A fascinating inside look but the guy is far too quick to excuse his leading role in what is unquestionably an unethical enterprise. Drug dealers, too, say they're just fulfilling a demand that someone is going to fulfill ... and they show equal contempt for their customers.
Something else in common with drug dealers: if you tossed this guy in jail, someone else would move happily in to fill his niche. Prohibition does not, has not, and will never work.
Has anybody ever considered that despite all the emphasis society puts on people going to college, some people just aren't cut out for higher education? Nothing against them, it just seems like when you introduce the masses to something that is about separating yourself intellectually from the pack, the results are less than inspiring. A good number of people graduating these days get no practical benefit from going to college.
The SAT (for all its flaws) was once called the "Scholastic Aptitude Test" and actually functioned as an IQ test. It has since been renamed simply the SAT because it's politically incorrect to suggest that some people have "scholastic aptitude" and some people do not. Food for thought.
You know how it's absolutely incontroversial to point out that not everyone is cut out for grad school, or doctoral programs? I wonder why saying the same about college is a big deal.
This guy is definitely a good writer. I wonder if I can use him to write cliche startup blog posts so I can focus on actually coding. If the cost is low enough for a student, then it's low enough for a startup.
Seems that this guy has mastered what I call 'going into hyperdrive'
It's a phrase I always half jokingly tossed about in my mind when I knew I was behind on my academic deadlines. It's the idea that you can reach the theoretical maximum work rate for a sustained period. Put aside leisure time and sleep and just crank out the assignments, surviving on Doritos. Don't stop to edit, refine, just keep blasting through.
Of course it never quite works out, partly because I get distracted too easily, and partly because I hate composing something that represents less than my best. But looks like this guy really does pass the hyperdrive threshold and doesn't stop.
The back-and-forth potshots that faculty members take at each other in the Chronicles comments are even more insightful than the original article. The Chronicle moderators had to go so far as to delete follow-up comments. That's... eye opening.
Yes, and did you notice that a few of them -- one a professor, another who claimed to have been a freelance copy editor for 21 years -- could not spell "plagiarism"?
I'm not sure which I'm more appalled at, the writer's practice, or the horrid jumble of mutated words the clients (students) attempt to pass for sentences.
When I first started using IM clients, I forced myself to retain proper grammar and punctuation (and spelling!), so that I wouldn't get lazy. I can't say this habit influenced my essay-writing abilities in any way, but at least I can keep my dignity in short emails and text messages.
RU serius?! lol i cnt belive tht colege kids type lik ths
Yes, I was also surprised by how poor some of the client's writing skills were.
I just wanted to comment on how you said you forced yourself to use correct grammar and punctuation on IM. I also use IM a lot, but I tend to adapt my writing style to the other person; if they don't use capitalisation, I don't, if they use 'u' for 'you', so do I. I don't think it's affected my academic writing skills.
I can't help feeling this guy is incredibly talented. $66,000 a year? Making a living with an English composition degree must be fantastically competitive and difficult if thats the best he can do.
I can't help but think that in some respects this would be an incredibly interesting job because you would always be learning about new subjects. Essentially you would have a college education in numerous fields, though no degree to prove it.
In the long run though practical skill matters more than a certificate, so the true writer of these papers is the one who wins.
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[ 6.1 ms ] story [ 56.9 ms ] threadShould be easy enough to fix, and I doubt it would flag many, if any, incorrect dupes.
It's a phrase I always half jokingly tossed about in my mind when I knew I was behind on my academic deadlines. It's the idea that you can reach the theoretical maximum work rate for a sustained period. Put aside leisure time and sleep and just crank out the assignments, surviving on Doritos. Don't stop to edit, refine, just keep blasting through.
Of course it never quite works out, partly because I get distracted too easily, and partly because I hate composing something that represents less than my best. But looks like this guy really does pass the hyperdrive threshold and doesn't stop.
When I first started using IM clients, I forced myself to retain proper grammar and punctuation (and spelling!), so that I wouldn't get lazy. I can't say this habit influenced my essay-writing abilities in any way, but at least I can keep my dignity in short emails and text messages.
RU serius?! lol i cnt belive tht colege kids type lik ths
I just wanted to comment on how you said you forced yourself to use correct grammar and punctuation on IM. I also use IM a lot, but I tend to adapt my writing style to the other person; if they don't use capitalisation, I don't, if they use 'u' for 'you', so do I. I don't think it's affected my academic writing skills.
http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/
http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/rooter.pdf
In the long run though practical skill matters more than a certificate, so the true writer of these papers is the one who wins.