When I was in school at the University of California (both Santa Barbara
and Riverside), hired notetakers were official university positions.
There were notetaking offices on campus where they were duplicated and
sold. There were advanced students paid to take good notes and then
other students could buy them. I was an A student who always bought the
notes to supplement my own. Inadequate students would buy the notes and
not show up to class. They may have gotten a C or D by doing this, but
never an A or B. Being supplied with other people's notes is great when
you are sick and can't attend class, or if you are anal retentive (like
I was), or if you are handicapped in some way (such as deaf, blind, or
just a really poor notetaker). I don't see a big problem with providing
notes because if that's the only effort one puts into a class (buying
the notes), their grades will show it. If they are flaky in general,
it's unlikely that they will even study these notes very carefully or
efficiently since most of it won't make much sense.
--
Tasha R. Howe, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Transylvania University
300 N. Broadway
Lexington, KY 40508
(606) 233-8144
FAX (606) 233-8797
