End of College Admissions Tests Due to Payoffs and Corruption?

Students with actual learning disabilities may feel the brunt of new rules in college testing as a result of this latest scam where parents paid to get their children accommodations that they did not deserve ("Is the College Cheating Scandal the ‘Final Straw’ for Standardized Tests?," New York Times, March 14, 2019)? However, almost 1000 colleges do not use SAT or ACT scores to select new students.

Discussion Questions:

1. What is the fairest way for colleges to decide which students to admit? Tests, essays, grades?
2. What should be the penalty for parents paying an individual, company, or college to allow their children to cheat their way into higher education?

Physician Accused of Scientific Misconduct and Fraud

A physician's credentials are being called into question but the National Academy of Medicine is finding it difficult to remove him as a member after he was found to have "plagiarized five research papers, fabricated an account of his personal exploits in Iraq, and claimed unearned degrees and awards" ("Doctors Urge Elite Academy to Expel a Member Over Charges of Plagiarism." The New York Times, April 9, 2018). The article discusses the impact of this academic dishonesty on the doctor whose work was misused and the medical textbook editors who didn't check for plagiarism before their book was published.

Discussion Questions:

1. How would you feel if a colleague of yours said he was the author of your research?
2. Should doctors be held to the same standard of academic integrity as college students? A higher standard? Why or why not?
3. Should all books be checked for plagiarism before being published? Why or why not?