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By Marc Peyser
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Whoever said cheaters never prosper never met Michael Moore. A junior at New Jersey's Rutgers University, Moore is the author of "Cheating 101: The Benefits and Fundamentals of Earning the Easy "A,'" one of the most talked-about books to hit college campuses this year. An 87-page guide to academic guile, "Cheating" offers the finer points of plagiarizing, swiping exams and passing answers right under the professor's nose. Among its lowlights: "Splitting," where a number of conspirators signal each other during an exam with carefully choreographed foot steps; and "Doctoring," where intricately coded crib notes are inscribed on desks, floors, umbrellas, candy-bar wrappers, eyeglass cases and the bottoms of soda cans.
Obviously, many of the book's 65 recipes work best when the professor doesn't pay attention or know the students very well. In fact, Moore spends considerable time lambasting colleges for such sins. "Cheating is a natural defense mechanism triggered by irrelevant courses and professors who look forward to their paychecks more than they do teaching," he claims.
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Not surprisingly, that sort of talk--not to mention this kind of book--has rankled a few academics. Rutgers dean James Reed concedes that classes are often too large and that a few professors are too lazy to proctor their exams. He also acknowledges that 29 Rutgers College students were convicted of "academic dishonesty" last year. But, adds Reeds, a how-to book on deceit hardly qualifies as a cure-all: "I understand the animus, but I don't respect his methods. There are more constructive ways to effect change."
Moore agrees he could have raked the muck more constructively. But that wouldn't have made as salutary an impact where he wanted it most: his wallet. At $6 a pop, "Cheating" sold 1,000 copies in five days, and a second printing of 2,000 is going fast. Besides, Moore really doesn't see himself as a Fagin or a fink. "I don't think I'm making a cheater out of anybody," he says. "It's their choice, like drunk driving. It's only wrong if you get caught." Maybe the '80s aren't over after all.
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