Today....I want to share my views on cheating. You may have noticed...I have linked to a site which promotes cheating.... in the heading. That does not mean I endorse it. Cheating is a personal choice... and if you want to do it.. go ahead. Just dont expect me to help or expect me to respect you after that.
There was a time... when I thought... cheating is alright... well..not in exams... but homeworks.... simple stuff... you know... just for the sake of getting points which everyone else will get anyway by cheating. My view changed....one fine day... after I had given a math exam. It was the summer of 2001 and I had taken some pretty easy courses. My roommate was in the very same classes as me and so we would take turns in doing homeworks. To me... this was just convenient. I tried to understand most of what I was copying...but if I didnt understand something...oh well..too bad!! One of the courses was my intro to Circuit Analysis (EE201 for those who know anything abt EE courses at Purdue). I know that my basics in that course were very poor. Sure I ended up with an A. But I still had to struggle through the course. And I blame it on not doing my homework all by myself.
Well.... one person's comments influenced me that fine day after my math exam. He was an acquaintance of mine.... an ABCD ( American Born Indian) in popular terms... and he was pissed off as another guy (also an Indian) had tried to cheat off him in the final. He told me something to the effect : "When you cheat... you would be getting credit for something you have not done yourself. How can you accept credit for that which is not yours". I tried to explain to him and myself that copying homeworks was alright... as it was a small thing... worth few points..etc... and then I realized... it just wasnt right. No matter what.
Since that day, I have, to the best of my abilities, controlled any urges to cheat ... even if it is a small thing. Maybe I am an idealist. But I believe that any change that one expects in society should begin with oneself. I have argued with friends over this. Some tell me... it is alright to copy. After all.. everyone else does... You will just be putting yourself at a disadvantage. And my only counter argument is... It is NOT my work. I do not deserve ANY points for it. Simple. So what if the average is higher because people copied? So what if that changes my grade from an A to a B..or even a C. It was my fault for not having done better. I believe that, in the end, I will lead a happier life as I will have no lies to cover up...
That is one of the reasons why I keep my blog so personal even though it is open to the world. I want to make my life an open book. I dont want to have anything to hide from this world. And I dont want to be ashamed of anything I do. If I am going to be ashamed of anything I do.....it simply means that I should never do it. Thats my philosophy to leading a happy life:):)
Do leave comments..... I have a fair idea of all the people who visit this blog....so... yeah... I wont be surprised and I would really like to get some feedback. or u can always MSN me @ mrokkam at hotmail- dott com or email me to mrokkam |at| gmail dott com
Mohan.
No comments:
Post a Comment