Saturday, February 16, 2008

The Extent Of Copying I Deem Hazardous

It's not too often that one can say he has given 6 exams in 7 days and has another 4 more to go in the next 7 days. But hey, a lot of us from college today can say that!
The weird part about the last 7 days has been that irrespective of how much i have studied [or haven't] i've been able to secure decent marks in all the tests.
I've been doing all sorts of non-academic things. For example, i've been online 90% of the time i am awake! I've downloaded almost 3 GB of videos in a span of 4 days, which includes That 70's Show, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, The Omen, loads of songs and other stuff.

The Extent Of Copying I Deem Hazardous:

Since the relative grading system has started in COEP, instead of increasing competition to dangerous levels, it has increased cooperation to unbelievable limits. People distribute their answers in class tests like they were sharing holy water. New friendships have been created, new alliances forged! Few, of course still remain who feel that high marks are the poison only they are burdened to drink and wouldn't bear to see their brothers and sisters feel the pain of getting an EX!
I believe in conformity and thus have no qualms in helping people in class tests. Help thy neighbour and thy neighbour shall help you.
However once during an EXAM [not a class test], i happened to notice a gentleman who had brought a sheet of paper filled with complex diagrams with him inside his pocket. He seemed to have got the concept of an 'exam' wrong. He felt that it was actually a hide and seek game with the invigilator, because that's what he was doing all along. I applaud his courage in playing such a high risk game, because if he ever were to get caught he certainly wouldn't get to stay in the game for another game. Having said that i do not agree with what he was doing in the overall sense.

An EXAM is the one time 90% of the class decide to study [to different capacities] and come. A few whispers here and there is fine, but a whole unit on a secret page! That's pushing it a bit too far. What most of my friends believe is that in the class tests, its just the marks that count, but in the exam... well, we should show some respect to a tradition we have followed since childhood and one that was created by some god forsaken ancestor of ours, which is called 'studying'.

Nevertheless the gentleman lost his game during one of the EXAMs and unfortunately was thrown out of the class. Pity, that his discreet sheet also left with him!

9 comments:

Abhishek said...

There are no degrees to misdeeds. What you're doing is wrong too, and what that guys did is wrong too. I'm not saying don't copy = many a time it might make sense when it is a low risk game. But as a morality issue sorry to sound cliched, wrong is wrong ;)

Harshvardhan Pande said...

hmmm... what's this, a comment from THE ABHISHEK. An honor for my humble blog ;)

greySith said...

What Abhishek has to say is true... Why bother with it? As for me... Well not saying I'm all righteous, but almost all the time I've been dishonest in an exam, it's generally been to another's benefit, not mine. Doesn't change much though. Sorry to sound like Abhishek (and that recurses beautifully, doesn't it? :P) but wrong is wrong.

Harshvardhan Pande said...

friggin Hippocrates ;)

Anonymous said...

dude with due regards to d saints' advice posted above ,I am in total support of d practices u mentioned.....Cheatin is an art which has to be mastered...a class's unity should be used to overcome the bossy nature of our professors and system in general...As for the gentleman u mentioned, he knows d risks n is responsible for the results.....sorry to sound cliched but everythin is fair in love and war and COEP of course!!!!!!!

Unknown said...

Harsh,I totally agree with you...C2D is the best policy for places like COEP where exam is a daily affair and not a shock ;) and ofcourse it should be used within limits and good guys like us never cross that line:)

Anonymous said...

@abhishek is morality relative or absolute :-)?

Abhishek said...

@Anonymous Questioner!

Firstly, I would commend you on your choice of spiritual guru and zen master. I indeed have vast experience and commercial success in this field. In fact, last time I checked, the'yre bringing out a bunch of incense sticks in my name.

Anyway, here is where I stand on "is morality relative or absolute". I'm equating morality to conformation to a set of rules. So, in a case where the choice of such rules is totally personal, there cannot be any immorality per se. Eg: What clothes you wear might be perceived to be "immoral". This is true if you have some unwritten social contract that you accept under the norms of a society. Some people might not accept these rules, and not conform to them, so it's perfectly "moral" for them to dress as they please.

But specifically in the case of an exam, there is a strict written well-defined codified set of rules, which every examinee has to abide by. And breaking any of these willfully constitutes immorality. And this, is absolute not relative, because of the nature of the rules and situation itself.

Gawd! I'm good.

Anonymous said...

hehe.you are not good.If conforming to a set of rules(which have been set by some other person), you are conforming to that person's sense of morality(by obeying the rules)aren't you?
Like if in exams, suppose we were allowed to copy.Would it be moral for me to do so?To cheat?Simply because it is allowed by the law?
(Im thinkin that morality is both absolute(in some cases) and relative(your own personal values which you adopt)).Maybe my question was wrong?