英语阅读：Ethics drive for national curriculum
It has been a tough week for purists in China.Last week saw the life suspension of champion male back stroke swimmer,
Ouyang Kunpeng, shamed for performance enhancing drug use.
Today we see another case where the public's trust has been abused with the
revelation that the south China tiger images were faked and the officials and
photographer face the docks.
Unfortunately it follows three similar cases last year involving the abuse
of the public trust and it's setting a precedent that must be addressed.
Most recent was the manipulation of digital images concerning a flock of
white pigeons. Zhang Liang from the Harbin Daily submitted the picture "Over 800
pigeons at a square take the bird flu vaccine", to the China International Press
Photo Contest in 2005 and won a gold award. Sadly he was later exposed in May
this year as a phony.
This followed another misrepresentation by Liu Weiqing, a 41-year-old
Daqing Evening News photographer that "severely breached the ethical codes of
journalists" mid February this year. He stuck together two photos into one
showing more than 20 Tibetan antelopes frolicking under a bridge. The photo,
named "Qinghai-Tibet Railway opening green passageway for wild animals", was
ranked among the "10 most impressive news photos of 2006".
All of which were preceded by another journalist, Zi Beijia who last July,
concocted a story regarding cardboard stuffing that was allegedly being used in
dumplings. Not only did he put people off their dinner he later forced us to
query the desperate measures writers and photographers may go to satisfy over
eager editors' quest for captivating content.
Getting beyond the initial shame experienced by the offenders and their
immediate families and friends, now comes the national humiliation that China
bashers will exacerbate as they condemn rampant pirating of intellectual
property rights and a culture that seems to condone plagiarism and a blurring of
the truth.
In this situation there is justice in their attack. The issue needs to be
tackled and within the education system at a middle school level there is room
for the ministry to get involved.
At present it is estimated that almost 200,000 Chinese students will study
abroad this year. Projections for the future forecast greater numbers. Getting
past the initial IELTS/ TOEFL hurdle on entry to a foreign campus students
quickly realize that past modes of academic practice as developed in their
homeland do not suffice in the current international setting.
Here academic literacy as it pertains to referencing and plagiarism are of
paramount importance to one's success and development and any educator who has
worked with international students will be aware that Chinese are some, if not
the worst, offenders in this regard.
Excusing the 54-year-old Shaanxi farmer who creatively doctored the tiger
photo earning a bit of much needed extra cash, one finds it more difficult to
forgive the officials, journalists and seasoned photographers who may themselves
have had an education.
Yet it is within the very heart of education and the nation's classrooms
that adherence to global practice regarding factual representation and ethical
creation of cultural products needs to be addressed.
While cram schools profit off the English language boom and overseas study
markets mushroom, more responsibility needs to be shown that proper referencing
of somebody else's work, blatant copying of another's material and rote styles
of learning are not satisfactory in the 21st century global economy.
New habits of international merit need to be cultivated to restore the
esteem of China's new cultural creators who profit off a previously sound
tradition.
E-mail: brendanjohnworrell@hotmail.com
页:
[1]