An undergraduate admitted they would hire a freelancer to do their work for them. What should I do?












1















I, a graduate student, have started tutoring undergraduates in computer science at my university to help make ends meet. One student who inquired about my services turned me down upon hearing my rates and remarked (in writing) that they might as well just buy solutions to their projects on a particular freelancing website for that price, as their friends do.



Should I tell the professor about this student, in case he wants to review their submissions more closely? I don't have any proof that they have already cheated, but this constitutes strong evidence that they are likely to. In this question, the OP appears to have evidence to suggest that cheating has taken place already, which seems more clear-cut.










share|improve this question



























    1















    I, a graduate student, have started tutoring undergraduates in computer science at my university to help make ends meet. One student who inquired about my services turned me down upon hearing my rates and remarked (in writing) that they might as well just buy solutions to their projects on a particular freelancing website for that price, as their friends do.



    Should I tell the professor about this student, in case he wants to review their submissions more closely? I don't have any proof that they have already cheated, but this constitutes strong evidence that they are likely to. In this question, the OP appears to have evidence to suggest that cheating has taken place already, which seems more clear-cut.










    share|improve this question

























      1












      1








      1








      I, a graduate student, have started tutoring undergraduates in computer science at my university to help make ends meet. One student who inquired about my services turned me down upon hearing my rates and remarked (in writing) that they might as well just buy solutions to their projects on a particular freelancing website for that price, as their friends do.



      Should I tell the professor about this student, in case he wants to review their submissions more closely? I don't have any proof that they have already cheated, but this constitutes strong evidence that they are likely to. In this question, the OP appears to have evidence to suggest that cheating has taken place already, which seems more clear-cut.










      share|improve this question














      I, a graduate student, have started tutoring undergraduates in computer science at my university to help make ends meet. One student who inquired about my services turned me down upon hearing my rates and remarked (in writing) that they might as well just buy solutions to their projects on a particular freelancing website for that price, as their friends do.



      Should I tell the professor about this student, in case he wants to review their submissions more closely? I don't have any proof that they have already cheated, but this constitutes strong evidence that they are likely to. In this question, the OP appears to have evidence to suggest that cheating has taken place already, which seems more clear-cut.







      ethics plagiarism






      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question











      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question










      asked 1 hour ago









      ArnoldFArnoldF

      26929




      26929






















          3 Answers
          3






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          4














          In dubio pro reo. Evaluations of projects is already a highly subjective process. If you tell someone "Please evaluate this project, it is very likely the author cheated" they will probably give a worse grade than if simply told to evaluate the exact same project. What if the student then didn't cheat?



          If your institution has no way of properly assessing a candidate, i.e., one could "buy" a degree by having external services do the work, then this is an institutional problem and you won't fix it by suggesting to a professor that one of their students may cheat.



          Lastly, think about the effects your behavior has on the institutional climate. Would you like to study in an environment in which people tell professors "Arnold may be cheating, I watched him visit that freelancing website"?






          share|improve this answer
























          • You make a good point about influencing the evaluation process. I agree that would be bad for me to do if they don't actually end up cheating.

            – ArnoldF
            1 hour ago











          • "Would you like to study in an environment in which [...]" - No I wouldn't. I'm on the fence about doing anything, which is why I asked. It sort of seems like any student who is so open about their willingness to cheat will be caught eventually, with or without my help.

            – ArnoldF
            1 hour ago



















          1














          First, I'll guess that the prof already recognizes the possibility.



          Second, if you have a contractual obligation to the student you need to honor it. I doubt that is the case here since you were turned down. But you can't, ethically, act against the interests of your clients. You can, of course, back out of a client relationship if you think the client is abusing it or otherwise acting unethically.



          Don't interpret the above to imply that you must do what the client wants you to do if it is unethical. Some relationships are governed by law, but those laws, i think, just try to codify what good ethics suggests. Lawyer-client relationships for example have legal constraints.



          But even in the case you have such an obligation, you still could inform the prof that you have some evidence that such cheating is being contemplated. If asked by who, you may need to decline to answer. In particular, naming a student may well be very unfair as the student might just have been expressing frustration out loud, with no intent to break the rules.



          If the prof is a bit naive, you can inform him/her about the likely web-sites that enable such things. But it is the professors responsibility to "police" the class.






          share|improve this answer































            -1














            No. It's not your job to worry about that.






            share|improve this answer








            New contributor




            guest is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
            Check out our Code of Conduct.




















              Your Answer








              StackExchange.ready(function() {
              var channelOptions = {
              tags: "".split(" "),
              id: "415"
              };
              initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

              StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
              // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
              if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
              StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
              createEditor();
              });
              }
              else {
              createEditor();
              }
              });

              function createEditor() {
              StackExchange.prepareEditor({
              heartbeatType: 'answer',
              autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
              convertImagesToLinks: true,
              noModals: true,
              showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
              reputationToPostImages: 10,
              bindNavPrevention: true,
              postfix: "",
              imageUploader: {
              brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
              contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
              allowUrls: true
              },
              noCode: true, onDemand: true,
              discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
              ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
              });


              }
              });














              draft saved

              draft discarded


















              StackExchange.ready(
              function () {
              StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2facademia.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f124739%2fan-undergraduate-admitted-they-would-hire-a-freelancer-to-do-their-work-for-them%23new-answer', 'question_page');
              }
              );

              Post as a guest















              Required, but never shown

























              3 Answers
              3






              active

              oldest

              votes








              3 Answers
              3






              active

              oldest

              votes









              active

              oldest

              votes






              active

              oldest

              votes









              4














              In dubio pro reo. Evaluations of projects is already a highly subjective process. If you tell someone "Please evaluate this project, it is very likely the author cheated" they will probably give a worse grade than if simply told to evaluate the exact same project. What if the student then didn't cheat?



              If your institution has no way of properly assessing a candidate, i.e., one could "buy" a degree by having external services do the work, then this is an institutional problem and you won't fix it by suggesting to a professor that one of their students may cheat.



              Lastly, think about the effects your behavior has on the institutional climate. Would you like to study in an environment in which people tell professors "Arnold may be cheating, I watched him visit that freelancing website"?






              share|improve this answer
























              • You make a good point about influencing the evaluation process. I agree that would be bad for me to do if they don't actually end up cheating.

                – ArnoldF
                1 hour ago











              • "Would you like to study in an environment in which [...]" - No I wouldn't. I'm on the fence about doing anything, which is why I asked. It sort of seems like any student who is so open about their willingness to cheat will be caught eventually, with or without my help.

                – ArnoldF
                1 hour ago
















              4














              In dubio pro reo. Evaluations of projects is already a highly subjective process. If you tell someone "Please evaluate this project, it is very likely the author cheated" they will probably give a worse grade than if simply told to evaluate the exact same project. What if the student then didn't cheat?



              If your institution has no way of properly assessing a candidate, i.e., one could "buy" a degree by having external services do the work, then this is an institutional problem and you won't fix it by suggesting to a professor that one of their students may cheat.



              Lastly, think about the effects your behavior has on the institutional climate. Would you like to study in an environment in which people tell professors "Arnold may be cheating, I watched him visit that freelancing website"?






              share|improve this answer
























              • You make a good point about influencing the evaluation process. I agree that would be bad for me to do if they don't actually end up cheating.

                – ArnoldF
                1 hour ago











              • "Would you like to study in an environment in which [...]" - No I wouldn't. I'm on the fence about doing anything, which is why I asked. It sort of seems like any student who is so open about their willingness to cheat will be caught eventually, with or without my help.

                – ArnoldF
                1 hour ago














              4












              4








              4







              In dubio pro reo. Evaluations of projects is already a highly subjective process. If you tell someone "Please evaluate this project, it is very likely the author cheated" they will probably give a worse grade than if simply told to evaluate the exact same project. What if the student then didn't cheat?



              If your institution has no way of properly assessing a candidate, i.e., one could "buy" a degree by having external services do the work, then this is an institutional problem and you won't fix it by suggesting to a professor that one of their students may cheat.



              Lastly, think about the effects your behavior has on the institutional climate. Would you like to study in an environment in which people tell professors "Arnold may be cheating, I watched him visit that freelancing website"?






              share|improve this answer













              In dubio pro reo. Evaluations of projects is already a highly subjective process. If you tell someone "Please evaluate this project, it is very likely the author cheated" they will probably give a worse grade than if simply told to evaluate the exact same project. What if the student then didn't cheat?



              If your institution has no way of properly assessing a candidate, i.e., one could "buy" a degree by having external services do the work, then this is an institutional problem and you won't fix it by suggesting to a professor that one of their students may cheat.



              Lastly, think about the effects your behavior has on the institutional climate. Would you like to study in an environment in which people tell professors "Arnold may be cheating, I watched him visit that freelancing website"?







              share|improve this answer












              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer










              answered 1 hour ago









              HRSEHRSE

              4861414




              4861414













              • You make a good point about influencing the evaluation process. I agree that would be bad for me to do if they don't actually end up cheating.

                – ArnoldF
                1 hour ago











              • "Would you like to study in an environment in which [...]" - No I wouldn't. I'm on the fence about doing anything, which is why I asked. It sort of seems like any student who is so open about their willingness to cheat will be caught eventually, with or without my help.

                – ArnoldF
                1 hour ago



















              • You make a good point about influencing the evaluation process. I agree that would be bad for me to do if they don't actually end up cheating.

                – ArnoldF
                1 hour ago











              • "Would you like to study in an environment in which [...]" - No I wouldn't. I'm on the fence about doing anything, which is why I asked. It sort of seems like any student who is so open about their willingness to cheat will be caught eventually, with or without my help.

                – ArnoldF
                1 hour ago

















              You make a good point about influencing the evaluation process. I agree that would be bad for me to do if they don't actually end up cheating.

              – ArnoldF
              1 hour ago





              You make a good point about influencing the evaluation process. I agree that would be bad for me to do if they don't actually end up cheating.

              – ArnoldF
              1 hour ago













              "Would you like to study in an environment in which [...]" - No I wouldn't. I'm on the fence about doing anything, which is why I asked. It sort of seems like any student who is so open about their willingness to cheat will be caught eventually, with or without my help.

              – ArnoldF
              1 hour ago





              "Would you like to study in an environment in which [...]" - No I wouldn't. I'm on the fence about doing anything, which is why I asked. It sort of seems like any student who is so open about their willingness to cheat will be caught eventually, with or without my help.

              – ArnoldF
              1 hour ago











              1














              First, I'll guess that the prof already recognizes the possibility.



              Second, if you have a contractual obligation to the student you need to honor it. I doubt that is the case here since you were turned down. But you can't, ethically, act against the interests of your clients. You can, of course, back out of a client relationship if you think the client is abusing it or otherwise acting unethically.



              Don't interpret the above to imply that you must do what the client wants you to do if it is unethical. Some relationships are governed by law, but those laws, i think, just try to codify what good ethics suggests. Lawyer-client relationships for example have legal constraints.



              But even in the case you have such an obligation, you still could inform the prof that you have some evidence that such cheating is being contemplated. If asked by who, you may need to decline to answer. In particular, naming a student may well be very unfair as the student might just have been expressing frustration out loud, with no intent to break the rules.



              If the prof is a bit naive, you can inform him/her about the likely web-sites that enable such things. But it is the professors responsibility to "police" the class.






              share|improve this answer




























                1














                First, I'll guess that the prof already recognizes the possibility.



                Second, if you have a contractual obligation to the student you need to honor it. I doubt that is the case here since you were turned down. But you can't, ethically, act against the interests of your clients. You can, of course, back out of a client relationship if you think the client is abusing it or otherwise acting unethically.



                Don't interpret the above to imply that you must do what the client wants you to do if it is unethical. Some relationships are governed by law, but those laws, i think, just try to codify what good ethics suggests. Lawyer-client relationships for example have legal constraints.



                But even in the case you have such an obligation, you still could inform the prof that you have some evidence that such cheating is being contemplated. If asked by who, you may need to decline to answer. In particular, naming a student may well be very unfair as the student might just have been expressing frustration out loud, with no intent to break the rules.



                If the prof is a bit naive, you can inform him/her about the likely web-sites that enable such things. But it is the professors responsibility to "police" the class.






                share|improve this answer


























                  1












                  1








                  1







                  First, I'll guess that the prof already recognizes the possibility.



                  Second, if you have a contractual obligation to the student you need to honor it. I doubt that is the case here since you were turned down. But you can't, ethically, act against the interests of your clients. You can, of course, back out of a client relationship if you think the client is abusing it or otherwise acting unethically.



                  Don't interpret the above to imply that you must do what the client wants you to do if it is unethical. Some relationships are governed by law, but those laws, i think, just try to codify what good ethics suggests. Lawyer-client relationships for example have legal constraints.



                  But even in the case you have such an obligation, you still could inform the prof that you have some evidence that such cheating is being contemplated. If asked by who, you may need to decline to answer. In particular, naming a student may well be very unfair as the student might just have been expressing frustration out loud, with no intent to break the rules.



                  If the prof is a bit naive, you can inform him/her about the likely web-sites that enable such things. But it is the professors responsibility to "police" the class.






                  share|improve this answer













                  First, I'll guess that the prof already recognizes the possibility.



                  Second, if you have a contractual obligation to the student you need to honor it. I doubt that is the case here since you were turned down. But you can't, ethically, act against the interests of your clients. You can, of course, back out of a client relationship if you think the client is abusing it or otherwise acting unethically.



                  Don't interpret the above to imply that you must do what the client wants you to do if it is unethical. Some relationships are governed by law, but those laws, i think, just try to codify what good ethics suggests. Lawyer-client relationships for example have legal constraints.



                  But even in the case you have such an obligation, you still could inform the prof that you have some evidence that such cheating is being contemplated. If asked by who, you may need to decline to answer. In particular, naming a student may well be very unfair as the student might just have been expressing frustration out loud, with no intent to break the rules.



                  If the prof is a bit naive, you can inform him/her about the likely web-sites that enable such things. But it is the professors responsibility to "police" the class.







                  share|improve this answer












                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer










                  answered 1 hour ago









                  BuffyBuffy

                  45.6k12147233




                  45.6k12147233























                      -1














                      No. It's not your job to worry about that.






                      share|improve this answer








                      New contributor




                      guest is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                      Check out our Code of Conduct.

























                        -1














                        No. It's not your job to worry about that.






                        share|improve this answer








                        New contributor




                        guest is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                        Check out our Code of Conduct.























                          -1












                          -1








                          -1







                          No. It's not your job to worry about that.






                          share|improve this answer








                          New contributor




                          guest is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                          Check out our Code of Conduct.










                          No. It's not your job to worry about that.







                          share|improve this answer








                          New contributor




                          guest is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                          Check out our Code of Conduct.









                          share|improve this answer



                          share|improve this answer






                          New contributor




                          guest is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                          Check out our Code of Conduct.









                          answered 33 mins ago









                          guestguest

                          272




                          272




                          New contributor




                          guest is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                          Check out our Code of Conduct.





                          New contributor





                          guest is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                          Check out our Code of Conduct.






                          guest is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                          Check out our Code of Conduct.






























                              draft saved

                              draft discarded




















































                              Thanks for contributing an answer to Academia Stack Exchange!


                              • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                              But avoid



                              • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                              • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                              To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                              draft saved


                              draft discarded














                              StackExchange.ready(
                              function () {
                              StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2facademia.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f124739%2fan-undergraduate-admitted-they-would-hire-a-freelancer-to-do-their-work-for-them%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                              }
                              );

                              Post as a guest















                              Required, but never shown





















































                              Required, but never shown














                              Required, but never shown












                              Required, but never shown







                              Required, but never shown

































                              Required, but never shown














                              Required, but never shown












                              Required, but never shown







                              Required, but never shown







                              Popular posts from this blog

                              Lallio

                              Futebolista

                              Jornalista