How corrupt is college? (and rigged in favor of a small group of people)

[noname223]

Last week something weird happened. I saw a student with a mock exam in his hands which will be released in some weeks to us students. It was the mock exam of this year and he already filled it out. Made me wonder....I already suspected things like that. Not sure whether this is a smoking gun...It is weird for sure.

First of all college in the US and other places is more rigged than in Germany. Germany barely has any fees. I know 2 friends who go to a private college which is quite rare in Germany. And all my friends who go to public colleges (which sometimes even have a better reputation) are stunned that they have to pay several thousand of euros. It is probably still a joke compared to US standards. Of course free education should be a human right. And I know a member in this forum who suffers way too much because of this cruel injustice.

Moreover in the US it is a common practice that top athletes are invited to join elite college. This is so damn ass stupid. This makes college look like a joke.

In the US if your parents are rich donors any door can be opened. Even if you are just there to get drunk every single week with no academic ambitions. Maybe my opinion is a little bit too strong. But I have heard such stories. And you see it in mainstream movies etc. It seems to be perverted.

The smartest students I met so far were children of academics. I think they nurture their children in the best way. I have one close college friend who is so lazy but from the level of intelligence he bulldozes everyone. I think the way they raise their children is already rigging it into their favor. My mom instead beated me up on a daily basis. I will never be more than a pathetic overachiever. My genes are fucked.

There are other levels of corruption. Science gets corrupted by money. It is more about getting funding for your research projects than to contribute to knowledge.

Then there are frauds. For example science often relies on statistics. (I fucking hate statistics which is why I will never very good in it) I think many people could explain it better than me. But there are many statistical methods where it is easy to fake your results. You can pretend that your research was a huge success but in reality you just adapted your hypothesis and stuff like that. But in other instances it is even extremely difficult almost impossible to prove that you are a faker. Some frauds get a little bit too overconfident like Elizabeth Holmes. Her story blew off on the media. I think she did research on honesty and even alluded it is okay to lie sometimes to get success in a book. (Don't quote me on the exact statement I cannot find it or maybe I am faking that claim so that my threads go through the roof concerning clicks rates. And maybe it is not enough anymore for me to rank place 4 in the popularity ranking of mass posters behind Forever Sleep and FuneralCry. To be serious I think I once read it but it is hard to find that now with limited time. )

David Foster Wallace kind of alluded in The Pale King that he did the homework of other students to earn some extra money. Personally I would not want that. No matter on which side of that game. I would probably not be smart enough anyway.

However there are platforms where students can find summaries of other students. You can get accesss either by uploading helpful material for other people. Or you pay money. I have spend money for that a couple of times and found amazing stuff. Sometimes it saved my ass so so much. I got the perfect grade as the sole students in a course with several hundred students. But is this cheating? I would say no. It was a lot of work to study the summary. There were not a few mistakes. And I had to study it very concentrated for a very long time to understand and internalize it. And I did further research to get a better understandingo of the covered topics. But for my mental health such summaries are a gift. Lecturers give way oo much literature to read it fully. It is horrible for my mental health to be under so much pressure. I am not sure whether I could get into trouble for sharing my summaries on such a platform. My main reason not to do it that it costs so much time. And that my way of organizing my stuff is weird to say at least.

What do you think how corrupt is college actually?

 

[noname223]

Bump. Curious for answers.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I guess it depends on the college! Nothing would really surprise me though. I think- sadly- so much is about money now- rather than ability and talent- in the UK anyhow. Our tuition fees are horrendous. They're even higher for international students. So, in general- that's going to put people off going. There are only going to be so many scholarships available. There are student loans but- who really wants to go into the workplace already in so much debt?

I think teachers often have their favourites. It's bound to happen really. The better ones will still do a thorough job for everyone though. Still- in a way- can you blame them? A student who is particularly gifted in their chosen subject and who is willing to put the effort in- of course, they will want to see them succeed. More so probably than someone who skips classes, hands in their coursework late, speaks disrepectfully to them. We're all only human at the end of the day. As to whether that star pupil should be getting special treatment? Kind of tricky.

Someone in my secondary school was so good at Art that I believe they sat an A level while the rest of the class did their GCSE- I may have remembered that wrong but basically- they were at that stage. One of our maths tutors challenged an exceptionally bright pupil to sit a past paper alongside them and they scored only slightly less than the tutor! So long as it isn't taking time away from the other students- in a way- why shouldn't these terribly bright people be encouraged? I expect these tutors did this in their own time. Otherwise- we're basically saying- exceptionally bright people should be held back according to their peers. It's just as to whether it compromises the teaching quality for the rest of the class I suppose.

As to corruption though. Maybe but that would look very serious for the teacher and college if it came out. What amount of money would be worth the risk?

That guy you saw with the mock exam. Are you certain it was this years and not a previous year? Maybe he's struggling, so the tutor found a previous year's exam to give him to practice. Maybe he needs to take time off during the exam period- so- needed to submit it early. I expect mocks aren't quite as time crucial as actual exams. I remember doing GCSE's and our tutors had to keep us in a room after the exam had finished for around 30 mins because that exam would be happening at different times across the country! It seemed so funny at the time. Like we'd have a 16 year old friend somewhere else in England that we'd memorise and tell the exam questions too. We didn't have mobiles back then. It must be a complete nightmare now. I wonder if students have to walk through metal detectors! Lol! But yeah- it could be all sorts of reasons I guess.

If you think it's corruption though- what do you suppose is the plan? The teacher marks that paper and he memorizes where he went wrong to smash the real paper? Does your mock grade affect your final grade? Seems weird he was the only one to do it but- maybe he asked for extra practice. You could ask him I guess! People would have been all over that in my school. You seem more polite!

 

[noname223]

I guess it depends on the college! Nothing would really surprise me though. I think- sadly- so much is about money now- rather than ability and talent- in the UK anyhow. Our tuition fees are horrendous. They're even higher for international students. So, in general- that's going to put people off going. There are only going to be so many scholarships available. There are student loans but- who really wants to go into the workplace already in so much debt?

I think teachers often have their favourites. It's bound to happen really. The better ones will still do a thorough job for everyone though. Still- in a way- can you blame them? A student who is particularly gifted in their chosen subject and who is willing to put the effort in- of course, they will want to see them succeed. More so probably than someone who skips classes, hands in their coursework late, speaks disrepectfully to them. We're all only human at the end of the day. As to whether that star pupil should be getting special treatment? Kind of tricky.

Someone in my secondary school was so good at Art that I believe they sat an A level while the rest of the class did their GCSE- I may have remembered that wrong but basically- they were at that stage. One of our maths tutors challenged an exceptionally bright pupil to sit a past paper alongside them and they scored only slightly less than the tutor! So long as it isn't taking time away from the other students- in a way- why shouldn't these terribly bright people be encouraged? I expect these tutors did this in their own time. Otherwise- we're basically saying- exceptionally bright people should be held back according to their peers. It's just as to whether it compromises the teaching quality for the rest of the class I suppose.

As to corruption though. Maybe but that would look very serious for the teacher and college if it came out. What amount of money would be worth the risk?

That guy you saw with the mock exam. Are you certain it was this years and not a previous year? Maybe he's struggling, so the tutor found a previous year's exam to give him to practice. Maybe he needs to take time off during the exam period- so- needed to submit it early. I expect mocks aren't quite as time crucial as actual exams. I remember doing GCSE's and our tutors had to keep us in a room after the exam had finished for around 30 mins because that exam would be happening at different times across the country! It seemed so funny at the time. Like we'd have a 16 year old friend somewhere else in England that we'd memorise and tell the exam questions too. We didn't have mobiles back then. It must be a complete nightmare now. I wonder if students have to walk through metal detectors! Lol! But yeah- it could be all sorts of reasons I guess.

If you think it's corruption though- what do you suppose is the plan? The teacher marks that paper and he memorizes where he went wrong to smash the real paper? Does your mock grade affect your final grade? Seems weird he was the only one to do it but- maybe he asked for extra practice. You could ask him I guess! People would have been all over that in my school. You seem more polite!

I am 100% it was the mock exam of this year. The mock exam is not graded. The most boring explanation would be: one tutor did his own thing and handed the mock exam way earlier to the students than expected. This would be plausible but still weird. Becuase I think so far we don't have covered all mock exam topics....

The student with the mock exam in his hands was older than usual students. One theory could be he personally knows one of the tutors they started together at college as freshmen for example. And thus he has connections. I would not rule that option out. (such things already happened people told stories about it). However it would be very careless to sit with it in your hand in lecture room where everyone can spot it easily. He also did not really hide it.

Maybe the boring explanation is the most likely one. But I am really not sure...

 

[noname223]

Holy fucking shit...I am quite manic and scared this could lead to a new breakdwon. Mania can also be triggered by very positive things. Why this thread? I won't be very explicit because I am scared...this was an overwhelming week so far.

I just witnessed big corruption at college into my favor...something I have never witnessed before and never expected to witness. I am pretty stunned. I am not sure what the light version could be of this story. I never asked for that favor someone offered it me without anything. I did not ask for. He just gave me something which will help me a lot in my preparation. He is the culprit if it comes out I hope there won't be a punishment but if it comes out he will be blamed. And no it is not the solution for the upcoming exam. I am not sure whether it is allowed what he did. I think he just gave it to me to brag. I assume he also gave it to other people because I never met him before and there was no real reason to help (Which puzzled me first). Before he gave it to me he acted edgy and even made fun of me and others. I think if I am still alive and when there has time passed I might update this thread and tell an uncensored version of this story. There is some corruption at play at my college but most average students are aware of it and do it too. I think only a small minority of students is not aware of it.

It is not criminal what he did. And it does not hurt anyone actually. But damn...this was a rollercoaster... I have to let that sink in...it is actually not that big of corruption but it certainly is playing hardball. I am just an anxious wreck as always.

 

[DarkRange55]

American college system is totally propped up by clout overseas and prestige. You don't learn anything. I read the same thing about colleges in China (I also did study abroad at the Hong Kong Institute of Technology). It's my opinion that the entire colligate system in America is being completely held up by all the foreign exchange students. All the Asian, Indian, even occasionally rich African students.

 

[sserafim]

Money talks, we live in a world where cash is king

 

[dragonofenvy]

I went to a poor people school. Didn't feel very rigged to me. A lot of the classes that were supposed to be teaching the topic focused instead on political shit. I got to take the same bullshit electives that don't teach many anything about my career path as everyone else in other universities do. Money can get you into the good universities, but I don't know if they're actually good or if they're "good" because they're prestigious for being expensive, and having money means you're "smart." I've never exactly subscribed to the idea that expensive means better quality myself. That tends to just be consumerist bullshit trying to get you to spend more.

Before he gave it to me he acted edgy and even made fun of me and others. I think if I am still alive and when there has time passed I might update this thread and tell an uncensored version of this story. There is some corruption at play at my college but most average students are aware of it and do it too. I think only a small minority of students is not aware of it.

Yeah I think you're definitely in a unique position here because I don't think that most people view their colleges as corrupt. Maybe the embezzle money or charge way too much but whatever you're talking about is definitely something that doesn't happen to anyone else AFAIK.

 

[noname223]

I went to a poor people school. Didn't feel very rigged to me. A lot of the classes that were supposed to be teaching the topic focused instead on political shit. I got to take the same bullshit electives that don't teach many anything about my career path as everyone else in other universities do. Money can get you into the good universities, but I don't know if they're actually good or if they're "good" because they're prestigious for being expensive, and having money means you're "smart." I've never exactly subscribed to the idea that expensive means better quality myself. That tends to just be consumerist bullshit trying to get you to spend more.


Yeah I think you're definitely in a unique position here because I don't think that most people view their colleges as corrupt. Maybe the embezzle money or charge way too much but whatever you're talking about is definitely something that doesn't happen to anyone else AFAIK.

Not exactly the college is corrupt rather some college groups organized by students. I still won't disclose what I mean. I think it might be special compared to other colleges /majors and could help to doxx me.