This is an interesting way to not need an excuse to turn a paper in late any more.
Corrupted-Files.com offers a service -- recently noted by several academic bloggers who have expressed concern -- that sells students (for only $3.95, soon to go up to $5.95) intentionally corrupted files. Why buy a corrupted file? Here's what the site says: "Step 1: After purchasing a file, rename the file e.g. Mike_Final-Paper. Step 2: E-mail the file to your professor along with your 'here's my assignment' e-mail. Step 3: It will take your professor several hours if not days to notice your file is 'unfortunately' corrupted. Use the time this website just bought you wisely and finish that paper!!!"
It really is time to ask some different questions and set some different expectations.
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Comments
true, but
what are the new questions? For years I've been asking, "what does it mean to be well-educated?" I can't seem to get anyone on this (UD) campus interested in talking about the question, or, more importantly, what a modified definition implies for the role that higher education can/should play. The value of memorized information has dropped dramatically, and will likely continue to drop. Teaching students how to think, how to learn, and how to discriminate has always been the Holy Grail of education, but IMO very very few faculty or institutions actually achieve anything along those lines. Does that mean we should be out of business? Maybe it does.
The cynic in me says that an undergraduate degree is still what is always has been: a testimonial to the graduate's willingness and ability to play by the rules, postpone gratification, and meet deadlines. Seems there should be a cheaper way...
Becky