MCLC: right to cheat (1)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Sun Saiyin <sunsaiyin at tsinghua.edu.cn>
Subject: right to cheat (1)
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It must be very satisfying, I think, for many MCLC list members to read
this piece of news, reassuring either their knowledge or experience of
China (well, “mainland China”) and Chinese (again “mainland Chinese”). As
stated over a century ago by Arthur Smith: “False weights, false measures,
false currency, and false goods these are phenomena from which it is
difficult to escape in China.” And “We by no means intend to affirm such a
proposition as that there is no honesty to be found in China, but only
that, so far as our experience and observation go, it is literally
impossible to be sure of finding it anywhere. How can it be otherwise a
people who have so little regard for truth?”

Then fast forward to today, it is no different. Even worse perhaps. In
this report sensationally titled “Chinese students and their parents fight
for their right to cheat”, we were told that “banned cheating” is only “a
new education policy” in China and parents and students alike protested
violently against this “new” policy. And China (mainland of course) is “a
country where student cheating has become a standard practice”. And then
Chinese (mainland I emphasize) have this twisted idea of fairness with
Chinese characteristics “We want fairness. There is no fairness if you do
not let us cheat,” and “Cheating isn’t what’s wrong. What’s wrong is when
cheating becomes the standard. When people stop being ashamed of breaking
the rules, and cheating becomes the unspoken rule and abiding by law
becomes an alternative. What this society lacks isn’t just rules; society
is an exam hall. Dreams depend on fairness and rules.” And we must not
ignore the conclusion “When committing evil becomes a habit, of course it
should become a right.”

If this picture drawn of Chinese (mainland) education and society is true,
China is certainly a screwed-up main land of dishonesty and evil, with no
“universally recognized” sense of justice or fair play whatsoever, whether
it's her youths or oldies, children or parents. But to what extent could
we take this isolated incident in a Hubei county high school to be
representative of China, Chinese mentality and Chinese education reality,
while 9.12 million students in the country took part in the 2013 gaokao
under the strictest possible vigilant measures? Isn’t there another side
even to the Hubei incident itself? Would such an “incident” even take
place if cheating has indeed become a widespread and accepted standard
practice in the examination rooms? (For those who are interested and who
read Chinese, here is a long and detailed report on this incident by 南方周末
http://www.infzm.com/content/91555 )

Because of a course I’ve been teaching (image of China in English
literature), I told my class they could register for MCLC to get emails
regarding western discussions on contemporary China, adding it was of a
more scholarly and academic nature, unlike sites such as “Chinasmack” etc.
Quite a few of them did what I said at the beginning of the term. The
other day, a student came to me and said: “I think those scholars on MCLC
really dislike China, don’t you think Dr. Sun?”

Well, “dislike” is probably an understatement for many. I am keenly aware
of the corruption, the injustice and the lack of freedom and human rights
in my country. I am certainly not asking anyone to sing praises of today’s
China. But is it helpful and fair to assume any kind of isolated incident
of “evil” as inherent, deeply-rooted, and representative of the nation and
thus get duly publicized and perhaps gloated over while (proportionately
speaking) “good” deeds or stories of “positive energy” seldom appear on
this platform dedicated to modern Chinese literature and culture? Is it
fair to think of the vast majority of the 9.12 million honest,
hard-working students and their parents with any kind of suspicion on
their integrity and the validity of their scores, as a result of reading
this report?    

Saiyin