The Shadow Scholars

1/19/2026

Professor Patrician Kingori is a senior professor of sociology at the University of Oxford, and in this overlong documentary she investigates the growing use of surrogate brains to write coursework for those too lazy\busy or just plain unskilled to do it for themselves. Her study focuses on Kenya. A nation where there are many academically qualified individuals who cannot find work, and so who are somewhat entrepreneurially offering their services online to others. Now we are not talking about life changing sums, here. A few dollars per page and of course there are the middle men who take the bulk of that, but what becomes quite clear is that many of those doing the cerebral heavy lifting need the money, sure, but they also thrive on an intellectual stimulation they wouldn’t originality en