31 May 2015

Bill Gates is famous for responding with: “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it” when asked who he’d rather hire for a difficult position. It’s a unique perspective to take on desirable personality traits in a potential new hire, but it can mean walking a thin line between lazy and clever.

Unfortunately, for students involved in the recent cheating scandals circling Sydney Universities, the case between being lazy and being clever by outsourcing essays might cost more than just a few grade points.

The University of Wollongong has reportedly already stripped one student of their degree and failed five others after they were caught buying essays online in a statewide plagiarism scandal.

Remembering the days in class when teachers used to insist on putting folders between students during test-taking periods brings fond memories, but it seems the purpose for it was lost on some poor souls later on in schooling.

University is hard: if it wasn’t, everyone would be walking around with degrees. The difference between the students who go onto bigger and better things is the integrity of those who accomplish everything according to the rules of the institution. Ultimately, it’s a game and the cheat codes are there to divide the weak from the herd.

Following an investigation by The Sydney Morning Herald, the University of Wollongong traced 26 requests to the online essay-writing company MyMaster to eight of its students.

It’s an unfortunate situation to have to take back the degree of a student who maybe made one wrong decision, even when the code of conduct is clear on its stance against plagiarism. The question behind why these students across numerous universities felt they needed to use this site to do their work for them is still hanging in the air, however.

The names of the students haven’t been released, and we aren’t even sure we want them to be, but we do hope these universities take a close look at the outlets they provide their students in regards to assignments and appreciate that for some, this might have been an easy out, but for others this decision might have been linked to bigger issues.

Next time they should submit a screenshot to ‘turnitin’.