Daily Times

Reading the title of this article might incline people to reflect why students have been associated with corruption, since they are the people who go to educational institutions, and if education has really entered into their minds, then they must be learned in terms of mannerisms, acts of honesty, punctuality, regularity and other good things that are taught at educational institutions in order to groom the students. Why then, have I been compelled to come up with such a piece of work?

The answer to this question is that in university, where one happens to enter after having procured an education of twelve to thirteen years, I find students committing acts of corruption, which if looked at superficially, are not big acts, but can lead to big consequences. Often while walking through the corridors of university, I find pieces of tissue paper, wrappers of eatables and shreds of circulars thrown on the floor.

What actually happens is that the starter of such an act when throws a small wrapper on the floor, does it casually because in his or her mind, it is just a tiny wrapper, and not a bucket of filth. When others do the same, they do so by thinking that if others have thrown shreds on the floor, and if already there exists so much garbage on the floor, then what is wrong with their doing so and adding to it?

As a consequence, when these wrappers and shreds are thrown one after the other, they turn the place into a corridor of excessive filth, which the students had previously thought would not happen, since they threw a very tiny wrapper. We do the same on the roads and streets and as a result, have ourselves made our country filthy. Thus, we have no right to blame the government on this, for to bring our education into practicality is incumbent on our own selves.

Students show equally an irresponsible attitude towards attending their classes. This mostly happens when the instructor is indifferent towards marking them present or absent. But the point is that it is not the attendance that matters, but the knowledge which the instructor has to impart because in practical lives, the knowledge obtained from teachers is what comes in handy. Students should be foresighted enough at this stage to realize this. Another form of corruption is students’ careless attitude towards punctuality. Again, developing such habits can eventually cause problems in practical lives, where such irresponsible attitudes, as far as I know, are not leniently dealt with.

Besides these, there happens to be another act that I have noticed. The students, though with books in hands, depicting that they know how to read and write, do not follow signboards or instruction boards. Instructions at the start of stairs ordering whether students are supposed go ‘up’ or ‘down’ are not followed. Often, the students are found doing the opposite, creating quite a panic in the stairways and causing inconvenience. The question that arises here is that have the twelve to thirteen years of education not taught the students to read simple things like “way up” and “way down”?

Corruption of students does not end here. Another corrupt act which university students commit is of plagiarism. They copy the exact wordings of any established writer and present it as their own. They might score good marks at the moment, but the consequence again is dumbness at the time of interviews or presentations, since they have not developed a habit of forming and presenting their own points of view. This is also highly discouraging for the students who work hard day and night in order to prepare their assignments.

Whereas cheating is concerned, it has become an ineluctable attribute of the students to such an extent that they hardly think before going for it. In fact, often before the examination starts, students are seen devising “sitting strategies” in order to easily copy from the friend who is well prepared. On the other hand, those who are well prepared do not mind allowing others to copy their text, since they consider it a part of friendship. But of what use is such a relationship that inclines one to commit dishonest acts?

The problem is that these acts are not considered dishonest by majority of the students. For this, we must consider the outcomes. Firstly, marks scored after cheating do not provide any sort of satisfaction, as they are not a result of one’s own hard work. Even a gold medal ‘won’ through this means would make one feel guilty for the whole life.

Secondly, these marks accompanied with a few marks obtained by the cheater’s own preparation often add up to exceed the marks of the student who has attempted the whole exam by dint of his or her own hard work. This is quite discouraging for a hardworking and an honest student.

Thirdly, like all other acts mentioned, this act too has the same consequence of providing no benefit in practical life. Even if one succeeds in passing an exam by cheating, he or she will never be able to speak at the time of interview, for what was written in the exam was not prepared by the student himself or herself.

Lastly, I will discuss the act which I find highly pathetic and is commonly found in the male students. Majority of the male students are often found stating in their conversations that they have not entered the university mainly to study, but to find a good female partner or to enjoy the company of females. This, according to me, is very immature and ridiculous, since a university is not a marriage bureau, but a place to learn. Secondly, in this age, one must be well mannered enough to treat the opposite gender as human beings, and not as decoration pieces by looking at which one can soothe the eyes.

To put things in a nutshell, do we have any right to claim ourselves educated people or even students if we still have to commit such acts? And if we have, then I believe that such an education is no less dangerous than illiteracy, and such educated people are an equal burden on the society as the uneducated ones. The article intends to incline students to bring their education into their practical lives, since that is the only benefit of education. To our future generations, we won’t be telling the marks we have scored, but what we have learnt from education.

The blogger is a student of English Literature at Government College University Lahore.