Some say there is a vast “cheating epidemic” in colleges today. Writing studies scholar and Miami University professor Elizabeth Wardle disagrees. Instead of putting all the focus – and the blame – on students, Wardle argues that the problem lies in colleges themselves: how they are staffed, how they are funded, and what they say their mission is.
- Wardle begins by summarizing a “they say”: to prevent students from cheating, teachers should require students to handwrite assignments in class (“blue book essays”) or give oral exams instead of written assignments. What do you think about this proposal? What are its benefits and drawbacks?
- Wardle gives a few reasons why she thinks “colleges are broken.” Name and briefly explain two of these reasons.
- Find a place where Wardle acknowledges a naysayer view. What is the naysayer argument? What points does Wardle concede? How does including this naysayer view help Wardle make a more persuasive argument?
- Wardle argues that colleges and universities are a “public good.” What does that mean? What is an argument against this stance?
- Watch this short video featuring Arthur C. Brooks, a Harvard University professor and expert on happiness. Do you agree or disagree (or both) with Brooks’ claim that college should teach students how to think? Reflect on your own higher education. Describe a course or assignment that taught you “how to think” (as Brooks says) or how to “innovate and solve hard problems” (as Wardle suggests).
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I believe what Elizabeth is saying that higher education is not focus deeper enough what students are contribute any longer, a lot of student letting AI do the work for them some students don’t put much efforts any longer into they studies and she also mention is not only the students faults some of the blame should go to the facilities also for not correcting or punish ,she suggested maybe if allowed hand writing composition or any sort of material it would best ,she also mention college are broken because they not making any effort to stop cheating.The naysayer it show that there’s a lot of dishonest not only in the individuals but also in the system it self.
Arthur C.Brooks ‘’stated that college should teach the students how to think not what to think ‘’
I do agree with him on this statement why do we go to college to think what we already know why we attending why not teach us how to develop how thinking skills instead of.
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I personally think giving students handwritten assignments so they don’t use AI would be beneficial because then students can’t copy and paste things from the internet and it could definitely help the problem by forcing the students to have to put in effort on assignments.
The author talks about how she thinks “colleges are broken” because teachers aren’t necessarily trying to stop students from cheating which causes students to keep doing it because they are getting away with it and think it’s okay to do when in reality it causes them to not succeed as well as they could if they paid more attention and did their own work.
I’m not exactly sure if this is considered a naysayer but something I noticed from the article was that the author talked about how class sizes should be smaller but the classes are only getting bigger. Having smaller class sizes would decrease the chance of students cheating because then teachers can pay more attention to the few students in their class rather than the whole room full of students.
I think what the author means by “public good” when it comes to college is that people with a higher education can thrive well and can get jobs that are needed in the world. People that don’t go to college and get a degree can still thrive if they choose to but a lot of jobs that are needed now days, need higher education so people that are willing to put the effort in to get that education will only help the country out and the more people push others to get a degree, the more good it does to the public as a whole. Jobs that don’t need higher education can still do good for the public but as long as you are educated on what you are doing and know how to properly do it, it doesn’t matter if you go to college or not. The more people in college cheat using AI, the less it’ll do good for the public because they won’t have all the knowledge they should’ve had, if they had paid attention more and done the work on their own.
I think the video brought up a lot of valid topics and one of the guys talked about how we’ve lost a lot of high education to wondering if those people will get a job or make money which shouldn’t be the case but everything has gone very downhill in terms of people having jobs and wanting to work to be successful in life. He also talked about how college should be about what humanity is all about, what will actually make you into a kind person who can lead others to a life of greater happiness, and how can you become a more tolerant individual in a pluralistic society, which in my eyes are all important things to know about and after learning how to do those things, society would be so much better and more enjoyable. I think college should teach you simple skills such as how to work with others, communicate, think independently and with peers but I feel like the only way to get the full effect of college and what it’s all about is for students to pay attention to the work and be disciplined if they are caught cheating. Not doing anything about that will only influence others around them to do it and then all students are cheating their way through a degree and at that point, they do not deserve the degree they are given because they didn’t put the work and effort into the assignments they turned in so once they get into the real world, they don’t fully know what they are doing which at this point, I would say is a problem in this generation.
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Elizabeth argues that higher education isn’t pushing students to engage deeply with their work anymore. She notes that many students now rely on AI, but she also believes colleges share the blame for not enforcing rules or preventing cheating. She suggests that more handwritten or in class assignments could help. Overall, she feels the system is “broken” because institutions aren’t doing enough to address dishonesty.
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