The discussion between good and evil peaks at this time of year in India, today being VijayDashami – the day the fabled true King Rama triumphed over the evil Ravaana who had kidnapped his wife in revenge for his sister’s insult. It could have been a complicated story, but the unidimensional characters make it an easy stories for a values based education session. The Ramayana, being one of the traditional epics has been used in schools and reading sessions for years as a salutary tale on the consequences of evil. Leaving aside its Hindu connection (which is difficult given the current saffronised scenario), it is a valuable exploration into pedagogical tools for an exploration of values. Pitching right against wrong is something we do all the time
I wrote papers for students for ten years. I helped them cheat and I made a living doing it. Not a great living, but a living nonetheless.Now, I’m retired from paper-writing and it feels good. I feel like a recovering drug addict, like I’m standing up and telling you about my sordid past.
As in many tales of drug-induced excess, I have seen things that would horrify the clean-living among you. But I’m not referring to the cheating, the dishonesty or even the general crappiness of some colleges. I got used to all of that stuff, even desensitized to it for a time.
Something that I never got used to, to which I never felt desensitized, which I even suspected was getting worse all the time, was the declining stock of students infiltrating our system of higher education. I am, by no means, an elitist. I don’t have the income for it. But I find it disturbing that we have so recklessly diluted the pool of students who are deemed college-worthy. Quality control is a thing of the past, due at least in part to the turnstile magic of No Child Left Behind.
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