| Username |
Post |
| ashu |
Posted
on 13-Nov-00 12:44 PM
A number of so-called "smart" 18-year-olds in Kathmandu seem so eager to go to the US for college (and not just any college, but those in the Ivy League) that they seem to routinely indulge in preparing fradulent/false college applications, recommendations, and even SAT/TOEFL ko scores and what not!!
False in the sense that these applicants seem to let other people write their entire application essays, OR steal school ko rubber-stamps/stationery and teachers' signatures, and engage in countless other similar tricks -- EXCEPT, of course, paint themselves black to qualify as African-American applicants
from Nepal!!
For some of these "smart" students, there seems to
be a sense of perverse pride/thrill in having beaten the system!! I mean, there seems no sense of guilt
or remorse or shame . . .
Apparently, this sort of falsification of one's
high school records seems to be a fairly widespread practice, involving a number of "smart" students, and, if anecdotal reports are to be believed, a number of such previous applicants are already in the US at top
American colleges. And this makes it all the more hard
for this year's applicants NOT to engage in such practices!!
Apparently everyone sort of goes "hush/hush" about the whole thing . . . for fear of "ruining" their school ko reputation and so on . . . After all, in a Nepali's moral universe, one's school ko reputation
is more important than the basic integrity of the college application process!!
One "smart" student recently told me that if he did
not engage in such practices, his chances of getting into Princeton next April would be made "khattam" by his own school ko competitive classmates!!
Talk about swimming with sharks!!
As the application season goes into full swing,
maybe some tenacious and uncompromising investigative Nepali journalist reading this can dig into this whole situation and separate, with provable evidence, the truth from fiction.
Separating the truth from fiction, with provable evidence, after all, is what higher education is
all about anyway.
oohi
ashu
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 13-Nov-00 10:29 PM
Sounds very egregious,hunh!
Thanks for your report.Btw, as long as they do fine
here ,they will be justified.Don't forget that
foreigners also do that.This doesn't mean that I am
supporting the practice.
Generally, I always feel proud when I see Nepalese
students in highly ranked US schools/universities.
They give me a sense that perhaps among them,somewhere,
is a future Nobel prize winner ,future leader, future
billionaire of/from Nepal!!
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| ashu |
Posted
on 13-Nov-00 11:47 PM
Biswo wrote:
>Btw, as long as they
>do fine
>here ,they will be justified.
I am not sure I would agree with you here.
Falsifying a part of your academic/application
records to gain acceptance to a top college is just plain wrong no matter what.
Besides, the whole purpose of going to college is
to discover the truth in the broadest sense -- truth about the arts and the sciences and the humanities.
Going to do so via a false path is sad.
Making mistakes one one's applications is one thing: Mistakes can be amended and taken care of, provided there is a sense of genuine regret, remorse and repentance and is accompanied by learning.
But being very clever to deliberate falsify one's high school or college records should NOT be tolerated.
>Don't forget
>that
>foreigners also do that.
So what?
Just because others do so does not mean anything.
Think about this: What kind of elite high school(s) we have in Nepal that turn a blind eye to these egregious practices, and what hope can they possibly hold out for seeing these provably smart-but-corrupt students ever taking public leadership in Nepal or in anything?
>This doesn't mean
>that I am
>supporting the practice.
Well, based on what your have posted above, your
readers can may think differently as to what you
really condone.
oohi
ashu
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 14-Nov-00 12:52 AM
>
>Think about this: What kind of elite high
>school(s) we have in Nepal that turn a blind
>eye to these egregious practices, and what
>hope can they possibly hold out for seeing
>these provably smart-but-corrupt students
>ever taking public leadership in Nepal or in
>anything?
Ashu, your previous posting didn't say schools are
conniving with the aberrant(or criminal!) students.
Do you really mean this? Then the whole episode is
very ugly. I supposed that the reputation of our
elite schools were based on the inherent integrity
of the instructors/administrators of those schools.
And that they can control such practices in an interval
of time.
>
>
>>This doesn't mean
>>that I am
>>supporting the practice.
>
>Well, based on what your have posted above,
>your
>readers can may think differently as to what
>you
>really condone.
Well, I am not supporting, and that was the most direct
sentence I wrote in my article.Interpreting it in
different way is dependent on the instinct/prejudice
of readers.I suppose you see through my argument.
What I don't want is denigration of remaining few elite
institutes of our country, so that we won't see any
of our students in elite schools of US/UK.
It is obvious that the elite schools here offer very
precious chances of interacting with the top brains of
the world.Add along with it the fact that there are very
few graduate students in those supposedly elite schools
of USA from Nepal.Very few .. and you surely know this
better than I.
Now, we probably need a judicious check on those
activity, rather than a whistle blower sullying all
the prestige of our reverred institutes. Because,
with the soiling of images of such schools, we will
be probably endangering the future of some really
smart students also.It is always good to have four
mediocre students and one bright students in MIT(just
for example) than to have all those in uninspiring
classrooms and resource-lacked labs of TU.
My whole point is: the activity is not condonable and
it needs to be checked.But it is not as venomous
as you tend to think, and its instant remedy is not
a cruel unravelling of fact, public listing of all those
criminal students who may be having 3.6 in Ivvy school
now, and sullying of few remaining prestigeous schools
of Nepal.An 'intramural' investigation and judicious
steps to stem the situation from more deterioration is
what we may need and would suffice in this situation.
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| regjoe |
Posted
on 14-Nov-00 12:45 PM
Lots of high school teacher in KTM don't know how to write the kind of recommendations that US colleges are looking for. I think it's technically ethical to write your own recommendation and having the teacher sign it in this context, as opposed to not getting admission on the basis of a poor recommendation.
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| sparsha |
Posted
on 14-Nov-00 04:03 PM
>>This doesn't mean
>>that I am
>>supporting the practice.
>>
>>Well, based on what your have posted above,
>
>your
>>readers can may think differently as to
>what
>>you
>>really condone.
>
>Well, I am not supporting, and that was the
>most direct
>sentence I wrote in my article.Interpreting
>it in
>different way is dependent on the instinct/
>prejudice
>of readers.I suppose you see through my
>argument.
Biswo, I was also surprised to read your comment on this matter. It sounded like you careless what those cheaters (students) do to get the admission in UK/US schools as long as they can perfrom at par there. "End justifies the means" sort of concept.
Truely, I am confused. As long as they do well in schools (in the US/UK), whatever they do to get there is fine. Is this what you mean? You also mentioned that others (foreigners) also do that. This sort of expression sounds like you are not condemning the acts but passively supporting it. Also, you are saying in direct way that you don't support such practice. TO ME IT'S CONFLICTING IDEAS scenerio. Which part to beleive?
As mentioned by other reader on this matter, I have no "aapatti" to support the idea of writing a recommendation by self and giving that to the teacher for assent . (of course, if genuinely teacher feels otherwise, he/she can amend that).
I would not want to compete with a cheater. Not that I am afraid of losing but the game won't be fair.
sparsha
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 14-Nov-00 05:14 PM
Hi Sparsha::
>Biswo, I was also surprised to read your
>comment on this matter. It sounded like you
>careless what those cheaters (students) do
>to get the admission in UK/US schools as
>long as they can perfrom at par there. "End
>justifies the means" sort of concept.
No, surely I condemn them. Basically, what I think is
a pure cheat cannot succeed here,for example in
Princeton or in MIT.
As it is prevalent in other fields(like army etc), when
there is something unfortunate happening,what they do
is they perform internal investigation and control the
situation,but the result of investigation is kept
secret for the betterment of the organization.
Here,we have an unfortunate situation.Our smart kids,
in their 18s, are cheating ,at least, learning to be
dishonest.And as it is understood, they already are
in top tier schools of US.Now what should we do to
them? Risk their future career by a public report by
a journalist(as Ashu proposed), sully the image of
the schools or ,as I understand, let it be controlled
by an internal disciplinary action?
What I am saying is for the betterment of country,I
guess.I am not from those schools, but I am proud of
seeing kids from those schools straightly landing in
MIT /Cambridge/Harvard. Personally, a lot of Nepalese
still say that their kids can get good education in
Nepal also because the students from our highschool
get admission/scholarship in Swarthmore or Harvard, and
this also encourage those persons who decides to live
in foreign countries because they think their kids
can't get good education in Nepal.
Basically, what I see is these points:
1.The corrupt practice is recently started.
2.So this can be controlled if the whole institute is
not involved in this scam.
3.There is an extent of what penalty can be imposed to
the kids and their delinquency.
4.If kids alone are not responsible for this, we should
investigate it to the end.
Again,as I think the the quotation "end justifies
means" is that of Hitler, and as a fervent anti-Hitler,
I believe that that was not my intent.
I am sorry for the confusion that my posting created.
> TO ME
>IT'S CONFLICTING IDEAS scenerio. Which part
>to beleive?
My basic idea was to address the intrinsic conflict
in solutions.While we should condemn and control such
acts, they shouldn't jeopardize the future of the
bright students.
Again,since if the institute is/are involved, and if
mediocre students are coming , then the problem is
really serious.But again, the onus falls to the schools
themselves, they should rectify themselves.They should
notify the related schools about the finding they have
gathered.
I am so sorry this is so complicated issue.But I
believe that as long as it is not organized crime,
generally a personal peccadillo, then it is fairly
common practice ,even of the students from IIT(India)
or Qinghua University(Beijing) ,students from where
we see all over the top graduate schools of USA.
Please don't misunderstand my points.Try to think about the alternative solutions.They are too harsh.
We may even risk looking for scapegoats only.
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