I think it’s a tough call. Despite promises to the contrary, there may be some retaliation if you decline–denied promotions/raises, harsher treatment in any future “incidents” that may occur, loss of favor, all things to consider.
The economy is tough right now, and jobs are hard to find.
At the same time, what he’s asking is flat out wrong and more than a little scummy. I wouldn’t do it–but I’m a single guy, with no family obligations to consider. I wouldn’t hold a thing like that against a man that felt he had to do it to protect his job and support his family. I would hold it against the lazy kid that can’t write his own damn paper, and his father for aiding and abbetting academic dishonesty.
Actually I’m not looking for justifications to do it; it’s more that I would like to do it but am looking for persuasive reasons not to.
Apart from moral issues, I think my writing the kid’s paper(s) (I’m sure if I got him an A on it, they’d ask for more) would bite him on the ass fairly quickly. It’d encourage him to not to do the reading for the class as assiduously as he should, and the dissonance in his paper performance versus his test performance would be stark.
I’ve not been in this exact situation, but have been in similar. I maintained my integrity then and would again. I take great offense in being referred to as a ‘do-gooder’ who would say one thing and do another.
Why should you believe him when he says this is separate from your employment? He has already demonstrated that he wants an employee to help defraud a university. If you really need the money, get the agreement in writing beforehand. I’m not sure what the standards of conduct are for literature, but this is the kind of thing that, if it got out, could ruin your ability to work in academia or get an advanced degree, if you don’t already have one.
You don’t have to get moral on the boss, though. You could just say “I don’t really have spare time to do this.”
And I still wouldn’t do it. I’m not saying I’m a morally perfect person, far from it. Education is just one of the things I have up on a pedestal.
I would be offended by your comments, but you’re just a person on a message board, and you don’t know me and you don’t know anybody on this board, so no point to it.
Will you be adopting the kid’s voice as well? Because depending on how large the class is, having a kid who can’t string two words together turn in eloquent prose for this assignment would ring some alarm bells for me, regardless of whether it shows up on any plagurism software. So when the professor starts asking specific questions to the kid about his own paper and he can’t answer them…well, I guess that’s the kid’s problem, isn’t it?
I don’t advise writing the paper either, but if you do, you should do the following:
you probably already have an idea where the student is enrolled, if only because your boss’ boss has a college sticker on his car, or whatnot. Do a bit of online research and try to find out what the particular class is and who’s teaching it. Make a note of this info someplace for future reference. Make a copy of the paper you write, and for extra fun, certify-mail it to yourself and don’t open the envelope up, either. [This routine establishes the date of the paper in question.] If this clown (your boss’ boss, that is) makes waves of trouble for you in the future, you’ve got this trump over him: you can make trouble for his kid with the university, which might go so far as to retroactively void his diploma. At the very least, you’d have the documentation you’d need in an H.R. appeal or lawsuit against your boss’ boss.
Establish beforehand that the compensation is not dependent upon the grade for the paper… or if it is, to make a lot more money off the deal for an A or A- – and arrange to have independent confirmation of the grade in case he tries to stiff you. Confirmation of the grade will probably also help you accomplish the #1 point above, WRT determining the college, class, and professor involved.
|*| I wouldn’t want to risk my work situation. Sure he might just take it on the chin, but why risk finding out? To everybody who draws the conclusion that the boss is a scumbag - maybe so, but the potential scumbag is still his boss.
|*| It gets the kid through a tricky spot. Who hasn’t been in a situation (fair enough likely down to their own bad practise) and wished for a leg-up like this?
|*| You clearly would enjoy it. And get paid at the same time.
I’d add the caveat that it has to be a one-off. If he gets asked for more then you can’t/won’t help. If he gets examined on the subject he’s on his own.
Based on the number of “OMG never!” responses I wonder about the level of truthfullness being shown here. So it’s dishonest, we’re not talking about helping to bury a body here.
You know, for a close enough friend, I’d move the fucking body! I just happen to think education is really freakin important and what’s more, I rather think the OP does, too, or maybe I have a better (I understand better is subjective) opinion of him than is correct.
Your definition of a ‘generally good guy’ is different from mine.
Not only is he asking you to commit fraud, he’s also refusing to let you tutor the kid (who can’t organise himself anyway), plus he has to mention ‘it’s a separate deal from your job’.
Just think about that last for a moment.
This guy, who employs you, thinks that an employer might ask an employee to commit fraud on company time?! And he has to make it clear he’s not asking that?
Sheesh.
Perhaps if you do commit this crime (conspiracy to defraud), he’ll use it as an excuse to fire you (“obviously we can’t have this sort of dishonesty in the company”).
Tell the boss you’d be more than happy to be a super-powered tutor for his kid and walk him through writing the paper, but actually writing the paper without the kids input would be very inadvisable since the teacher is not an idiot and would know it’s not the kid’s language/writing style, and besides it’s not something you’re comfortable with. It’s not just important, it’s *necessary *that the kid actually write the paper in his style.
If little Mr. Busy-student can’t make the time in the evening to be spoon fed the info and citations and background he needs to write the paper, then sit down for a few hours with you to beat the thing out, then it’s not worth doing. All you should need to do this is to prep all your background research and sit down with Sonny, hose him down with it, and walk him topic by topic through what he needs to address, and let him figure out how to put it in his own words.
You’re offering the boss a solution on our terms. You get paid, the kid actually writes the paper, and maybe learns a little bit, and you keep your integrity (mostly) intact.
Oh, I can think of plenty of people I’d move the body for. Well…four. My wife, my baby sister, my favorite niece, and my best friend from college.
I have been in a somewhat similar situation to this once. When the aforementioned sister was going through her last year of college, she had a similar problem and asked me to explain Titus Andronicus to her for a paper she was writing, and to critique her drafts. I had to fight the urge to write the paper for her, because I was enjoying it so.
In a way, Jim would be wasting his money by paying me for this. For me, writing a research paper on this topic is like going to the Superbowl for a normal person. And I’d get paid too (the amoral part of me thinks)-- Sweet!
But my conscience is getting in the way. Stupid conscience. It’s always "Don’t steal from the till! Don’t sleep with your SAT tutorees! Don’t send out mass emailings of those photoshopped pictures of Sarah Palin making out with Dana Perino!
I’ve met the kid, and he’s reasonably intelligent; he just is not the lit major type. He’s having the same sort of problems I would have had if I’d taken Differential Equations at the same time I was researching my senior paper.
Also, pointing out the necessity of adopting the kid’s voice is not helpful. It adds to the challenge, which is a quarter of the temptation.
Writing a deliberately A people would be stupid. It’s what I want to do, but nonetheless stupid.
This is dishonest and fraudulent. Don’t do it. Your boss has done the right* thing by offering you an easy out- take it. Nothing good will come of this.
By all means, offer to tutor his son, and help out. Nothing wrong with tutoring a kid who’s struggling, and certainly nothing wrong with taking home a little extra for it. But do not do this work for him.
*That is, better than suggesting that Skald’s job is on the line over this one. It’s still wrong, but much better than it could be.
Helping out of a love for the subject material and sympathy for the kid’s situation is one thing, taking money for writing a paper is a step down, and would be considered cheating by any professor and any university. I don’t care to persuade you to do the right thing, because it should be its own reward.
I think you’re severely underestimating the importance of competency in literature for an engineer.
I am not kidding here. Time and again, I have wished that the engineers I’ve worked with had a better grasp of concepts such as literature, language, and even philosophy. To a casual observer, such matters might not matter, but a lack of competency does manifest itself in subtle ways. This includes sloppy research, the use of reckless logic, and an inability to express one’s self well in writing.
Schools don’t make engineers take these courses just for the heck of it, mind you. They do so because developing competency in such fields makes for better, more well rounded, and more competent human beings.
I just happen to think education is really freakin important and what’s more, I rather think the OP does, too, or maybe I have a better (I understand better is subjective) opinion of him than is correct.