Honesty in Writing

desiderata.english

The poet is the rock of defence for human nature. *** William Wordsworth, in Preface to The Lyrical Ballads

I was somewhat concerned when a friend told me over tea recently that her daughter, like most of her classmates in Primary 5, are memorising compositions by heart for their school examinations. Apparently, this is the modus operandi taught them by the teachers -- whether for English, Bahsa Malaysia, or Chinese -- for spotted essay questions in a public exmaination would help the school "score" in that subject!

From childhood, I guess the process of acquiring knowledge begins with rote learning,
We of course remember:
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling down after...

Or the naughty boys would tease their meek mate:

Georgy Porgy pudding and pie
Kissed the girls and made them cry
When Georgy Porgy went out to play
All the girls would run away

Yes, imitation is oft touted is the highest form of flattery. As long as the pupils know their limits, and acknowledge that their writing is just borrowing some "styles" with their own contents, it's fine. We all at some time or another have experienced some feelings of deja vu when reading other authors' writings -- exclaiming, Yes, I swear I've read or seen that before! It's just that we have had glimpses of similar thoughts or imiginative landscapes locked somewhere in the deep recesses our minds, but a more proactive writer beat us to it! As they say, Great minds think alike, Fools seldom differ, maybe only on April Fool's Day!

But when kids are taught by their teachers to "memorise word for word, idea by idea", for a composition, I don't k-no-w about that. As an examiner, I would be bored (or gored?) to death by reading fifty scripts featuring more and more of the same points on the subject of My Coming-of-Age Birthday Celebration!

Then last (mid-)night's episode of Boston Public inspired this Sunday's rumination, and I hope some educators and parents whose children face the same predicament come write me with their viewpoints for sharing for the common good. The American high school located in a tough neighbour featured an initial euphoria when one of its students Jamaal (I didn't get his full name) was congratulated by his class for being offered a place at the Williams College, and a determining factor was his essay submitted was highly rated.

Then a faculty member found out that this essay had been copied -- plagiarised! -- and Jamaal's form-teacher was devastated of being informed of the news by the princiapal. Feeling dejected and angry that one of his favourite charges had let him down, the teacher broke the news to Jamaal, in a raised, reprimanding voice, that he could not proceed to college for his dishonest act.

To me, copying someone's work substantially and claiming it as one's own -- whether a poem, song or essay or novel -- is "stealing" or "theft", and for a writer, is a most unforgivable offence. Hence Jammal loses a scholarship for plagiarism -- an act of stealing someone's intellectual effort and creation. An offence so easily committed -- with some culprits getting away with it! -- in this age on Internet when information seems endless and seamless, available on any topic at the click of a mouse!

It's incumbent on us parents and guardians to guide the young ones, nurture in them a sense of honesty, to be able to tell right from wrong. Indeed, God created humans in His image, and therefore humans are born with vast springs of good and goodwill, let us writers and poets, as Wordsworth advocates, be the bedrock of defence of human nature.

So when we train our young ones to reproduce wholesale a composition or essay for school tests or public examinations, are we initiating them on a dangerous trend? That's my pre-occupation last night, and I pen this piece more for discussion, and not my viewpoint to be thrust down any parent's or student's hands.

Are teachers so hardpressed (maybe by a isguided principal who only sees As and Bs as the only grades justifying the school's record?) that they can't guide their children to learn writing the better way ... To me, I call it the 5Rs+1W way -- Read, read, read, and then write, 'rite and right!

Maybe start by encouraging them to write a short story based on a series of pictures/cartoons; give them an Opening paragraph like "I was at the wet market with Mum last Sunday morning when we heard a commotion from a teh-tarik stall by the roadside near the entrance to the market. A man clad in sarong -- maybe in his 50s -- was raising his voice at the stall-owner, and I could hear his shouting: 'Hey, mana saya punya kopi-o kau? Mana saya punya roti canai?...' repeated. "

Or lead off a composition/essay with a stanza from a poem:

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?
No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep or cows...
*** W.H. Davies

I think there are many innovative ways to teach the young ones the basics of writing, but I feel strongly against memorising essays by heart. Imagine an examiner reading from 50 scripts and finding 49 of them featuring almost identical points, maybe even expressed in twin-like manner. I'd rather read the 50th essay -- original, not so smoothly written maybe, still an original -- and any thinking examiner would score the unique attempt higher. Mainly because it's the student's own effort. All writers must jealously guard their honesty, above everything else.

That's why when we quote something to enhance our writing, we must attribute whenever possible the authority to the real author -- as the verse from Leisure by W.H. Davies quoted above. A composition based on the quoted verses could be about My favourite pastime, One's hobby/hobbies, The Rat Race, Hustle and bustle of life, even on Lesiure.

I end today with something to ruminate, as all dedicated writers must, in the quest towards excellence in writing, reproducing from Alexander Pope's obsevation as quoted in "Sound and Sense" from his "An Essay on Criticism":

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,

As those move easiest who have learned to dance.

'Tis not enough no harshness gives offense,

The sound must seem an echo to the sense.