Call me old fashion, but there was a time when education meant hours of studying, learning, and research. It meant applying yourself to exceed in grammar, spelling, and diction; it meant mastering reading comprehension and the dissection of scientific facts, mathematical equations, and eloquent writing. Education meant excelling on subjects that were complicated because that meant you had applied yourself to earn an education. Last month I discovered the sad truth about the majority of today's "scholars" who supposedly earned a P.H.D., Masters Degree, Bachelors, and or even a High School diploma.
As a writer, I am always receiving writing gigs. I discern through the crappy offers and venture into projects that challenge me. A few months ago, I came across a couple of websites that offered freelance writers the chance to write academic papers. The ad mentioned assisting professors with research projects, and or schools that needed writers to write technical pieces. I applied to the sites, was immediately accepted, and was then given access to their website. I was excited to be part of professional teams hired to help academic institutes advance in science--so I thought. To my dismay, every order I opened was some high school or college kid's homework or doctoral citation and dissertation that required extensive research.
One order claimed to "please do a good job so I can get a good grade." I went through several emotions: shock and awe, disgust, and then full-blown indignation.
Monetary exchange for degrees
Why do I care? It's a matter of principle. For me, anyone who pays someone to do their homework, doctoral citations, dissertations and or medical research in order to obtain a high school, college, doctoral or medical degree is a fraud.
It means the person holding the accreditation of a respectable institute lacks the knowledge, the practice and the skills they claim to have mastered. Rather, the person who provided the research, materials and written document is the one with the brains and lack of scruples.
I started to question with a gut-wrenching doubt if my old professors, current doctors, executives and or professionals I had met and/or worked with through the years had paid someone to do their work?
Had they paid someone to get them their degree? Frankly, I could not think of anyone in my generation that had not worked hard to earn what they had accomplished.
I grew up in Peru, learned English in Singapore and became enamored with the English language when my family settled in the United States. I was young, poor and struggled to achieve everything I had when we moved to California. I put myself through the university via scholarships, grants, and student loans. I spent countless of hours in the computer lab during my college days. Even the worst students in my classes worked their butts off to write a decent paper. Midterms and finals solidified how hard one spent earning his/her education.
At times, I took 25 units and worked a part-time job. Was it hard? Of course, it was hell, but that only meant I worked hard. This is why I can't fathom the very notion of lazy people who take the easy way out.
Nothing is free in this world, including getting an underserving degree because it costs money to pay someone to write it and do the research. So, I googled other websites online, and my mouth dropped. Home work-writer, domyhomework123, and nerdify.com are just a few sites I could stomach to write down. If students were paying strangers to do their papers, then these same students were most likely paying someone else and/or relying on computers to do their math homework work as well. It all made sense now.
Last year I was at the register waiting for the cashier to finish ringing me up. The register broke down towards the end of the transaction, and the Young Man froze with a petrified, bluish tint on his face. The change he owned me was $1.25. However, in sheer panic, all I heard from him was the repetitive blunder of, "I can't give you your change. I don't have my cell phone." So, I felt compelled to teach the young man how to count my change back. He stood there stupefied and told me, "I'm not sure if that's right." I asked him to call his manager over if he wanted to verify the change. Flabbergasted, he replied it was not necessary, gave me my bags and I proceeded to exit. As I headed to the door, the cashier closed the register to the rest of the customers waiting in line.
To clarify, I'm not knocking down all millennials. My rage lies with those who cheat their way to a degree. Sure, they will land a great job; but, sooner or later experience will catch with them, and they will get a slap from reality. What happens next, only time will tell. According to WJSchroer Company, "Gen Xer's are arguably the best-educated generation with 29% obtaining a bachelor’s degree or higher." I guess that also means we were the last generation to take education seriously and use our brains instead of depending computers, calculators and paying a stranger to do our work in order to get by.
