Malilong: Jail the cheats, spare the innocent
Malilong: Jail the cheats, spare the innocent
By Frank Malilong Jr.
The Other Side
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2006/08/23/oped/frank.malilong.jr..the.other.side.html
It’s the ant syndrome once again. You know what we do when an ant bites us. We don’t look for the one that bit us but kill all the ants within sight and reach.
That is exactly what some quarters are proposing to do to the examinees in the June nursing board examinations. They want to punish all those who took the test by nullifying the results because some of them benefited from the cheating done by some of their elders in the profession.
Ants, even the innocent ones, at least can be considered deserving of their fate because they are all known to bite. But the nursing graduates? Where is the idiot who says that all of them are known to cheat?
The purists have a point when they argue on the need to uphold the highest standards of the profession. No doubt, the image of Philippine nursing has been gravely tarnished by the scandal. But the demands of professional integrity and discipline should be harmonized with the basic principles of elementary justice. One should not be made to offend the other.
The use of dishonest means to get what you want is common practice in this country but that is not the same as saying that it is no longer despicable. In fact, it is and should thus be dealt with severely especially when it involves trifling with the youth and a noble profession, as in this case.
But whom do you punish? Professional, like criminal, responsibility is personal. Throw the book at the crooks in the Board of Nursing or wherever the leaked questions originated. Hang the mastermind with a stethoscope by the neck. Disqualify perpetually the examinees who knowingly took advantage of the cheating.
But spare the innocent ones. Think of the agony that they went through, reviewing for the examinations and waiting for the results to be released. Think of the parents who dreamt of the moment when their children shall have hurdled the first test to qualify them to work abroad but now will not only have to wait one more time but will also have to spend again.
The purists tell us that retaking the examination is actually for the nurses’ own good otherwise they will forever suffer from the stigma of a controversy-laden test. Examples are cited of hospitals discriminating against the latest batch and of patients allegedly refusing to be attended to by them.
I say let the nurses choose whether to take that risk. Those who are afraid that they will not able to prove their competence unless they pass a second board examination should heed the advice of the Professional Regulations Commission to take the test again.
Just don’t give me that crap about nullifying the test results as the only way to repair the tarnished image of the nursing profession. Jail the cheats, that’s the way to do that. Tough luck if you cannot identify them. But don’t use that as an excuse to treat all the examinees as you do ants.
(fmmalilong@yahoo.com)
FROM : http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2006/08/23/oped/frank.malilong.jr..the.other.side.html
By Frank Malilong Jr.
The Other Side
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2006/08/23/oped/frank.malilong.jr..the.other.side.html
It’s the ant syndrome once again. You know what we do when an ant bites us. We don’t look for the one that bit us but kill all the ants within sight and reach.
That is exactly what some quarters are proposing to do to the examinees in the June nursing board examinations. They want to punish all those who took the test by nullifying the results because some of them benefited from the cheating done by some of their elders in the profession.
Ants, even the innocent ones, at least can be considered deserving of their fate because they are all known to bite. But the nursing graduates? Where is the idiot who says that all of them are known to cheat?
The purists have a point when they argue on the need to uphold the highest standards of the profession. No doubt, the image of Philippine nursing has been gravely tarnished by the scandal. But the demands of professional integrity and discipline should be harmonized with the basic principles of elementary justice. One should not be made to offend the other.
The use of dishonest means to get what you want is common practice in this country but that is not the same as saying that it is no longer despicable. In fact, it is and should thus be dealt with severely especially when it involves trifling with the youth and a noble profession, as in this case.
But whom do you punish? Professional, like criminal, responsibility is personal. Throw the book at the crooks in the Board of Nursing or wherever the leaked questions originated. Hang the mastermind with a stethoscope by the neck. Disqualify perpetually the examinees who knowingly took advantage of the cheating.
But spare the innocent ones. Think of the agony that they went through, reviewing for the examinations and waiting for the results to be released. Think of the parents who dreamt of the moment when their children shall have hurdled the first test to qualify them to work abroad but now will not only have to wait one more time but will also have to spend again.
The purists tell us that retaking the examination is actually for the nurses’ own good otherwise they will forever suffer from the stigma of a controversy-laden test. Examples are cited of hospitals discriminating against the latest batch and of patients allegedly refusing to be attended to by them.
I say let the nurses choose whether to take that risk. Those who are afraid that they will not able to prove their competence unless they pass a second board examination should heed the advice of the Professional Regulations Commission to take the test again.
Just don’t give me that crap about nullifying the test results as the only way to repair the tarnished image of the nursing profession. Jail the cheats, that’s the way to do that. Tough luck if you cannot identify them. But don’t use that as an excuse to treat all the examinees as you do ants.
(fmmalilong@yahoo.com)
FROM : http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2006/08/23/oped/frank.malilong.jr..the.other.side.html
how do you now determne who benefitted and who did not? The innocent from the guilty? How do you separate the grain from the stalk? Labo di ba! PRC is to blame!
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4:37 PM