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The other day there was a news item the like of which sends chills down my spine.
Apparently a Chinese father beat up his teenage daughter unto death. Her fault was that she copied her homework from her friend.
I wouldn't be surprised if it were an Indian father or a Japanese or Vietnamese or any other such countries who have this passion for their wards' grades and future and their honesty. For the record, I was beat up by my Father regularly, not for copying, but doing badly in every exam I had to face in Math for which I never had a talent. But I always used to stand first in my English exams but Father never kissed me after any of my English exams nor even boasted to his kith and kin of his son's linguistic genius. He wanted me to excel in every bloody subject, and that left a scar on my psyche that never healed. And, for the record, I never beat up nor rebuked my son for doing not very fabulously in his math exams once in every while. I took it not as his fault but of his genes from his dad's side.
Talking of genes, I am told that we are products of vehement copying by our DNA strands. Not for one generation or two but ever since Adam and Eve started it all biting that forbidden apple phone. And none of us is ever lynched for our internal mass-copying...not even our fathers...Chinese or Muthukur's.
Apparently 95% of the copying that goes on every nanosecond in our bodies is a very faithful mindless copying. The rest 5% are poor copies having a mistake or two in them. Among these, 4.99% are unhelpful and harmful copies resulting in various genetic disorders like hemophilia and daily blogging. Only the remaining 0.01% are unintended but helpful copying disorders resulting in a giraffe or Einstein or Hitler.
So who am I to complain about the copying that went on in the sessionals at IIT KGP during my 4 decades there?...So I never read all those faithful sessionals submitted to me for marks...I gave them no weight at all but never disclosed it to my students...a well-kept secret. I transferred those 10% marks to viva and cleanliness.
But I am often reminded that one day in the IV year lab I ragged a student to tears unintentionally. Apparently this guy not only copied his lab record along with readings, calculations, graphs and precautions from his lab partner (who must have done it from his hostel senior who must have done it from his hostel senior and so on till Adam and Eve), but also copied his lab partner's name on his file. I ought to have credited him for his 100% faithful DNA copying, but then I must have been dying for a smoke which was not allowed in the lab for students or teachers.
And talking of written exams (the so-called midsem and endsem) I myself plead guilty of copying my question papers from my own last year's and the last but one year's and the last but two year's and so on till Adam and Eve, and so wasn't too surprised that a couple of my students were caught now and then by the invigilators and reported to the DC. And had to be de-registered and asked to register again in the next year. That was a punishment not so much to the students involved but to me, since looking at their bored faces wasn't a stimulating impetus for me to go on copying my last year's lectures word for word from my lecture notes that was as soiled as Feynman's academic gown at his Princeton mess.
So I used to ask them to cut my classes and read at home saying that attendance carries no marks in my system of evaluating the performance of my students.
For the record, I must state that all these guys and girls who got de-registerd in my subject for doing their DNA stuff got into the best universities in the US and are millionaires now in either finance-dollars or words in their original papers they boast in their Resume's. I can only hope they are kind to their students and kids so far as this copying thing goes and have not quite forgotten their own KGP DNAs.
What about me now?
You can see that everyday I copy-paste a cartoon or picture from the Net without being pulled up, so far. So I will surely protest strongly if Ishani's parents try to chastise her for her occasional DNA stuff, reminding them of their school and college days and professional lives now.
Don't accuse me of encouraging copying in schools and colleges...I was never caught copying in my academic career...I was too smart for my teachers and invigilators and referees.
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http://searchingeyes.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/cheating_school_kids_test_1218655.jpghttp://searchingeyes.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/cheating_school_kids_test_1218655.jpg
The other day there was a news item the like of which sends chills down my spine.
Apparently a Chinese father beat up his teenage daughter unto death. Her fault was that she copied her homework from her friend.
I wouldn't be surprised if it were an Indian father or a Japanese or Vietnamese or any other such countries who have this passion for their wards' grades and future and their honesty. For the record, I was beat up by my Father regularly, not for copying, but doing badly in every exam I had to face in Math for which I never had a talent. But I always used to stand first in my English exams but Father never kissed me after any of my English exams nor even boasted to his kith and kin of his son's linguistic genius. He wanted me to excel in every bloody subject, and that left a scar on my psyche that never healed. And, for the record, I never beat up nor rebuked my son for doing not very fabulously in his math exams once in every while. I took it not as his fault but of his genes from his dad's side.
Talking of genes, I am told that we are products of vehement copying by our DNA strands. Not for one generation or two but ever since Adam and Eve started it all biting that forbidden apple phone. And none of us is ever lynched for our internal mass-copying...not even our fathers...Chinese or Muthukur's.
Apparently 95% of the copying that goes on every nanosecond in our bodies is a very faithful mindless copying. The rest 5% are poor copies having a mistake or two in them. Among these, 4.99% are unhelpful and harmful copies resulting in various genetic disorders like hemophilia and daily blogging. Only the remaining 0.01% are unintended but helpful copying disorders resulting in a giraffe or Einstein or Hitler.
So who am I to complain about the copying that went on in the sessionals at IIT KGP during my 4 decades there?...So I never read all those faithful sessionals submitted to me for marks...I gave them no weight at all but never disclosed it to my students...a well-kept secret. I transferred those 10% marks to viva and cleanliness.
But I am often reminded that one day in the IV year lab I ragged a student to tears unintentionally. Apparently this guy not only copied his lab record along with readings, calculations, graphs and precautions from his lab partner (who must have done it from his hostel senior who must have done it from his hostel senior and so on till Adam and Eve), but also copied his lab partner's name on his file. I ought to have credited him for his 100% faithful DNA copying, but then I must have been dying for a smoke which was not allowed in the lab for students or teachers.
And talking of written exams (the so-called midsem and endsem) I myself plead guilty of copying my question papers from my own last year's and the last but one year's and the last but two year's and so on till Adam and Eve, and so wasn't too surprised that a couple of my students were caught now and then by the invigilators and reported to the DC. And had to be de-registered and asked to register again in the next year. That was a punishment not so much to the students involved but to me, since looking at their bored faces wasn't a stimulating impetus for me to go on copying my last year's lectures word for word from my lecture notes that was as soiled as Feynman's academic gown at his Princeton mess.
So I used to ask them to cut my classes and read at home saying that attendance carries no marks in my system of evaluating the performance of my students.
For the record, I must state that all these guys and girls who got de-registerd in my subject for doing their DNA stuff got into the best universities in the US and are millionaires now in either finance-dollars or words in their original papers they boast in their Resume's. I can only hope they are kind to their students and kids so far as this copying thing goes and have not quite forgotten their own KGP DNAs.
What about me now?
You can see that everyday I copy-paste a cartoon or picture from the Net without being pulled up, so far. So I will surely protest strongly if Ishani's parents try to chastise her for her occasional DNA stuff, reminding them of their school and college days and professional lives now.
Don't accuse me of encouraging copying in schools and colleges...I was never caught copying in my academic career...I was too smart for my teachers and invigilators and referees.
...Posted by Ishani
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