Cheating

CHEATING: ESSAY MILLS EPIDEMIC

By Stephen Wilson

 

The purchase of ready written essays for universities and colleges by students remains widespread in Russia, Britain and Australia. At present a bill to outlaw 'Essay Mills' is going through it's second reading in the House of Commons in Britain.

 

 

"Yes I worked for a company that wrote essays for students at universities. It is big business. They have a lot of clients all over Russia. Students pay a fee for authors to write their essays, dissertations or other coursework. I worked as a manager for one month at the company Studservice. I had to deal with students who asked me to pass on new messages to the authors of their assignments who would say, "My teacher told me she was not happy with this part of the assignment and had to change this." I felt sorry for the teachers who were giving advice to students and who did not know that their students were not even writing the essays or doing the essay they had been given. I felt very bad about doing this job so I did not continue the job after one month even though I passed the probation period. I only did this because I badly needed the money. I was paid  28,000 rubles for this job," stated a former manager for the Russian Essay mill company Studservice. 

The ex-manager resigned after discovering that this was not simply an innocuous company of consultants, but a company which provides authors to write the assignments, essays and dissertations for students. The ex-manager, 'Julie', {Not her real name} had a pang of conscience and refused to sign a long-term contract. 

Studservice is just one company which operates in Russia. There exist many such companies not only in Russia, but Britain and Australia. It is no exaggeration or overstatement to claim that this kind of cheating is epidemic in those countries. A survey in August 2018, in Australia, indicated that as many as one out of seven may have paid someone to undertake their assignments. Professor Philip Newton, who has studied this problem, suggests that maybe as many as 31 million students across the globe cheat in this way. A May 2019 Channel Four Fact check in Britain seemed to confirm that a large number of students were using such services. This is why New Zealand took the step of outlawing such 'Essay Mill's' by making it illegal to advertise or provide a 3rd party to assist students to cheat in 2011. Such companies who do this face prosecution. And at present, a bill to outlaw such third companies is already being passed through the British parliament. This is one of the few bills where different politicians agree with each other. The only debate is how to make the bill more effective through amendments. The bill is largely the initiative of the Conservative M.P. Chris Skidmore.

 

The indignation of teachers, students and the wider public is not hard to see. As Professor Michael Draper who supports this legislation states, "Any form of academic misconduct or cheating poses a threat to the academic standards of the United Kingdom, Higher Education and therefore to the reputation of the U.K. Higher Education as a whole and the integrity of qualifications awarded to the vast majority of students who achieve their qualification entirely be legitimate means."

 

In Russia, there is currently no legislation which render the activities of 'Essay Mills' illegal. In fact, companies such as Studservice in their subtle and sophisticated promotion reassure students that they are not doing anything illicit in resorting to their services. The company Studservice is a legally registered company. What is more, they are a highly rated company. The company attempts to justify their activities by claiming that it is only fair that overworked students don't have time to do their essays because they are doing jobs or have pressing family obligations ask for their aid. Some of the companies even deny plagiarism by claiming they only offer advice and model essays which are not meant to be literally handed in to the academic supervisor. The company Studservice, whose head office is in Saint Petersburg, and was founded in 2004, boast of their wide experience. They provide a 24-hour service and claim they can meet urgent deadlines as they have 2700 authors who deal with 300 subjects! The company can charge students for a presentation - 250 rubles and for a masters dissertation - 14,000 rubles. 

"The more difficult the essay, the more expensive the charge," Julie said. "A Math essay tends to cost more than a History essay. Essays on Theology are the cheapest! Yes, it is strange but students of Theology are even paying for this service. Those are people who are working or going to work for the church". 

Studservice promises quality, punctuality, reliability, support and an agreed contract which is perfectly legal. They claim to be an honest and trustworthy company.

 

At my university I recall one student who was in serious trouble for handing in an essay that he had never written. It had been written by a former student. He was caught and given a terrible scolding. I remember seeing how distraught he looked in the canteen telling me, "I'm in great trouble". I felt sorry for him. I wondered how pointless and foolish his risk had been. It had all rebounded. The most common form of plagiarism was to take  a former essay and hand it into the lecturer. The problem was that some of the lecturers had already marked this composition and felt a sense of 'deja  vu.' So they spotted cheating! What alarmed me was to hear some student boasting about how he had cheated at university at the degree award ceremony! It reminded me of some criminals who boasted of how they had got away with so many crimes and were therefore skilled in their 'trade'.

 

When I spoke to some Russian students who claimed to cheat I was a bit taken back. I was once teaching a whole class of school students English. Not a single student thought cheating was wrong. In fact it seemed 'normal' to them because 'everybody else was doing it". What was worse is that some people praised the cheats as clever because they displayed the virtue of 'craftiness'. It was in vain for me to dissuade them from this. I was bemused to meet two young college students approach me before the lesson with a stolen English exam paper asking me to provide them with all the correct answers to those questions. I refused. I told them that teachers don't do this kind of thing and how bad this was. "You could pass this test without cheating'. Why was there a presumption that I would collude in cheating? Are their teachers doing this? Well according to the promotion of Russian Essay Mills they claim to have highly qualified teachers and professors who are authors. It is interesting to note that anyone will find a moral excuse for justifying just about anything. Students will claim that resorting to such services is a necessity because they don't have time, do too much work and that the university apply unfair standards. However, one of the direct effects is that many employers are aware of this cheating and are even refusing to employ students who they believe have bought their diplomas or degrees. Perhaps one of the most damaging results of this kind of fraud is within the Russian medical services. The qualified doctors who have bought their diplomas tend to be highly inept giving a wrong diagnosis and basically not being able to do their job at all. They lack the required experience and knowledge because they did not learn but paid for everything. Such widespread corruption in medical training has ruined the reputation of Russian doctors as well as science. Perhaps it is only a matter of time when Russian politicians will follow New Zealand and Britain in attempting to outlaw such 'Essay Mill' companies.