Daily Lessons from Life 12 November 2009

"Unwritten rules rampant on Chinese campuses
Bribery, sexual favours fawned on professors by students who are trying to get ahead. - Thu, Nov 12, 2009China Daily/Asia News Network

It may have been a crime of passion, but the recent stabbing of a Beijing college professor over an affair with a student has lifted the lid on an academic system riddled with corruption and scandal.


Fu Chengli was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on Oct 20 for the murder of Cheng Chunming, 43, last year. He refused his right to appeal the conviction. The 23-year-old, a student at the China University of Political Science and Law, fatally stabbed Chen in the neck because he believed the lecturer was having an affair with his girlfriend.

Fu's lawyer Ding Haiyang later confirmed the girl, a postgrad student surnamed Chen, admitted she was sleeping with her professor in order to secure a place on the college's PhD scheme, according to media reports.


The incident is an extreme case of the dark practices happening every day at colleges across China, say education and legal experts.

Between 1998 and last year, 54 cases of corruption had been uncovered in universities in Haidian district alone, according to statistics from the district procuratorate. There was only one case reported in 2004, but that figure rose to 15 in 2006.


Chang Jiwen, a professor in social law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said campus scandals were becoming rampant and blamed an overall unhealthy social environment.

"Professors conduct academic plagiarism and parents bribe to make sure their children achieve. What do you expect students to learn under that kind of environment?" he said.


With rogue parents and professors as their "role models", more students are taking shortcuts as they fear being smart may not be enough to success at university, he said.

Other unwritten rules include students having to buy books written by a professor to pass a course, giving professors gifts at festival times, and possibly even skipping class to work free for a professor's company.


"Education authorities should make universities' managerial and financial information open to the public," he said. "Any type of corruption and scams will die out under public exposure." "

Recently the Education Minister of PRC was 'sacked' from his post. It is not common for someone at that level to be sacked so it obviously has big and real challenges in the educational system of PRC.

Lessons for me are:

1. the fundamental cure against corruption and abuses are having people of integrity in the system. We can always point to 'other people committing abuses and getting away with it'. At the same time,people of integrity will judge themselves instead of justifying a wrong and immoral and unethical act just because 'others are doing it'!;

2. the second line of defense will be regular stringent checks on signs of corruption and abuses by people with integrity on the 'suspects'. The culprits will face very heavy and severe punishment if and when they were found to be guilty. The deterrent sentences will stop some of these folks from trying their luck. The punishment should be meted out to the bride givers as well. The checks have to be implemented through an efficient and effective system and processes instead of rely solely or mainly on pure human power!;

3. another line of defense is a sustain 'in-your-face' educational campaign to constantly remind people of the ills that such corruption and abuses will create to the population at large. It also remind the potential culprits - takers and givers - that 'they should not try their luck'.

Education is the cure to the nation's imbalance economic development. If it is rendered ineffective due to corruption and abuses, the nation will veer into chaos as the gap for the rich and the poor will continue to widen until the point of no return where the have-nots will rise again! That will be the worst situation. And we must avoid it at all cost!