GET TIRED BY READING OR GROW UP CHEATING?

 

31. GET TIRED BY READING OR GROW UP CHEATING?

Once he went to town from his residence, his son driving the car. He was taking the car to a workshop for some minor repairs. After telling his son to bring it to a particular place at 5 pm, he went his way. The son was late in reaching the place. ‘How come you are late?’ he asked. The son said there was delay in getting the car at the workshop. He hid the fact that the delay was because he had gone to see a movie. But he did not know that the father had made enquiries at the workshop and was informed that the car had been taken by the son much earlier. ’ You don’t have the courage to tell the truth,’ the father said, adding ‘ I didn’t bring you up properly. ’ Declining to get into his son’s car, the father walked all the way to the house. Driving the car the son followed him. This drama continued till both reached their house. The son understood why the father was behaving in this fashion. He was full of remorse by the time they reached home. The father was the grandson of Gandhiji who had taken an uncompromising stand for truth. He continued his own experiments with truth in his own way. In Gandhiji’s own arena of South Africa itself. This became a lesson for his own son. The quality of a man is in his breeding. It was Arun Gandhi who stayed back in South Africa as Gandhiji’s descendant who gratefully remembered the lesson taught by his father.

But what do we see around us every day? A feeling appears to have gained currency that it is not at all a great fault to pass an examination by committing irregularities. This may be due to the impression that if the father has succeeded in life througth graft, what is wrong in the son passing the examination with the help of copying. There are also people who view this offence lightly, treating it as foibles of the youth.

It is not our problem alone. Irregularities in competitive examinations have become a big headache even in America, Europe and China. Now that the use of mobile phone and the internet is widespread, children have access to easier and simpler ways to commit irregularities. It has become universally common among students to make use of these to lighten the intense pressures of fierce competition in the global village. It is very sad that very often these efforts have the blessings of the parents and the silent approval of the teachers.

It is America itself that is in the forefront of this malaise of copying. Innovative technology for irregularities also is born in that country. The findings of a study conducted by the Duke University should serve as an eye opener for all. They reached their findings after an exhaustive survey conducted among fifty-thousand college students and eighteen thousand school students. Seventy percent of the students admitted that they had copied or committed other forms of irregularities. If your son who had loafed around and idled away his time till the other day comes home successful in examinations scoring high marks it is time for the parents to start thinking whether he was successful because of his studies or because he cheated.

Parents belonging to the older generations may not understand the antics that the children commit. That is because the activities through the mobile phone and the computer have the cover of innovative technology. Sitting in the examination hall itself one can send SMS and MMS to people outside. The answers coming from outside can be received inside the examination hall. Using ultra-modern electronic equipment the entire question paper can be scanned and communicated outside. The answers will automatically come. All you have to do is to make advance payment to the syndicates that do such operations.

In China recently a huge copying syndicate got into the clutches of the police. Their method was very simple. Once a student registered himself in their web site after depositing money he would get another to impersonate him. By the time the police came to know of this more than a thousand students had already fallen into the trap. In 2005 in South Korea also a similar fraud came to light. About twenty fraudulent groups were operating there. Once the question papers leaked outside the answers were got written by efficient teachers and reached to the persons inside the examination hall.

Rogues who copy ‘original’ essays straight from the website are not rare. Syndicates which undertake examination answer writing on contract basis through cyber techniques are not rare in America. One should keep in mind that many of them get the correct answers written by experts from India.

There was one thing Keralites used to be proud of. That was the efficient conduct of the SSLC Examination. When we hear that even the SSLC question papers are leaked out we are shocked and ashamed.

The entrance examination GRE was the pride of America. Every year around half a million students sit for this. This is one examination that has been held without any problem for the last six decades. Now the organizers of this examination also are in a   quandary. They are afraid of the interference of the cyber world. They are waiting for technological innovations to counter this.

Many universities and other educational institutions which were convinced that entrance examinations cannot be relied upon are trying to find new criteria for admissions. They are going back to the old method of holding interviews and taking into account the opinion of the experts to give admissions.

Some others are trying to remove the thorn with the thorn itself. To prevent irregularities in examinations they install metal detectors and radio frequency locaters in the examination hall. In China and South Korea legal enactments are in force for awarding imprisonment up to seven years for those found guilty of examination fraud.

The increasing criminal tendency among children is a matter of great concern for the elders. As every child is dear to its parents they refuse to accept the guilt of their children as such. Many of them make light of it as antics or childish pranks of their offspring. It is true that if you consider every childish prank as a crime it would be unfair to the youth. But would it be proper to camouflage a criminal misdemeanor as a harmless prank?

There is no point in blaming the children. They would only make a habit of something they have been seeing while growing up. What do they see? They see their parents take the short cut to success-- the short, crooked and devious way, ignoring the straight and narrow path. They grow up reading about sports stars using steroids to succeed in competitions. And they are taught by teachers who have secured employment after paying bribes.

A patient may not necessarily require the medicines that the doctor has prescribed him, because what the doctor is doing is just to favour the drug manufacturing firm that has paid him a fat commission. The police officer who has to ensure that justice is done seeks to terrorize both the complainant and the defendant for his personal gain. Around us political leaders abound who neutralize and nullify government policies to favour those who helped them to win the elections. There are literary luminaries who manage to secure awards by plagiarizing writings in other languages and politicians who openly work for their party and secretly work against it. It is seeing such specimens of people that the children wake up and go to school every day.

The tribe of ‘model men’ is increasing day by day. The number of scientists publishing in their own name the research findings of their colleagues and students is not negligible. It is also not neglible in the case of the prodigies who copy paintings by great masters and sell them as originals. There is also a rise in the number of journalists who write in favour of ministers and officials who heed their recommendations and write against those who do not.

The treacheries of daily life are not confined to certain strata of the society. For the man who comes home from abroad on leave for a few days, power supply to his house will be restored and lights will burn if the electricity lineman who has taken off the fuse is seen in a proper manner. The building inspector may choose to visit the new house on the eve of the house warming ceremony. If properly handled the auspicious function would take place as scheduled. Otherwise he might decree that the wall was protruding by one inch and that the sun shade had to be done again. In short the building that was about to be occupied that day would continue to remain an incomplete building.

There is also no dearth of people who delude themselves with the same ease with which they cheat others. Once it is found out in hospital tests that the child to be born is a female, the husband and wife may come up with some arguments to suit the situation. After all we do not require a child for the time being. Even the youth who makes protestations of love to all and sundry among the girls of the locality will find some justification when deciding to marry a girl from a family that would pay him most.

It cannot be said that those committing cheating and fraud are not brought to book. If your letter carries stamp that is ten paise less it comes back with a fine. If there is delay of two days in the payment of a loan installment the bank is bound to charge penal interest. Occasionally we read in the papers about the exploits of senior officers who trap a village officer taking a bribe of Rs fifteen. Once in a while we also hear of the efficiency of the police constable who takes into custody an old man and old woman found begging in the no begging zone. A roadside vendor of vegetables is sure to be caught if he has a scale without license.

As the children grow up seeing the older generation succeed through cheating and make money through fraudulent means, can they be blamed if they sought to pass their examinations by resorting to irregularities?

U S President Ronald Regan said: My greatest desire is to create an atmosphere in this country in which anyone can become rich any time. David Callahan establishes in his book The Cheating Culture that it is the preponderance of money power that forces the American students to the path of cheating.

This culture is casting its shadows in our universities also. Even otherwise wasn’t money always the criterion of success? Right from the olden times we have been calling those who failed in life as worthless as a penny. So if you can flourish by cheating others why should one read and get tired? If our children feel so, who are responsible for this?