[NOTE: The following is not a crisis call nor is it meant as an indictment of the integrity of the profession or any particular individual with in it. Instead, it is observation meant to raise consciousness and present PSA’s correction of the gaming problem in higher education systems around the world.]
The Nature of Higher Education Gaming
Gaming the higher education (HE) system is
a form of cheating and cheating is a problem for all education systems, at all
levels. Along with other known and yet to be conceived means, gaming occurs
when: 1) Students exchange homework, use crib notes during exams, and engage in
contract cheating such as hiring ghost writers for essays or “gunmen”
(as they are called in China) to impersonate and take tests for them or even take the entire course
or degree. 2) Teachers artificially
inflate class averages, create inappropriately easy assignments or tests,
take bribes to inflate individual grades, take
bribes to accept students to athletic programs, and engage in acts of fraud
and plagiarism in research publication. 3) Higher education institutions (HEIs)
accept
bribes to admit un(der)qualified students, lie
about key stats that affect institutional placement on university ranking
systems, admit un(der)qualified students who might contribute to collegiate
sports, put pressure on faculty to (for instance) artificially reduce class
failure rates.
