People and Standards

Have I stooped so low that I have actually come expect incompetence? That somehow whenever some groupwork is assigned, I already subconsciously expect to do double my share of work because some of the people I work with are known for their incompetence and complacency? And for what really?

Because true meritocracy cannot flourish in a public university? That copy and pasters will earn the same amount of brownie points as those who really did their research and wrote every single word of their assignment reports truthfully and honestly in the best traditions of academia? Because lecturers cannot afford to be fair and punish plagiarists lest 75% or more of the class would potentially fail every course they took?

There was a time when I would savage junior prefects at school if they did a piss poor job, but that was back in a place where people at least tried to be competent. In a public university, competency, decency and honesty are words flung out a window like dirty dishwater. People can afford to be incompetent, lazy and dishonest because they know they will not be punished for it. And then there are those who look at them and ask themselves the question: why am I doing real, hard, honest work when they could get away with it? So they too bend down to that level.

And then you have me. Or people like me. People who go through all the trouble just to be honest with their work and hope that somehow, the lecturers would reward their diligence with what it deserves. But who am I kidding. This is higher education in Malaysia after all. You gotta bend backwards to satisfy the majority even though they may be lazy and incompetent.

Such a sad reflection of our education system when you can identify plagiarists through the good English in their work.