“Thousands of teenagers need ’scribes’ to help them write their A-level and GCSE papers because they are incapable of answering questions in longhand themselves, a study has revealed. The number of requests for ‘ghost writers’ to help pupils do exams rose from 28,324 in 2005 to 40,215 last year, while the number of students asking to use a word processor or computer also soared by more than 50 per cent, to 21,713. Requests for practical assistance short of a ’scribe,’ such as a teacher sitting in to help a pupil to write legibly, also increased. Experts say more scripts than ever are illegible because the email and text generation are unable to write properly by hand.” (09/06/08)