Cheating by Parents on behalf of their Kids

[NorthSurreyDad]

Since getting remarried, I've been shocked to hear from my new wife of the amount of academic cheating she is aware her friends have been doing.

One friend paid for an expert exam-taker to stand in for her daughter on a subject where she was very weak. Another friend routinely wrote essays for her daughter at university. And there used to be rumours that a royal prince had help from a teacher with his artwork.

I realise that none of these are criminal offences in England -- you couldn't be prosecuted here in the way that Felicity Huffman was in the USA. But they strike me as pretty repugnant, morally.

Or are they regarded as a victimless misdemeanour?

Perhaps the lawmakers of this country want to preserve the option of improving their own kids' chances, meaning that there is very little pressure for this activity, which I guess is largely of the wealthy middle classes, to be criminalised.

1. You have no idea whether second hand reports are true, or how representative they are of the bigger picture.
2. If cheating is possible, then it will happen. Don't doubt it.
3. Wealth and class are probably irrelevant. Essays can be bought online relatively cheaply - companies pay people to write them. Google it.
4. If course its morally wrong. Why do you feel the need to ask that question? Seems odd.
5. If people do cheat, they're unlikely to tell people what they've done, so it will only be known about if they get caught. If your ex-wife knows of cheating then she is morally dubious for not reporting it.
6. Exams, or (this year) in-school assessment are generally used for formal grading, rather than coursework, to prevent cheating.
7. Number 6 obviously doesn't apply to essay-writing competitions and the like (which add gloss to personal statements and CVs) so that may be one avenue for cheats to gain an advantage, but it's pretty marginal.