Ethics drive for national curriculum

It has been a tough week for purists in China.

Last week saw the life suspension of champion male back stroke swimmer, Ouyang Kunpeng, shamed for performance enhancing drug use.

Today we see another case where the public's trust has been abused with the revelation that the south China tiger images were faked and the officials and photographer face the docks.

Unfortunately it follows three similar cases last year involving the abuse of the public trust and it's setting a precedent that must be addressed.

Most recent was the manipulation of digital images concerning a flock of white pigeons. Zhang Liang from the Harbin Daily submitted the picture "Over 800 pigeons at a square take the bird flu vaccine", to the China International Press Photo Contest in 2005 and won a gold award. Sadly he was later exposed in May this year as a phony.

This followed another misrepresentation by Liu Weiqing, a 41-year-old Daqing Evening News photographer that "severely breached the ethical codes of journalists" mid February this year. He stuck together two photos into one showing more than 20 Tibetan antelopes frolicking under a bridge. The photo, named "Qinghai-Tibet Railway opening green passageway for wild animals", was ranked among the "10 most impressive news photos of 2006".

All of which were preceded by another journalist, Zi Beijia who last July, concocted a story regarding cardboard stuffing that was allegedly being used in dumplings. Not only did he put people off their dinner he later forced us to query the desperate measures writers and photographers may go to satisfy over eager editors' quest for captivating content.

Getting beyond the initial shame experienced by the offenders and their immediate families and friends, now comes the national humiliation that China bashers will exacerbate as they condemn rampant pirating of intellectual property rights and a culture that seems to condone plagiarism and a blurring of the truth.

In this situation there is justice in their attack. The issue needs to be tackled and within the education system at a middle school level there is room for the ministry to get involved.

At present it is estimated that almost 200,000 Chinese students will study abroad this year. Projections for the future forecast greater numbers. Getting past the initial IELTS/ TOEFL hurdle on entry to a foreign campus students quickly realize that past modes of academic practice as developed in their homeland do not suffice in the current international setting.

Here academic literacy as it pertains to referencing and plagiarism are of paramount importance to one's success and development and any educator who has worked with international students will be aware that Chinese are some, if not the worst, offenders in this regard.

Excusing the 54-year-old Shaanxi farmer who creatively doctored the tiger photo earning a bit of much needed extra cash, one finds it more difficult to forgive the officials, journalists and seasoned photographers who may themselves have had an education.

Yet it is within the very heart of education and the nation's classrooms that adherence to global practice regarding factual representation and ethical creation of cultural products needs to be addressed.

While cram schools profit off the English language boom and overseas study markets mushroom, more responsibility needs to be shown that proper referencing of somebody else's work, blatant copying of another's material and rote styles of learning are not satisfactory in the 21st century global economy.

New habits of international merit need to be cultivated to restore the esteem of China's new cultural creators who profit off a previously sound tradition.