Young Voice
Super-Cheaters: The Injustice League
"By the end of this exam, three of you shall have a grade of zero". The college instructor adjusted his glasses and moved past the aisles of the classroom, his watchful eyes caught juvenile heinous crimes within its four walls. I felt a sudden rush of current within my veins. I know I was not guilty; it's against my principle to cheat or to take advantage of people in my own accord. With a scream of injustice within me, I wanted to approach those three nincompoops and do the honor of placing a big 0 on their test papers.
Pathetic. They would sink that low just to ensure their fate in a 50-item examination?
This is where it all starts. Believe me, the next thing that will possibly happen is that those same people will be denying their tax duties, laying extra unmerited charges on their services, or selling some scam of gadgets unregistered in the Bureau of Customs.
I would often lose interest and due respect to persons who cheat their way out of messy situations. How unfair it is, that you stayed up late memorizing all the dates and hard-to-pronounce surnames of significant people. Then you end up with an insensitive fool copying from you.
How unfair it is, that you got 1.0 in the exams but with due course of sagging eye bags ending up with an inconsiderate dupe getting 1.0 as well but with a tightly detoxified face.
These people have some nerves of pure steel, willing to do everything for the sake of achieving what they desire.
In fact besides having a nervous system made up of metals, they may have some unique qualities or what I call super-cheating powers. An X-ray vision that could see past any blockage you're defending your exam paper with. A supersonic hearing that could detect some few minute hushes of information within a 30-kilometer radius. See how extraordinary these people are, they deserve a round of applause and a bucket of rotten tomatoes.
Cheating is a form of dishonesty. Soon I'll be a full-fledged nurse, and in my hands depend the different fragile fates from a pediatric (child-care) to a geriatric (elderly-care) setting. I couldn't afford to make any mistake. It would be unfair if I cheated with their lives.
Take a look around you, cheating is everywhere. From a simple 5th grade girl changing her answers during the checking of test papers to a statesman pocketing the funds for a road construction in a remote barrio.
There are times when I'm already in panic, sweating hard like a pig in the pen, facing a difficult question in an exam and would be tempted to peep at my seat mate's answers. But you know what? I couldn't bear to do so; I wouldn't risk a single point in an exam in exchange for my principles. Yes, I may get a low score. Yes, someone might end up with a grade higher than mine. Still, I have more examinations where I can uplift myself.
Now before you dig your hands inside your mom's purse for some extra allowance without telling her, remember that it is cheating.
Soon, in around six semester's time, I'll be a registered nurse working in a local hospital here or attending to Bill Gates as his personal nurse. But one thing remains true, I'll be able to reach it without cheating my way out.
I smiled at my score after receiving my test paper. I got 46/50, second highest.
Still happy. It's better than getting zero, right?
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