textually.org: The new Cheating Culture

March 22, 2006

The new Cheating Culture

In this week's issue of Newsweek, (Freud on the cover), Emily Flynn Vencat writes about the distrubing rise of student cheating, as technological advances have made cheating easier than ever.

"Rates of academic cheating have skyrocketed during the past decade. In a huge study of 50,000 college and 18,000 high-school students. More than 70 percent admitted to having cheated. That's up from about 56 percent in 1993 and just 26 percent in 1963.

What's turning students into crooks? First and foremost, technological advances have made cheating easier than ever. From purchasing "original" essays from Web sites like Gradesaver.com to "outsourcing" computer-programming homework to experts in India via sites like Rentacoder.com, students can now buy A's for the price of a school lunch.

At the same time, mobile phones and MP3 players have given test takers new tools: picture messaging lets them contact friends outside the classroom with photographed copies of whole exams.

SparkMobile, a new service from SparkNotes (Barnes & Noble's take on Cliffs Notes), will text students themes to use for surprise in-class essays or beam them iPod-friendly audio summaries of classic novels.

Competition, though, is the real culprit. As the work force becomes ever more crowded and the number of college grads skyrockets, top educational credentials are increasingly seen as the only sure vehicle to success."

Related student cheating articles:

-- Cheating reports in national exams (China)

-- Students found using SMS during final exams (Australia)

-- Pupils use mobile phones to cheat in exams (UK)

-- High School Kids tell the New York Post they cheat on exams with their cell phones

Links to articles on the largest student cheating scandal to date, which occured in South Korea:

-- Metal Detectors Present In Exam Rooms (South Korea)

-- Exam scandal offers shades Orwell's fear (South Korea)

-- Education Ministry goes after cheaters (South Korea)

-- A Struggle of 18 Days with 280,000 Text Messages (South Korea)

-- 1,625 More Suspected of Exam Cheating (South Korea)

-- South Korean Students Burned for SMS Cheating