colleges are a perfect launching ground—they are built to reward the rich and to forgive them their laziness. Let’s be honest: The successful among us are not always the best and the brightest, and certainly not the most ethical. My favorite customers are those with an unlimited supply of money and no shortage of instructions on how they would like to see their work executed. While the deficient student will generally not know how to ask for what he wants until he doesn’t get it, the lazy rich student will know exactly what he wants. He is poised for a life of paying others and telling them what to do. Indeed, he is acquiring all the skills he needs to stay on top.
And:
The 75-page paper on business ethics ultimately expanded into a 160-page graduate thesis, every word of which was written by me.
Edit: The article has been commented at the always interesting Making Light. Here is the link, read the comments.
A kind of library 