Genloveslindyhop
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- Apr 6, 2008
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Sorry, aml01_ph! I've been busy so I haven't been able to visit this new thread.
Anyway, to put things in context, that post that aml01_ph about about "cheating isn't cheating" was in reaction to a statement I made in the "?Why do Filipinos prefer foreign martial arts?" thread, notably post #152 (the pertinent parts of which I quote below; it's rather long-winded, sorry):
Well, my actual post was longer and aml01_ph reacted not just to the cheating topic. There are issues which I still cordially disagree with aml01_ph (mostly on historical interpretation and national polity), but on this thread I will disagree with him/her (ano nga ba talaga?) on the belief that cheating is not cheating if not caught. First let me quote again the pertinent passage:
First of all, passing because you cheated (whether you were caught or not) and passing because you deserved it are two entirely different things. As an educator, there are real reasons why we give evaluate students and give grades, that is, to provide an accurate representation of that students capabilities. The reason why I think that thinking and allowing others to think that "cheating is not cheating unless caught" is dangerous because it gives a skewed and inaccurate picture of the capabilities of students. In fact, allowing students to think that cheating is one of the valid ways of getting an education is a lie, a fraud and a hoax.
Even if the cheaters are never caught, yes, they will have to face the consequences of their cheating, the most notable of which is mediocrity. We actually go to school for a reason: to learn stuff. To pretend that one has learned stuff and graduate is only fooling oneself—and, I might add, the reason behind the national plague of mediocrity in the Philippines.
And, just because a lot of Pinoys have forgotten what they learned in school doesn't mean we should use that as an excuse not to learn for real. It is, in fact, the reason why Pinoys have allowed themselves to forget, because they have deluded themselves into thinking that all that schooling wasn't important and merely a means to an ends. I mean, I used to teach Business Administration graduates who cannot even write a decent feasibility study—they end up merely presenting statistical data of questionable usefulness without even taking a side! You should see how embarrassed they are when they are asked why such and such data was useful or pertinent. They cannot even express why. They were just following a formula from out of a textbook. Yet they somehow got through high school because they cheated in their English exams.
And that's just one instance.
C'mon, man! You can't tell a person who's used to cheating in class to suddenly clean his act up just because it's an "important" exam! The reason why there are college entrance examinations is to see if these incoming freshmen can "cut" it. I used to teach in a state-sponsored school, and it is a big financial headache for us when truckloads of freshman come in, subsidized by the state, who all drop out before graduating (because they suddenly find that their cheating methods aren't good enough to get them by) or who do graduate, but don't deserve it because they haven't been properly trained but have circumvented the "quality control" because they cheated well. They turn out to be the dumb and stupid professionals that one is unfortunate to meet.
If you still don't agree, well, the next time some mediocre dentist screws up his job, not just on you, but on almost all his patients, well... I guess "most of the information taught [to him] in [school have been] forgotten anyway by the time [he got into his career]," and you can be sure that he definitely wasn't caught cheating.
And that's just a dentist. Think about all the nurses we send overseas who have to take the Board exam an average of three times before they pass. Or, heck! Think about the other professionals running about as if they know what they are doing, with diplomas framed and their transcript of records showing lovely but inaccurate grades, having forgotten a lot of what they have learned anyway. A Filipino saying sums it all: kaya tayo hindi umaasenso.
Sorry for the long rant, p're.
Anyway, to put things in context, that post that aml01_ph about about "cheating isn't cheating" was in reaction to a statement I made in the "?Why do Filipinos prefer foreign martial arts?" thread, notably post #152 (the pertinent parts of which I quote below; it's rather long-winded, sorry):
Well, my actual post was longer and aml01_ph reacted not just to the cheating topic. There are issues which I still cordially disagree with aml01_ph (mostly on historical interpretation and national polity), but on this thread I will disagree with him/her (ano nga ba talaga?) on the belief that cheating is not cheating if not caught. First let me quote again the pertinent passage:
First of all, passing because you cheated (whether you were caught or not) and passing because you deserved it are two entirely different things. As an educator, there are real reasons why we give evaluate students and give grades, that is, to provide an accurate representation of that students capabilities. The reason why I think that thinking and allowing others to think that "cheating is not cheating unless caught" is dangerous because it gives a skewed and inaccurate picture of the capabilities of students. In fact, allowing students to think that cheating is one of the valid ways of getting an education is a lie, a fraud and a hoax.
Even if the cheaters are never caught, yes, they will have to face the consequences of their cheating, the most notable of which is mediocrity. We actually go to school for a reason: to learn stuff. To pretend that one has learned stuff and graduate is only fooling oneself—and, I might add, the reason behind the national plague of mediocrity in the Philippines.
And, just because a lot of Pinoys have forgotten what they learned in school doesn't mean we should use that as an excuse not to learn for real. It is, in fact, the reason why Pinoys have allowed themselves to forget, because they have deluded themselves into thinking that all that schooling wasn't important and merely a means to an ends. I mean, I used to teach Business Administration graduates who cannot even write a decent feasibility study—they end up merely presenting statistical data of questionable usefulness without even taking a side! You should see how embarrassed they are when they are asked why such and such data was useful or pertinent. They cannot even express why. They were just following a formula from out of a textbook. Yet they somehow got through high school because they cheated in their English exams.
And that's just one instance.
C'mon, man! You can't tell a person who's used to cheating in class to suddenly clean his act up just because it's an "important" exam! The reason why there are college entrance examinations is to see if these incoming freshmen can "cut" it. I used to teach in a state-sponsored school, and it is a big financial headache for us when truckloads of freshman come in, subsidized by the state, who all drop out before graduating (because they suddenly find that their cheating methods aren't good enough to get them by) or who do graduate, but don't deserve it because they haven't been properly trained but have circumvented the "quality control" because they cheated well. They turn out to be the dumb and stupid professionals that one is unfortunate to meet.
If you still don't agree, well, the next time some mediocre dentist screws up his job, not just on you, but on almost all his patients, well... I guess "most of the information taught [to him] in [school have been] forgotten anyway by the time [he got into his career]," and you can be sure that he definitely wasn't caught cheating.
And that's just a dentist. Think about all the nurses we send overseas who have to take the Board exam an average of three times before they pass. Or, heck! Think about the other professionals running about as if they know what they are doing, with diplomas framed and their transcript of records showing lovely but inaccurate grades, having forgotten a lot of what they have learned anyway. A Filipino saying sums it all: kaya tayo hindi umaasenso.
Sorry for the long rant, p're.