Plagiarism in the classroom.

I once taught at a tertiary institution in Singapore which shall remain nameless, given the topic in hand.

One day, after my lecture, a Chinese mainland student came to me with a rather earnest expression on his face. He presented me with a bundle of printed sheets, clearly taken off the internet. They were of an academic paper.

"Can you help me?" he began, clearly under some sort of pressure to get something done.

"How?" I asked, wondering where this was leading.

"Can you help me write my thesis?", he said, thrusting the academic paper towards me.

I felt most uncomfortable, at once - but didn't want to be abrupt.

I looked at the paper. It was not written by the student who had given it to me. It was a very complex academic paper written by someone who did not know the meaning of clarity. I could barely understand a word of it on first glance - and I was a native speaker of English accustomed to academic papers. It was the kind of paper that required very careful consideration to extract any meaning from it at all. It had been written by someone gifted in abstruseness but utterly ungifted as a writer.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Can you rewrite this for me?" He asked, without any consciousness that he shouldn't be doing so, pointing at the heavy paper in my hands.

"So...", I began slowly, as the enormity of the academic crime he wanted to involve me in, came to be understood by me, "You want me to write your thesis for you..."

He nodded, again unaware that what he had asked was wrong.

"And you want me to do so by taking all the ideas from this paper?"

Again, he nodded, unaware of the dishonesty of his request.

"No." I said, to his evident surprise and apparent anger. "Why don't you write it yourself?"

He was most put out. The notion that I, his teacher, would actually refuse to help him cheat his way to a degree was seemingly quite beyond him. He seemed shocked, angry, disappointed and speechless all at once.

What made his attempted crime all the worse was that he was completely incapable of understanding the paper he had decided to plagiarize. It was most definitely beyond him - yet he wanted to borrow its erudition for his own advancement. His English was decidedly dodgy - almost as bad as his morality. Yet, he had identified it as being just the material he needed to secure him his degree.

I don't know whether he managed to get any staff member to help him plagiarize a paper for his thesis. Perhaps he thought that I, being a foreigner, would be an easy mark, not being directly involved in the everyday issues of the College, in Singapore. Perhaps he asked other expats and found one who eventually obliged. All I know is that there was no way he was good enough to write a dissertation in English, at all, ever, by himself.

He never came to me again with such a request.

The incident, however, made me wonder how common plagiarism is, in Singapore. Is it widespread? Are hundreds or thousands of students "earning" degrees on the back of plagiarism? Is academic dishonesty rife in Singapore's educational institutions?

I do not have an answer. However, the very boldness with which that young man from China approached me made me think that he thought it a normal thing to do. He seemed almost to think it was his right to get me to help him win his degree by such unfair means.

Perhaps it is not a Singaporean problem, but a problem of the Chinese mainlanders who come here. If that is the case, then Singapore's educational institutions need to be alert to this possibility lest they end up handing out qualifications to the most unqualified people of all: cheats and plagiarists.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind)

The incommensurability of education systems

I have discussed this before, but it deserves to be addressed again, in another way and through the lens of another experience.

Education systems are not the same, the world over. The clearest divide is between the American education system and the old, traditional British one, still common throughout the Commonwealth and former colonies.

The American system prides itself on breadth. At every stage from first grade to "College" - there is breadth. The British system goes for depth: at every stage from the first year of school to the last year of University, there is greater depth, than in the American system. This leads to much incomprehension when Americans seek to understand the achievements of British style educated kids - and vice-versa. Quite simply: is it possible to compare breadth with depth? Are they commensurable?

My belief is that they are not readily comparable - for where the American loses in depth, they gain in breadth - and where the British/Commonwealth/European loses in breadth they gain in depth.

There is however one way we can compare them: cognitive complexity. The cognitive demands of an old-style British education of O Levels and A Levels followed by a single subject University degree are greater than at any given age in the American system. This is not a controversial statement. It is readily seen by looking at any online US based course designed for a given age and comparing what would be demanded under the traditional British style education at the same age.

What do I mean by cognitive demand? Well, the difficulty of a subject comes in the depth: the level of concepts and techniques, skills and knowledge that must be mastered. It is in the depth that this is to be found. In breadth, one is held largely to an introductory level of knowledge, simply because so many things are being looked at. In this way, the challenge doesn't deepen - and grow, thereby.

The American system probably catches up in Graduate School (I am not sure but that seems more specialized) - but a taught Graduate degree in the US is probably little more than a taught Undergraduate degree in the old-British style single subject system. This seems obvious because it CANNOT BE OTHERWISE when the Undergraduate US degrees have such breadth in them. Because of that breadth, they are limited in depth.

I will give you a practical example of the incommensurability of these systems at work. A few months back, Ainan and I sat through a University of Berkeley, California, Physics lecture. I presume it was a first year lecture because it was so very simplistic that Ainan, six at the time, who had no formal physics background, thought it very simple indeed. In fact, I would say it was pre-O level. That is the level it was pitched at was below a course of study normally started by 14 year olds and finished by 16 year olds in the old traditional British style education. It wasn't even hard enough to be called O level. It was late primary/early secondary level - and yet that was Berkeley. This set me thinking about the nature of education systems. Raymond Ravaglia's remark that the American system "teaches to the left of the distribution" also opened my eyes as to what was happening here.

This phenomenon of great breadth and little depth in the American system - and great depth but little breadth in the traditional British system - leads to the impossibility of either side understanding the academic achievements of the other, fully. There will always be some failure to understand what it is that the other has done and can do.

American Universities recruit students directly after O level, in Singapore. That shows that O level is equal to or above High School graduation standard. The Berkeley lecture makes me wonder how much above that standard it might be.

Yet, all is not lost for the American system. The great breadth means that an American educated child should be able to handle a great variety of tasks - and there is merit in that, too. It just depends on what the culture needs.

(If you would like to read about Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and four months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three and Tiarnan, fourteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

NUS High School, Singapore: what is it?

NUS High School, Singapore is rather different from what I had understood. It is not just a High School, but a closet University, too.

Let me explain. NUS High School for Maths and Science (to give it, its proper title) was established by the National University of Singapore (NUS), to foster excellence in maths and science and to cater for the best students in the country, in these areas. It provides a wide, modular curriculum covering Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Art, History, Geography, Music, Astronomy, Robotics, Languages and other subjects, too. The student is required to pick and choose within credit requirements in each area. As I understand it, this is probably why it is called a "High School" - for modular credit based systems are an American standard, as I understand it (correct me if I am wrong). As students progress through what is normally a six year course, the preponderance of maths and science grows, and that of humanities diminishes. In this, it is unlike a traditional American High School, in that the outcome is predetermined, to a degree: the assumption is a specialization in science, and this is built into the structure of the place.

Yet, there are differences between this school and a traditional American High School. NUS High School acts as a junior department of the National University of Singapore, itself. It does this through a facility that I was unaware of until the interview, today (which I should discuss in a different post). NUS High School allows its pupils to take modules from the National University of Singapore, itself. These modules can be used in two ways: one, is as credit towards the NUS High School Diploma; the other is as credit towards...you guessed it...a B.Sc (Bachelor of Science) Degree from the National University of Singapore (NUS).

This option of taking modules from the University is not restricted in scope, at all. In fact, ANY module at the National University of Singapore, may be taken while a person is a student at NUS High School. This means that a student of NUS High can build up credits towards a Degree at the National University of Singapore, as much as they like. Indeed, there is only one thing that I was informed of that prevents dual graduation (that is simultaneous graduation from the High School and the University): there is presently a blanket one year minimum residential requirement, for all students, at the National University of Singapore. That could be a stumbling block: how would Ainan cope with living in University residences, as a child, among adults? There could be all sorts of problems there. I can only hope for an exception on that one, I think.

So, there is a seamless transition between NUS High School and the National University of Singapore: they are, in essence, part of the same greater organization. This is news to me. I had not known that they were one in anything other than name.

Thus, on taking up a place at NUS High, Ainan, seven, would, in due course, be able to take University courses, in a modular fashion, towards his first degree. This gives me hope that arrangements can be made for him to study new material at his level, which would further his interest and understanding.

Perhaps everything will work out.

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and three months, and his gifted brothers, Fintan, three, and Tiarnan, thirteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html. I also write of child prodigy, gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Comparative education: Singapore "High Schools"

In America, "High School" has a certain meaning and a certain range of connotations. Americans know what High School is: they have been there and have gathered together certain impressions and assumptions. This understanding, however, will lead to misunderstanding of the present situation.

You see, Singapore is influenced by its colonial origins. Its education is largely patterned on the UK model of O levels, A levels and specialized single subject degrees. This is not the American system. Therefore, when I used the term "High School" yesterday, it had a different meaning from what an American would understand a High School to be. Secondary Schools in Singapore, as they are more commonly known, follow a narrower base of subjects, at a higher level than any given age in the American system. What this means is that, by the end of secondary education in Singapore (a stage normally called Junior College here), a student will have reached a higher standard than would be attained in a US High School. However, it should be remembered that this higher benchmark would be in a narrower range of subjects than in the US.

For reasons I do not yet fully know, the school which is being considered for Ainan: The National University of Singapore High School for Maths and Science, otherwise known as the NUS High School for Maths and Science, is called a High School. That is odd in the Singapore landscape: for other schools do not have this title. I will learn why on Friday, I suppose.

Anyway, given the influence of the UK system on the educational practices of Singapore, this NUS High School will reach higher standards than an American High School would, at the same age. Thus it is not a comparable situation. The level of demand on Ainan, seven, would be higher than if he were in an American High School. In Singapore, students take A levels at eighteen. As I have noted before, it was said of this exam, when I was a child, that the standard was so high that it was like taking an American college degree. That is the context in which NUS High School is embedded.

I will learn more tomorrow of what the place is about. One thing should be noted, however: NUS High School is a specialist centre for the mathematically and scientifically gifted. Therefore, Ainan would be among many gifted students - who are more than twice his age. That should be an interesting experience. I hope it is a good one, and that they welcome him. We will see.

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and three months, a scientific child prodigy, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three, and Tiarnan, thirteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, IQ, intelligence, child genius, adult genius, baby genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Comparative education: America and UK style

Yesterday, in the Today newspaper, Singapore, there was a letter from a reader referring to a recent offer by an American University to accept students from Singapore directly after O level results. The initiative is part of a Singapore Institute of Management programme.

For readers in countries not familiar with O levels, let me explain. When I was growing up in the UK, there were two major exams taken before University - O levels (where O was for "Ordinary") and A levels (where A was for "Advanced"), there were also S levels which very few students took, where S stood for Special, I think. S level was considerably tougher than A level. In practice, hardly anyone ever took S level. (I did, along with at least one other from my school, but that is another story).

Now O levels were taken usually at 16 years old and A levels at 18 years old (and S levels too, at 18). O levels were a broad based exam with students taking many O levels. Most took at least 5, I think I took about 12. The A levels were more narrowly focussed, students usually taking only three subjects, though some, in schools like mine, took four or more.

As I understand it, American education is very different from the UK style education. In the UK specialisation occurs early, in America a high school education is a very broad affair indeed. So, too is an American college degree. In America, it is usual to study a buffet of subjects, mixing and matching in a modular fashion, with a typical student learning many different things. Not so in the UK (and many other countries which follow this style). There a student will generally study only one subject, with some exceptions, focussing narrowly and deeply on the subject matter.

So, how does American education compare with the UK/European style education? The American, at any given age, will have been exposed to a broad range of subjects, in what is, to a UK perspective, relatively little depth. The UK student, at any given age will have been exposed to a narrower range of subjects, in much greater depth.

What does this mean in comparing the education systems (and the students) of the two different countries? The story in the Today newspaper, yesterday, is very revealing. An American University is soliciting students after O level. This means, very clearly, that the standard of the first year of the American University begins at or below O level, in terms of depth and difficulty.
A UK A level, taken by 16 to 18 year olds, is beyond the level required to begin an American College Degree. Indeed, when I was growing up in England, it was commonly said that a UK A level, at that time, was equivalent to an American College Degree. It is important to know this when comparing a cultural phenomenon that exists in America with what exists in Europe.

In America, quite a few children appear to go to College early. In Europe very few do (and they are generally, but not always, somewhat older, when they do). Does this mean European children are less bright than American children? Not at all. It means that the European University degrees are more specialized, and require a higher standard in greater depth, than an American Undergraduate degree, certainly in the UK (the system I know of, from experience). A child passing a UK A level, when I was a child, was equivalent, in terms of academic demand, to a child passing an American College Degree. I don't know how American Graduate degrees compare to UK Graduate degrees, or indeed to Undergraduate degrees, but it is clear that they will be different, from the different foundations on which they are built.

The situation has changed somewhat over the years, since my childhood, but certain things remain the same. The UK system (and those that follow something similar) remains more specialized than the American system. The academic demand is narrower at any given age than the American system, but deeper in content. The American system remains broader and more flexible, in terms of choice of subjects studied.

O levels are still studied around the world, but generally not in the UK anymore, where most students take the GCSE (which is quite different, though the syllabuses are similar to O level). A levels have become modular, but still remain specialized.

It is important to understand these differences so that, when we read of the academic achievements of a particular nation, or a particular individual student or child prodigy, and the like, that we know what they mean. The American University recruiting in Singapore, has implicitly acknowledged that the O level exam equals or exceeds the standard of High School Graduation - otherwise they would not be recruiting O level students into their first year programmes. So, if one reads of a child who takes an O level at a very young age, this is equivalent in cognitive demand, one would think, to a child of the same age, completing High School Graduation in America. Similarly, a child passing A levels, at a young age, is comparable to a child passing an American College Degree, at a young age.

This situation allows us to understand why it is so rare for children to enter University in UK style University programmes, compared to the situation in America. Like is not being compared with like. The UK style University is narrower, deeper and simply a lot harder than the American University Undergraduate programme: it is a higher rung to achieve, and so fewer achieve it at a young age.

Then there are variations between Universities. The first year of the University of Cambridge's Natural Sciences course (which I took) was much, much more challenging than A level. Yet in some Universities the first year is similar in demand to A level. Again, one must understand the circumstance of each institution and situation to be able to compare one education system with another.

So, which is better, a broad American education, or a narrow, deeper UK/European one? I think it very much depends on what you are preparing for. If you want to be able to handle a wide range of situations in life, and have a broad perspective on things, perhaps the American system has the edge. If you want to be able to meet a difficult challenge, equipped with the deepest of knowledge (such as might be required in many professional situations), I feel the UK style University has the advantage, at least at the Undergraduate level, assuming that particular challenge doesn't require knowledge of more than one discipline.

I debate the merits of each system, because I face a choice for my sons: how do I want them to be educated - American style - or UK style? The choice exists because American style programmes are spreading around the world, as outposts of American Universities - reaching even here, in Singapore.

The first step in making a choice is in understanding the differences. I hope this article has made some of those differences clear.

(If you would like to read about Ainan Celeste Cawley, my scientific child prodigy son, aged seven years and one month, or his gifted brothers, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted children and gifted adults in general. Note that I am unable to update the guide at present because of problems with my blogger interface, which doesn't allow me to edit posts. I am trying to resolve the situation. In the meantime, you will find recent posts in the sidebar. Thanks.)