Students Arrested in New York for Cheating SAT

A college student and six high school students were arrested for cheating in SAT. The college student allegedly sat in for high school students at a pre-arranged price in the past year.

A freshman at the University of Michigan, Sam Eshaghoff was arraigned on charges of scheming to defraud, criminal impersonation and falsifying business records. The high school students were charged with misdemeanor.

After teachers at Eshaghoff's alma mater Great Neck North High School of Great Lake heard of rumor that some of their students hired another person to take SAT exam, which was scheduled off campus, they pull out all students' academic record, and compared with SAT scores. The six stood out with the largest discrepancies.

Cheating in the national exam personally guaranteed a death sentence in ancient time, while a fraud committed by the monitor usually lead to elimination of entire family. It was cruel. However, after the Communists took over the power, it went the other direction to the extreme, that defrauding a national exam became part of the local government routines. While officials when pushed to corners by reporters also cited there was no way to punish cheaters, they could learn from this case.

OMG, Dog Ate My Homework

It is yet another moment in American Higher Education when one has to face the reality. This time, however, it is the professors who are pulling their hairs and struggling to find a rope.

A small time Wake Forest University assistant professor published a paper with historic value, in which she found private colleges who had adopted merit-based financial aid found their academic outcome elevated moderately while, as 'concerned by the author', minority enrollment slid.

A reader at the Inside Higher Ed (IHE) quickly pointed out the flaws in the phony research. First of all, an institution wide SAT increase of 22 or 35 is actually 'huge' for any college, especially those top tier colleges who have little room for improvement already. Secondly, a 2 percent decline of enrollment over 10 years is not only statistically insignificant but also hardly not affected by other possible factors.

While the US higher education is lagging behind even more comparing to its international pars on daily basis, some phony researchers are finding an overall significant improvement in academic a major 'concern'. Yeeha!

Chinese Kids Eye Colleges in USA

A summer camp advertisement stuck on a billboard of local high school graduates admitted to top US colleges in front of the Tianjin Book Building (TJBB).

The annual national college entrance examination had been traditionally known as a single log bridge competed by tens of thousands of troops. The portrait was not an exaggeration when you consider 600,000 would be accepted by colleges out of over 8,000,000 attempted in 1989.

However, after a national policy to expand college admissions, over 4 million freshmen are admitted into college, while the total number of applications started to decline. Almost one million high school graduates did not apply for college in 2009. Some experts interpreted the decline of interest as a reflection of disappointing job market for college graduates.

On the other hand, students who applied for colleges in the US doubled. 15,000 mainland kids took SAT in Hong Kong between October 2008 and June 2009. There is no SAT test center in mainland China. Students travel to testing centers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and as far as the US to take the test.

In major cities such as Beijing, Chongqing, up to 10-20 percent of high school graduates applied US colleges. Mr. Shen Xianzhang, deputy principle of the Rendafuzhong High school in Beijing told reporters that 43 students had been admitted by top US colleges, the majority went to Ivy League schools with full scholarship, including Harvard, Stanford and Yale. At Beijing No. 4 High School, 20 graduates went abroad for colleges in 2007. The number grew to 30 in 2008, and 50 in 2009. Another high school in Beijing, the Lab High School affiliated with Beijing Normal University sent 16 graduates to University of Toronto through a joint program.

A strong economy and a strong exchange rate against major western currencies certain help too. The total number of students studying in foreign universities and colleges increased from 144,000 in 2007 to 170,000 in 2008. The number is expected to almost double in 2009.

Stanley Nel of University of San Francisco told China Daily that "Students used to tell me that they did not have the money to go to USF, and they needed full scholarships. That is not the case now." More than 80 students from mainland China has been admitted to USF this year.