Althouse: "I need a taller college aged brunette female student to take a math placement test for me in person as I am out of state currently."

March 22, 2014

"I need a taller college aged brunette female student to take a math placement test for me in person as I am out of state currently."

"If you believe that you can be of help please respond to this ad and let me know your math qualifications. Must know college level math. Willing to pay a neg fee. This could turn into more work in the near future if interested. Serious inquiries only as I need this done ASAP! Thank you!"

Casual, open cheating via Craigslist.

21 comments:

Unknown said...: that's really awesome.; 3/22/14, 12:32 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Moral compass--how does it work?; 3/22/14, 12:43 PM
Paddy O said...: People have other people do things and get credit for those things.

Sounds like she'd be a good manager, judge, or politician.

Obamacare! Even though Obama didn't write or read it.; 3/22/14, 12:46 PM
Levi Starks said...: Out of state = on spring break in FL
She has the kind of problem solving skills we need in academia. Let's hope she's planning a career in politics or law.; 3/22/14, 12:47 PM
Bayoneteer said...: Blogger KenK said...
IIRC one of the Sam Walton clan hired a ringer for some her classes, got caught and had her degree revoked.

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/oct/20/local/me-heiress20; 3/22/14, 12:47 PM
Paddy O said...: Obama: "Crimea is def not my strong suit."; 3/22/14, 12:47 PM
harrogate said...: This goes well with the argument we often here that college is only valuable for learning what is "useful" or "practical."

Much like prostitution and porn, what this young lady is engaged in is very "useful" and "practical." Indeed, we could even say she is modelling "economic efficiency."; 3/22/14, 12:52 PM
SteveR said...: @harrogate I think that's about right.; 3/22/14, 1:01 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Harrogate is learning stuff here and will not need a stand-in for the final exam.; 3/22/14, 1:14 PM
Glen Filthie said...: And why is this relevant?

Our universities have been intellectual and moral wastelands since the 60's.; 3/22/14, 1:15 PM
harrogate said...: Aj Lynch,

Absolutely. Now go find a useless adjunct on food stamps capable of actually making an exam worth taking.; 3/22/14, 1:17 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: I'm going to advertise for someone to impersonate me on the internet. I can't take it any more.; 3/22/14, 1:31 PM
Anonymous said...: In high school, someone asked me to take the SATs for him for $$$. Knowing what I know now, maybe I'd do it. Maybe not. I'm not sure.

I didn't do it, but for pissy reasons rather than moral offense. It annoyed me that this "stupid" (as I saw it then) person would get credit for my score. I had frenemies stealing my creative work, even selling it, and presenting it to parents and teachers as their own. I hated that. Intellectual work that could be scored was a safe haven I didn't want invaded.

As it turns out, taking credit for and profiting from someone else's work is institutionally codified in the real world; I'm no longer supposed to take offense, but to see this as morally sanctioned and legally binding, even if it still feels like intellectual/creative rape.

With the current emphasis on "teams", it doesn't make any difference anyway. You can still end up carrying the slackers to keep your job. Whoever can afford to walk away is often in the best position.

In hindsight, this "stupid" person was not stupid, just busy doing other things. Many qualities this person had would make him a valuable addition to any team.

I'm more aware that $ is $. Taking SATs was a skill I had. Why should young me be penalized for entering into an exchange of services on the open market?

I don't see it as a moral issue. Or rather, the real world is so gray in this area on so many levels that at times I see these rules as a cute pretense not valid outside the realm of childhood, like Santa Claus.; 3/22/14, 2:11 PM
gadfly said...: Odds are that no one answered the add. Paraphrasing the football axiom, three things can happen when you take a test for someone else and two them are bad.

You can pass the test which will get you paid.

You can fail the test which likely will get you punched.

You can get caught cheating which will get you in trouble with the school if you are an enrolled student; otherwise you can be declared a trespasser and thrown into jail.; 3/22/14, 2:31 PM
David-2 said...: Without reading the article (which might have the answer) I'm curious about this:

"This could turn into more work in the near future if interested."

What do you suppose the ongoing opportunity here is? More placement tests for different schools? Taking final exams once enrolled? Or?; 3/22/14, 2:53 PM
Jupiter said...: Two thoughts come to mind.

1 - Cheating on a Math placement exam is the start, not the end, of a complicated deception. I suppose that's why this could turn into more work in future.

2 - It is highly unlikely that the person placing this ad will ever need even the no doubt minimal math skills she has already, for any serious purpose. I am guessing she is not a STEM major. Since she is expected to take useless courses as part of her "investment" in a job ticket, why shouldn't she pay someone to handle the ugly details? Like hiring someone to stand in line for you.

To paraphrase the Soviet joke, "As long as they pretend to teach us, we'll pretend to learn".; 3/22/14, 2:56 PM
Jupiter said...: Hmmm. "Paraphrase" isn't right, is it? What's the word I am looking for? Or is it a phrase? "With apologies to the old Soviet joke, ...". Can you apologize to a joke?; 3/22/14, 3:03 PM
Anonymous said...: Pictured ID not needed.; 3/22/14, 4:03 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: "Will take standardized tests for food."; 3/22/14, 4:14 PM
Anonymous said...: SOJO: I don't see it as a moral issue.

That was quite a load of casuistry you just upchucked, for something you don't see as a moral issue.; 3/22/14, 4:22 PM
Carl Pham said...: Meh. The purpose of this article is to convince the (rightly) skeptical parent or employer that teachers have not watered down standards, indeed that they are heroically sticking their finger in the hole in the dike through which oceans of incompetence and sleaze threaten to pour (probably as a result of Koch brothers' money, or the failure of the citizenry to tax themselves enough to provide each and every math teacher with a pension the likes of which firemen usually collect, e.g. 90% of your last year's salary forever starting at age 55).

It's the most precious kind of bullshit. Schools and teachers have long ago abandoned any serious standards for academic accomplishment, and this student understands that quite well. She's not "brazen" she's just less willing than others to go through the motions of camouflaging the lack of actual learning that is taking place in American higher education. Some teacher should've taken her in hand and quietly led her to the means for socially acceptable circumvention of math education standards. There are plenty.; 3/22/14, 5:15 PM