Plagiarism, academic fraud and malpractices have been prevalent in our local universities for a long time. It is just that they have never been reported because they are considered as non-issues. If there is anyone who knows of such incidences and feel uncomfortable about it, there would be grumbles but would be very quickly forgotten. Very few people in education at all levels ( not only in universities ) actually talk about plagiarism seriously, much less look at it as an ethical issue.However, taking the Minister of Higher Education and his Deputy to task for this malady in our local universities would not address the root of the problem though one can argue that at least someone needs to do something and that someone should be the Minister himself. Instead, it would be wise for us to look at the wider implications of this problem. Doesn’t this imply one very important and glaring flaw in our university students, i.e they lack the linguistic, study and research skills that are so necessary in preparing and writing their theses? Hence, the scurry for help at whatever cost. If this is the case, then should the universities be held solely responsible for the paucity of these students? Yes, definitely, at least to the extent where they have failed to impress upon the students that plagiarism, academic fraud and malpractices are issues that they take seriously and anyone who is caught committing any one of these offences does not deserve a place there.But, what about the early education providers, i.e the primary and secondary schools? Shouldn’t they be held accountable for what is happening as well? All too often, when a problem occurs in institutions of tertiary education all fingers would point to them as the culprit. Very few people actually realise that the root of the problem starts in the schools where these students had their primary and secondary education. These schools are entrusted with a very heavy responsibility of providing a positive learning environment for children to develop their potential thus also preparing them for tertiary education if and when the opportunity arises. However, the question is, are our schools actually doing this or are they caught in the delusion that they are but they are really not. Let’s look at some examples of the current practices in our schools.
1) Most teachers in primary schools especially those in the urban areas adopt a “copy the answers into your exercise books” approach, either from their boards or their textbooks. Ask any Year 6 child especially those from the Chinese primary schools how many “karangans” and essays they have to copy into their exercise books in a year and you’ll be shocked. Of course all this is done with the misguided belief that practice makes perfect. True it does, but not this kind of mindless practice! And wouldn’t encouraging this amount to inculcating the belief that copying aka plagiarism as acceptable culture?
2) Another rampant practice in secondary schools is to provide samples of coursework done by students from previous years to their current batch of students all in the name of helping them. However, most teachers ( though not all ) allow their students to borrow from the archives of students’ work which they keep, thus allowing them to copy with very minimal changes. Again many teachers, rightly or wrongly, just browse through the work handed in and give a mark ( usually a high one unless it’s an extreme case) without checking to see if the work is copied. All these with the self justified reason of “why make it so difficult for them when other schools are also helping their students out with the marks?” After all, it doesn’t matter whether they have breached an ethical principle as long as they have helped their students get an “A” and their schools chalk up a high percentage of passes and distinctions. It’s the reputation that’s more important than understanding the ethics underlying the action. Again, wouldn’t this be setting the precedence for a society to view such practices as acceptable culture? There are are many more malpractices that pervade in our schools that could fill a whole book. Suffice to say that the rot in our education system is not confined to our institutions of tertiary education. It started in the schools, is allowed to proliferate and now it is manifested in the form of our skill-impoverished local
undergraduates. So, Mr. Lim Sir, besides the alternative budget Tony Pua presented on behalf of your party, why not think about an alternative education blueprint drawn up from the input of sincere,capable apolitical educators? That might help in the long run towards the development of human capital in our country.Cheers