Writer-for-Hire Gets a Book Deal to Write About Helping Students Cheat
By PATRICIA COHENWhen an anonymous pen-for-hire wrote a tell-all article in The Chronicle of Higher Education about his booming career writing papers for cheating undergraduates and graduate students it caused a stir across college campuses. Now Bloomsbury USA has signed the writer, who is based on the East Coast and uses the pen name Ed Dante, for a book about cheating in higher education. He quit his job to work on the project and plans to reveal his identity when it is published in 2012.
On his Web site, he says: “I read on Twitter that the article was ‘sending chills through the academic community.’ Of course others have dismissed me as a ‘sociopath.’ The goal of this site is to move this conversation forward. There is much more to discuss than my role in student cheating.”
He has invited students, faculty members, administrators and others to join the discussion or contribute their own experiences. In the November article in The Chronicle, titled “The Shadow Scholar,” he said that the three demographic groups that most frequently seek his services are “the English-as-second-language student; the hopelessly deficient student; and the lazy rich kid.”
Peter Miller, director of publicity at Bloomsbury, said the publisher had met with Mr. Dante and worked closely with The Chronicle to ensure he is who he says he is. “It appears to be on the up-and-up,” Mr. Miller said.
I'm not sure "chills" were sent so much as a feeling of ickiness. I wanted to take a shower after reading his piece in the Chronicle.
ReplyDeleteSad that this publishing house is named after a group of nonconforming intellectuals and artists, and would publish a book on how to avoid intellectual life altogether.
ReplyDeletewhat a bunch of bullshit
ReplyDeleteThe "disconnect" is such bullshit. How did we get here? We were never students? That's a bunch of cry baby bullshit. This isn't the middle east we're talking about - we're talking about people who went through college guiding others through college. We know their perspective. I know there are generation gaps and crap like that - but this is not the great divide here, people, it's been going on for ages. But when we were in college, we didn't use the fact that we never had to turn the crank on a mimeograph as an excuse to cheat. It's all entirely bullshit.
Hey, we called it: ShadowDork was prepping a book. Nicely done, whoever that was!
ReplyDelete"ED DANTE" MUST DIE!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI find it fascinating that this book deal comes on the heels of the "Academically Adrift" publication. Could students possibly be "academically adrift" because of people like Ed Dante? Nah, that's too obvious - it must be the fault of academia itself!
ReplyDeleteWanker (Ed Dante, not anyone on this site).
The guy is first off lying, and doing a great deal of lying, unless the only people he's helping are students at for-profit universities. Because no one can complete a thesis or dissertation for another person and have that person pass, at least at a "real" university. There are tests (often which are not take-home), a proposal defense, and then the student actually has to speak to the dissertation director, who will, oh, ask questions.
ReplyDeleteThis guy is lying and the sooner everyone realizes it, the better. Some nice fact checkers/reporters (who will protect his "clients") need to go in there and find out exactly who he helped and in what capacity. My guess is he won't tell them, and if he did what he "accomplished" won't be anything near what he claimed he accomplished. He's not that smart. We're not that dumb.
Let's staple his naughty bits to the floor with an industrial staple gun and then KICK HIM repeatedly, to see how many times we can make him spin around the pivot!
ReplyDelete"He has invited students, faculty members, administrators and others to join the discussion or contribute their own experiences."
ReplyDeleteTranslation: He has sought publicity for his book so he can make money.
"Peter Miller, director of publicity at Bloomsbury, said the publisher had met with Mr. Dante and worked closely with The Chronicle to ensure he is who he says he is. 'It appears to be on the up-and-up,' Mr. Miller said."
ReplyDeleteThat's an odd way of putting it.
The publishing industry embraces douches, frauds and liars. Wow, is that ever not news.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised no one has commented here on whether this person will have someone else write his book...
ReplyDelete