Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Cheaters in NUS

Perhaps its a bit too late to comment on this, since my exams were over for quite a while. But I think I have to raise this issue, that of cheaters in NUS.

I remember being quite angry upon seeing cheaters in the exam hall last week. These cheaters were blatantly looking and flipping through the question booklets before the exam begun. Some even had to audacity to continue reading through the question booklets after they were warned to stop . This has got to stop.

I would admit that exams are very important. I can empathise with the pressure to perform in exams. But these are not sufficent grounds to cheat. In fact, these reasons only strengthen the grounds against cheating. It is precisely because exams are important that cheating cannot be condoned.

Exams seek to examine the candidate in their competency. Although I admit that often what is examined is the ability to score in exams, we must all agree that in no circumstances is the ability to cheat being tested. The tests are not a good measure of our abilty, but this does not justify cheating.

Without a doubt, cheating is wrong, but what appalls me more is the indifferent attitude some have towards others cheating. Comments like "That's life" or "What can we do. Live with it" only make me more mad. Resignation will definitely not make the problem go away. If anything, this indifferent attitude only encourages cheaters to continue with their ways, and is akin to abeting the crime. Perhaps these apathetic students are fine with losing marks to cheaters. But these marks are not theirs solely to lose, because their indifference cost all honest people marks.

What I would recommend students to do during exams is to keep a sharp lookout for dishonest people. If you see someone cheating, immediately inform an invigilator. If cheaters can be selfish enough to ignore the interests of others, I can see no reason to be concerned with the future of the cheater.

Also, I hope that invigilators will be more vigilant and more willing to confront cheaters. Of course, in many cases there's also the burden of proof. If I were an invigilator I would carry a video camera. With hard evidence there's nowhere to hide.

Cheaters beware.

3 comments:

Jackson Tan said...

Sometimes it does irk me, but then, I dunno... I just can't find myself to bothered with such stuff minutes before the paper starts. Perhaps after that the feeling of injustice starts seeping in, but it is too late then, isn't it?

Apparently, you're not alone in having this thought.

Ultimately, when I think about it, it is just the injustice that doesn't sit well with me. I'm not really bothered with the marks (as long as I get something acceptable, that's fine with me). To me, I study because of passion. Exams is just a side effect of that passion.

The Negative Man said...

It's good to see that someone else has mentioned this problem. But this also means that the problem is not isolated or minor. Something must be done about it -- the question is whether we will stand against them or we will wait for someone to do the work for us.

JH said...

Cheaters will not prosper and they will probably learn it the hard way out in the real world. By cheating in the exams, they are not just cheating everyone else in the exam room, worse of all, they are also cheating themselves. I hope people learn that grades are not everything in life.