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WEEKLY
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| Defined by dishonesty |
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Monday, June 16, 2008
Cheating is firmly embedded at every level of the education system, from primary school to university. Bad habits learned young often carry through into later life, and a cheater at school is unlikely to suddenly reform as they go out into the world of work, and will take their dishonest ways with them. There seems to be little shame attached to this pernicious dishonesty, indeed some pupils believe they have ‘a right’ to cook the books and deceive the examiners. One such young man taking his BA exam at the University of Karachi this week pulled a gun on the invigilator who caught him cheating; and fired into the air by way of protest at having been found out. Academics blatantly plagiarise the work of others, both inside and outside of Pakistan, and bleat piteously of their innocence when exposed. Parents, outraged that the paragon of excellence that is their child has not got straight ‘A’s will browbeat and bully teachers to get marks ‘adjusted’ – cheating by another route.
Wherever we look within our education system we see dishonesty – and it is not just us who sees it, the rest of the world sees it as well thanks to the global village that is the Internet. Opinions as to national traits and characteristics are formed by what we see, hear and read about other countries and the people that live there. These perceptions harden over time, and it is no surprise to find that Pakistani academic qualifications are viewed with a degree of suspicion by foreign universities and employers, mainly because there is a high level of international awareness of the culture of cheating and dishonesty within our system.
Uncomfortable as it may be, much of the rest of the world sees us as a nation of cheaters, dishonest with ourselves as well as anybody else whose eyes we can pull the wool over – hardly a good foundation for trusting relationships between nation states. A little cheating at school may seem harmless to some but it isn’t; and when it becomes externally identified as a national characteristic, a characteristic that says ‘you can’t trust Pakistanis’ then we should all be rather more careful about our personal dishonesties and less tolerant of the deceptions that are unfortunately beginning to define us.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
