[Cali Panthers Fan]

I don't know if this fits, but I work at a private university where tuition is high, but virtually everyone is accepted and it truly doesn't take that much to get a degree here. We have plenty of very wealthy kids who ain't so good at the book-learnin' thang. Most students eventually make their way through an undergraduate program as long as they do the bare minimum.

My experience with these students is that they have no moral compass when it comes to academic honesty. Lying about their work comes as easy to them as breathing. It's normalized, as one student told me after admitting that her tutor wrote her paper, "I did this all the time in high school and nobody told me it was wrong." These kids are raised either by their parents or the school systems to think that dishonesty is the norm and entirely acceptable.

Further to that, the school rarely seems to care. Sure, when egregious examples of academic dishonesty are found they suspend or expel the student, but they are often allowed back in after their "time out" without any further reprimand. At the end of the day, if the student continues to pay their exorbitant tuition, they're allowed to muddle their way through classes and get a piece of paper that really wasn't earned, but bought.

This is the American way. I find it disheartening, and it makes me wonder how much longer I want to be a part of it. There are positives to the institutions, don't get me wrong. It's not all bad. It's just that there is an undercurrent of dishonesty that permeates all of post-secondary institutions in America. Education is good business these days, as everyone is striving to get ahead in an economy where there are fewer and fewer quality jobs for high school educated people. Heck, even an undergraduate degree doesn't guarantee anything these days.

This case is a symptom of the general sickness plaguing universities in America. You can't just treat the fever, you have to attack the infection somehow. Whole scale changes need to be made.