anpoo's protege

I received this interesting email in my NUS mailbox:

Dear all,

The note below is self-explanatory. If some students did do things that they should not have done, I can only say that the tutors, Prof Subra and myself will be greatly disappointed.

For those who have sensed, or suspected that some of their classmates have "do anything" for extra marks, I can only say that do not feel too distressed. In the end, it will be those who are not honest with themselves, who do not make efforts to improve themselves through hard work and perseverence but give way to their own weaknesses and do wrong things who will lose out in the end. Developing a proper character is one of the most important things that will determine your success in your later lives.

The contribution to the final marks for this examination will not be high, at most 10%. The primary objective of the mid-term test is to, in a way, "force" students to do their revisions so that they will be better prepared for the final examination. Those who did not put in the effort to study but rather try to cheat on themselves by to get thos "extra marks" will only be fooling themselves.

In the grading of the mid-term test, the below comments will be taken into consideration and a lookout will be done to detect blatant copying of answers without proper or incorrect working.

And those "honest students" who studied for the test should not feel "penalised". If you have studied for the test, you should feel penalised. Rather, I am sure you will be the winners in the end.

For those students who had succumbed to their weaknesses, I would urge you to take stock and reflect on what you have done. And I would hope that you will learn something from this and do the right things in future, not only for the sake of the name of NUS graduates, but more importantly, for yourself.

Regards,
ANPoo

-----Original Message-----
From: An ME2142 Student
Sent: 28 February 2007 23:03
To: Poo Aun Neow; Velusamy,S
Cc: Rebsamen Brice; Fu Guo Ming, James; Xi Xuecheng
Subject: ME2142 Midterm Exam Issues

Professors and Tutors,

I must be honest that I was quite irritated during and after the exam with the way that many students I believe were dishonest. The exam itself I thought was very fair although challenging because of time. When so much pressure is put on us, some people will do anything for extra marks.

Some students in front of me started the exam right as they received it and behind me I heard whispering of answers. After I handed in my exam and made my way up the stairs, I saw many many students conversing and changing their answers since all of the answers were easily change-able on the front page and the way to find out what version of the exams we had was told to us (at the bottom of the page). Some in the back were even still revising their exams. Afterwards I talked with two other students who felt the exact same way about it.

I understand that the exam has already been given and I do not know what can be done about this, maybe you can think of a solution. For the final exam, and for future years I think a better system could be worked out. I think that this is most unfair since the course is curved and honest students that did study hard should not be penalized for this. Even if the mid-term does not carry a large weight of the final grade, I do think it's the principal of the matter.

Thank you, I hope that I have not offended in any way; I just wanted you to be aware of what sometimes students may see.

Sincerely

"我是警察"