Do not punish honest students

THE EDITOR: I have a philosophy that, as far as possible, the “good” guys should never suffer because of the actions of the “bad” guys. Those who make the effort to be on time for a meeting should not have to wait “for the others (the latecomers) to arrive.”

At a dinner, the punctual people must not have to wait unreasonably long for their meal, waiting for those who choose to come late. At a function, if the starting time has come and the dignitaries have not yet arrived, proceedings should begin unless there are extreme extenuating circumstances why they are late.

At a show with open seating, the doors should be opened on schedule so that the early birds can choose their seats and not have to jostle with latecomers.

I state all this so you will understand when I say that the honest students/schools who did not cheat at the CXC mathematics exam should not be penalised by having to rewrite the exam because of the few who chose to cheat.

We cannot reset exams for all based on what “could have” happened, with no evidence to support this. If so, there will always be a case for all exams to be reset since cheating is always possible.

In the most generous scenario, those who cheated may be allowed to sit the exam when next it’s scheduled. Setting, reviewing, conducting and marking an exam are time-consuming, expensive and onerous.

It is counter-productive and wasteful to set an exam just to accommodate a few cheaters. Let them wait. Hopefully, it will give them time to reflect on their actions.

NOEL KALICHARAN via e-mail

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"Do not punish honest students"

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