Fox Business
Expand
Browse All Video
Watch Live

You're watching...

Cheating 101: Big Business

Details

  • Description

    “The Shadow Scholar” author Dave Tomar discusses how he made $50,000 a year writing college papers.

  • Duration 5:26
  • Date

Clips

Also in this playlist...

Latest Video

Auto-advance: ON

Auto-advance
View All

Transcript

This transcript is automatically generated

Countless countless cheating scandals rocking the nation's most -- -- schools.

And our next guest says he's helped thousands of students across the country didn't -- and that.

Joining me now -- -- Mark -- of more than 3500.

Academic papers.

And author of the shadow scholar how I made a living helping college kids sheet.

Dave I'm shocked why she -- this.

Well I did it for financial reasons -- had wanted to make a living as a writer getting out of college.

And truth be told this was the only way that I could -- to do it.

How much money did you make -- paper was of a lot of -- No not a lot of -- But you know there was enough that I was able to make a living it was 220 dollars a -- -- which meant that the student was usually paying twice that much to any number of companies for which I was an independent contractor.

So you know when I when I started I was making about 25000 a year which is just.

Strafing the poverty line and then now by the time I finished at about 50000 which is very competitive with any number of educators.

Well how does this work I -- their companies out there that people in the know that you know paper mills that you call and you get hooked up and is it -- on the down low is anything you earned tax.

It is -- text.

-- there are tons of companies out there and it's not particularly secret.

It's very need to find them all you have to do is Google and any number of options will come up some of them probably.

More legitimate and qualified services than others.

But it's it's very easy to find and and most of the work.

Is legally excused through disclaimers -- they were selling study guides.

These are not to be handed in and to do so is is a violation and whatever plagiarism rules you might have.

-- now from I had no idea -- work.

So Ed tell me what wouldn't you learn about education system having gone through this on this -- dark side.

Doing work for students wouldn't tell you about the level education people -- again.

But I heard there are two things that I learned one of which was a suspicion I always had when I went to school and that was really confirmed for me when I got out and begin to do this for a living.

Which is -- so many students are given -- message and accept the message.

That -- in college to receive a degree to receive grades.

Any learning that happens is either secondary were merely incidental.

Now the other thing that I learned that I I wasn't fully aware of being -- started to do this job and and if this is quite alarming trend.

Is how many of our students there are simply going to school without the the preparation and the dead students are getting a college.

And they left is critical skills of of Reading writing and research and are just way in over their heads.

With the academic rigor that is expected in the university.

Okay -- did you ever feel guilty about doing this was there ever something in the back of your head that said.

While it's just isn't right.

Absolutely.

You -- -- started doing this there is no expectation that I would be doing it for a living but I can tell you.

It's just out of university I was able to rationalize.

A lot of the ethical questions because I was so angry.

With my own school experience I was -- you're paying loans and I had expected I was going to get a little or liberal arts education where I'd be able to further myself as a writer and and that I would learn a great deal but it would be like dead poet's society -- And instead.

It was a lot more like cattle at the marketplace.

Huge lecture halls in and tests that were greeted by machine.

So I was very angry when I started doing this job.

That wasn't my motive my motive was money but that and did -- -- rationalized it.

Now eventually as you grow up and you get less angry and you feel less inclined to seek revenge and whatever -- you may have decided to.

Then you're just stuck in a dead end job him and then like anybody else with that kind of job.

I wish to be out of it but it was Yahoo! and you had to make a living at that point.

Well as he wrote as it turned out helping students cheat on papers was the only available job for which my college had prepared me.

At the end of the day would you tell other kids out there not to go memorable liberal arts -- to have a more focused education.

Not I would actually put into universities and say you need to make this some more worthwhile experience for students.

I I just think of my own education as one that was very dedicated towards the receipt of grades in and degrees.

And it I -- I love learning clearly in order to do what I've done for a living for the last ten years.

You absolutely have to where -- blow your brains I mean it's not an easy job.

If you don't enjoy a -- -- learning and plumbing depths of -- and education.

So the fact that I it had such a terrible time in school I had very little to do -- grades -- Find grades.

If bud I would I -- and we're not really here to learn we're here to be graded.

And that was what alienated me so I would -- schools to find ways to balance.

Well to a fascinating story really -- -- his staff and you open up a window on a whole world that probably a lot of parents wish they knew about earlier thanks for coming on.

Gerri thank you so much for having me.

Load More