This summer, I was offered a job that would pay me to cheat. If I had taken this job at WritersDepartment.com, I would have earned up to $15 per page to write other college students’ essays for them. The “job” wasn’t marketed as such – the website boasts “freelance writing jobs for academic and business experts” – but after writing an application essay and sending my resume, I was called and told the truth. More than 80% of their projects are students’ academic essays.
When Writer’s Department asked me if I was “comfortable” writing other students’ papers, I admit that I did think about it. It would be easy money and how would anyone find out? I’ve had friends sign me in so I could skip class, which is basically the same thing, right? But then I realized that I had a bigger question – why? Why are students paying so much to get their essays written for them?
I can understand it in middle and high school – you’re forced to be there. You’re forced to do that subject you hate year after year after year. And if you don’t pass, you have to do it again. I’m not condoning it, but there is a lot of motivation to be dishonest in middle and high school, especially in a school that isn’t well run. This is why, I think, so many high schools have strict honor codes. But what about college? In college, you pay to study what you’re passionate about, at least after you finish your core classes. And college is a choice, right?
I realized then that the problem with cheating in college is not dishonesty. It’s the pressure put on young adults to go to college even if it isn’t the right thing for them.
I love college. I love it because it’s fun, obviously, but also because I love my classes. Maybe I’m a nerd, but whatever – I look forward to my writing workshop all week and won’t stop analyzing everyone I meet with the new stuff I learned in psych. A lot of my friends are in the same boat as I am. Maybe they’re having the best time ever in multivariable calculus or maybe they just love a challenge, but either way, they’re enjoying it.
Some of my friends, though, don’t like the learning part of college, which after the excitement of freshman year dies down, often translates to not liking college at all. These friends are usually the ones who also didn’t like their classes in high school – the ones who struggled to keep up because school was hard for them or because they had some other passion that they prioritized. In a community where most parents can’t afford college, kids like them would not be here. But they are, bored or struggling in class, and at no fault of their own, possibly taking the spot of a lower-income student who would love to be in their place. Because in today’s society and in today’s job market, unless you are Steve Jobs, graduating from college seems like the only way. And if your parents can afford it, not going is synonymous with failure.
This isn’t fair. Young adults should be able to graduate from a great high school and go to hairdressing academy or become car mechanics or go to school for 10 more years to become the best doctors in their fields and none should be seen as better than the other. Yes, you can go to college and become a nanny or construction worker, maybe an even better one, but you shouldn’t have to if you don’t enjoy it. We need daycare workers and plumbers just as much as we need investment bankers. So why are we pushing 18-year-olds who have a passion for pipes or cars or babies but struggle with classic education to spend four years feeling like they aren’t good enough to become productive adults?
This, I believe, is why college students cheat. If we can change this mindset, our socioeconomic mobility, our job market, and the lives of our non-academically talented youth will all benefit. This problem affects everyone. It's way too big for me to solve, but maybe it will happen slowly, with our attitudes as we grow up and have kids of our own. Or maybe, hopefully, someone will come up with a solution. And my hope is that we will listen to that someone, whether he or she has a college education or not.
