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An industry that helps Chinese cheat their way into and through US colleges

reuters.com

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Re: An industry that helps Chinese cheat their way into and through US colleges

#151

Post by abrookewood »

bigtunacan wrote: post #114
abrookewood wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Australian, I can confirm that in some parts of the country this is probably true! Seriously, our elocution is nothing short of atrocious: we drop words, use frequent contractions and then just roll everything into one mumbling, rolling wall of noise. Witness "owzigoin?". Known in more respectable locations as "How are you doing?". FWIW I'm just as guilty as the rest.

As a USA native I can confirm that it is even simpler here. You can just say, "Sup?"

Clearly we have work to do ...

Re: An industry that helps Chinese cheat their way into and through US colleges

#152

Post by neil1 »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #112
sotojuan wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment doesn't really add anything to the discussion especially because colleges have different grading scales and culture of grade inflation or deflation. For example in mine most GPAs hovered around 3.5. A 3.8 would be rare.

Grade inflation is a problem for many state American universities, at least. Havard also is a private university where grade inflation has been highlighted as a real problem. See: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/12/... I haven't heard of any universities recently where the problem is instead grade deflation, any links to share?

Reed is a wonderful example of a school with almost no grade inflation. In the last 30 years only 11 students have had perfect GPAs.

See: https://www.reed.edu/registrar/pdfs/grades.pdf

Re: An industry that helps Chinese cheat their way into and through US colleges

#153

Post by studentrob »

s_baby wrote: post #27

The international students have unreasonably high standards for maintaining financial assistance and staying out of academic probation(3.5-3.8 at my university). By design college courses give work just a little beyond what a student can reasonably accomplish(with a "good" grade) and curve accordingly. These kids aren't just cheating they are marginalizing students who are honest or don't have this kind of social acc…

> These kids aren't just cheating they are marginalizing students who are honest or don't have this kind of social access

Sue the school [1]. There are firms that specialize in protecting people's rights in education [2]. Suing doesn't make you a bad person, and you don't even have to do the talking

[1] http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/01/sport/ncaa-response-to-law...

[2] https://www.thefire.org/

Re: An industry that helps Chinese cheat their way into and through US colleges

#154

Post by pnathan »

jchiu1106 wrote: post #133

As a former Chinese international student graduated from one of the top Canadian universities with distinction, I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, the toxic culture permeated the Chinese visa student community is definitely responsible for the high rate of cheating. Most Chinese visa students came to study in the west did not came to pursue academic excellence. They (and their parents most likely) see it…

As a former grad student who has interacted with both the good and the bad of your group, I understand the differences... and regret the unfortunate realities.

I remember a Chinese PhD student who could not function in spoken English . Nice guy. Always smiled, bobbed his head, and said "hi", and that was the extent of his verbal vocab. Still don't know how he got into an American graduate school. Really brings the department down. :-/

Re: An industry that helps Chinese cheat their way into and through US colleges

#155

Post by studentrob »

tristanj wrote: post #2

Part 1 and Part 2 of the series are also worth reading http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/college-s... http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/college-s...

Thanks, didn't realize that!

Re: An industry that helps Chinese cheat their way into and through US colleges

#156

Post by stordoff »

abrookewood wrote: post #105
howlingfantods wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not about cheating, but my friend runs a education consulting service in China and he recently got a call from a father saying that his 20 year old daughter was in the USA studying English but found it too difficult. The father wanted to know if my friend could help his daughter transfer to a school in a country speaking easier English, like Australia. He and his daughter apparently thought Australia spoke some sort…

As an Australian, I can confirm that in some parts of the country this is probably true! Seriously, our elocution is nothing short of atrocious: we drop words, use frequent contractions and then just roll everything into one mumbling, rolling wall of noise. Witness "owzigoin?". Known in more respectable locations as "How are you doing?". FWIW I'm just as guilty as the rest.

Isn't that typical of most English countries (and presumably other languages)? For example, in Yorkshire (UK), "I would not have" might become "I'dn't've".

Re: An industry that helps Chinese cheat their way into and through US colleges

#157

Post by studentrob »

mmkx wrote: post #98

This is happening on a mass scale at University of California, Irvine. Nobody is investigating.

Sue them. https://www.thefire.org/

The school won't investigate. They're getting money from students. This hurts your degree and job prospects when unqualified graduates get hired with fake GPAs

Re: An industry that helps Chinese cheat their way into and through US colleges

#158

Post by studentrob »

paradite wrote: post #104

One common mistake made by westerners is treating lack in language proficiency as low competency in work or study. Native English speakers take for granted the ability to speak English fluently but do not realize it takes years to master spoken English as a non-native speaker. Although this is tangential to the issue being discussed here, but you can see this mistake appearing in lots of comments here.

You make a good point that one solution to this problem is getting the incoming Chinese students a better English education. They obviously don't really have it before arriving, and schools want their tuition.

Schools should enroll Chinese students in English education for 3-6 months prior to the beginning of the term.

Re: An industry that helps Chinese cheat their way into and through US colleges

#159

Post by paradite »

sheepmullet wrote: post #120
paradite wrote: post #104

One common mistake made by westerners is treating lack in language proficiency as low competency in work or study. Native English speakers take for granted the ability to speak English fluently but do not realize it takes years to master spoken English as a non-native speaker. Although this is tangential to the issue being discussed here, but you can see this mistake appearing in lots of comments here.

Because it is a good indicator when studying in an English speaking country. If you can't understand the lecturer, the tutor, the homework, the assignments, the exams, the study material, other students etc, then you are incredibly unlikely to be learning a whole lot.

You raised a valid point. I agree that the level of English proficiency would have an impact on the effectiveness of learning.

However my main point is that the poor command of language should not be confused with poor knowledge on the subject domain. For example, a PhD student who just arrived at US may not be able to communicate well enough in English to articulate his/her thoughts, but that by no means is an indicator that the person has poor knowledge on his main research topic.

Re: An industry that helps Chinese cheat their way into and through US colleges

#160

Post by paradite »

studentrob wrote: post #158
paradite wrote: post #104

One common mistake made by westerners is treating lack in language proficiency as low competency in work or study. Native English speakers take for granted the ability to speak English fluently but do not realize it takes years to master spoken English as a non-native speaker. Although this is tangential to the issue being discussed here, but you can see this mistake appearing in lots of comments here.

You make a good point that one solution to this problem is getting the incoming Chinese students a better English education. They obviously don't really have it before arriving, and schools want their tuition. Schools should enroll Chinese students in English education for 3-6 months prior to the beginning of the term.

I absolutely agree with you on this.
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