The Shadow Scholar - A Must Read

The Shadow Scholar, a disturbing November 12, 2010 article in the Chronicle Review, tells the tale of a person that makes a living by writing student papers. This writer works for an online "storefront" that employs 50 writers. The article exposes a booming business that is recession-proof and describes 3 categories of customers, "the English-as-second-language student; the hopelessly deficient student; and the lazy rich kid."

"You've never heard of me, but there's a good chance that you've read some of my work. I'm a hired gun, a doctor of everything, an academic mercenary. My customers are your students. I promise you that. Somebody in your classroom uses a service that you can't detect, that you can't defend against, that you may not even know exists."

The writer takes no responsibility for enabling student cheating -- asserting that students cheat because they never get caught. If you make it to the end of the article you see the thank you message from the student who purchased a 75 page business ethics paper from this writer that was subsequently turned into a graduate thesis by this writer: "thanx so much for uhelp ican going to graduate to now." [BA]