Exam cheats will pay dearly later

The margin of error is usually something that is imperceptible.

I read somewhere that if a ship leaves the port and loses its direction by only two degrees, it will be 3000 to 5000 miles off its original port of destination after a few days of sailing.

Thus, a ship leaving Mombasa can end up in India, when the destination was Australia.

Two weeks ago, we read of a conspiracy on how children can pass examinations without deserving that result.

Examiners, teachers, parents and students are involved in manipulating results so that they can gain entry to the next level.

The end does not always justify the means and let me explain why. Imagine going to see a doctor who was not qualified in the first place to study medicine.

He will be there without a clue about what you are suffering from but he will fake his way through your diagnosis and prescribe whatever comes to mind. Could this be the cause of increasing number of deaths as a result of wrong diagnosis in our hospitals?

Fellow citizens, where are we taking this our country? We talk about the corruption yet we have now introduced it at the very foundation of the society.

Hard work and excellence have always been justly upheld in societies that have prospered. Innovation and competence have similarly been recognised.

The result is, some of the inventions that have changed lives.

Not all of these innovators were academically proven, however their skills were given an opportunity to thrive, rather than be channeled into a standard based on falsehood and grand conspiracy.

We complain about recruitment exercises that are mired in corruption and resulting in totally unqualified personnel for advertised positions.

I envy the difficult task of the recruiters who have to deal with candidates with fake papers. Perhaps the reason why this academic system has become so contaminated is that we have made examinations the all important ticket to a successful future.

Parents, teachers and the children have all been programmed to thinking that without that top examination grade, there is no future.

How about we take a step back and find out what our children are really made of rather than planning to cheat in examinations.

There is no doubt there shall be some ‘A’ students, but I can bet not all can be academically ‘A’ material.

You can imagine the different challenges we deal with in our everyday lives and the skill sets we have had to hone so that we can handle them.

What will stop your accountant son or daughter from skimming off the petty cash to meet a sudden need?

Rather than think of a more professional way of dealing with the problem, the short cut will always be their first option.

You, as a parent might end up spending your weekends enjoying a picnic lunch with them at Kamiti Prison. I know I may be portraying a very grim picture, however, reading about the cheating in examinations, I realised that the decay in our society, is more entrenched than we thought.