I am a skimmer, and rarely does an author get my attention.

But this article, that was just forwarded to me at work, is the best thing I’ve read in a long while.

The Shadow Scholar – The man who writes your students’ papers tells his story
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Shadow-Scholar/125329/
From the Chronicle of Higher Education

The author works full time writing essays and theses for students. He is demonstrating perfectly why the education system is so completely broken. And every teacher and professor who has left comments on his article further proves his point with their excuses.

Degrees are meaningless when people who hold the degrees still can’t spell or form a sentence. The post-secondary education system is simply a business model. You enroll, pay big bucks, do a lot of meaningless work that doesn’t make you any wiser or smarter, then you get a piece of paper and some extra letters after your name.

There is so much focus in the article’s feedback section about catching the cheating students. If teachers actually taught, this “shadow scholar” would be out of work.