Education: Exams for Sale

Peabody College (in Nashville, Tenn.) is a school for teachers, but last week its most talked-about course was an informal seminar in applied business administration. Graduate Student David Wynne, 26, got the basic idea when he learned that Jesse Shaw, 22, an old friend from his undergraduate days at the University of Tennessee, had signed on at Peabody as night watchman. Watchman Shaw had a key to the college mailroom, where exams are mimeographed, and shortly the operation had its stock in trade. Student Wynne capitalized the venture by selling an exam and a partnership to Roommate Douglas Reeves, 25, for $20, and they lightheartedly tacked a “Wynne & Reeves, Incorporated” sign on their door. They spread word that question lists for 35 exams were for sale. Prices: up to $30.

A few days later Wynne & Reeves was just another business failure. Two students tipped off Dean of Administration William C. Jones, got $30 in expense money from him, bought a bootleg exam. The dean called the district attorney, and investigators raided the apartment, seizing Wynne and the crib sheets. They caught Reeves as he headed confidently for his last exam, armed with some of his own merchandise. The college bounced the student peddlers and fired the watchman, but by the time the bootlegging was discovered, it was too late to substitute exams. Satisfied Wynne & Reeves customers—prospective teachers all—got off scot free, and presumably won straight A’s.