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In children's eyes

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-31 07:54

The world would be a better place if we all had children's eyes. This is not because children's eyes are too sharp to allow any blot to pass without being caught, but because adults have too many conflicting concerns to keep their eyes open to all wrongdoing.

The fact that primary school students as invigilators at an examination for police officers caught 25 of them cheating on the spot has not only caused a stir but raised the question of whether adult invigilators would discharge their duties as well.

The examination was for promotion of police officers in Liangzhou prefecture of northwestern Gansu province. It was a good idea for the prefecture's organizational department to invite 18 primary pupils to act as invigilators. At that age, students would do as they are told and act fearlessly.

The implication of this event goes beyond its impact on the work style of local police officers and the examinations. Over 60 percent of more than 60,000 people polled online said what these children have done points to the sad fact of adults being less trustworthy.

The ancient Chinese held a belief that human nature was good at birth: as free of blemish as a sheet of blank paper, which can be filled with content (good or bad) of choice in the process of growing up.

There should be judicious weighing of merit and demerit in everything. And this should be done with a sense of justice and on the basis of certain principles that can never be compromised.

The repeated reports of cheating in examinations, selling ranks and titles, embezzlement of public funds by government officials and ever-increasing payments of bribes officials take, all paint a gloomy picture of prevalent social morals. In such a scenario, adults have become too concerned with their own personal gains to care about basic sense of justice and principles.

Some may personally benefit by violating the basic principles of being a law-abiding citizen in the short term. But society as a whole would be plunged in chaos if conventions and established rules are ignored. When no one observes any principle and the sole concern is personal interest, everyone will suffer, not only those who first break the rules.

Imagine what would happen if adults acted as invigilators in this examination: They would quite probably turn a blind eye to cheating. That cheats benefit from malpractices is unfair to honest examinees, and when the success of cheats encourages more people to cheat, the consequences will be disastrous.

The message is that we adults need to have our eyes as clear as children's on matters of principle.

(China Daily 07/31/2009 page8)