Caught in a, moral dilemma, when MY benefits are, infringed, what, will I, do??? Translated…
My youngest dropped out of high school, started in the workforces since, felt that she needed more education, and, took the exams and got into the night school of the technical schools, part-timed her way through her education, and applied for the scholarship, to reduce the burdens of money. But, the rule of the school was, only the highest scoring of every classroom will be allowed to, apply, and so, everybody wants to be at the top of the classes.
My youngest cherished her chance to return back to school, worked hard, to study, stayed focused in the classroom lectures, took the notes well, went to the internships as she was supposed to, never arriving late, nor leaving, early, she was among the, top students, it’d gotten her the rewards of the first certificate of achievement of her life, as well as her very first, scholarship prize, it’d, given her a confidence, boost.
On one of her English mid-terms, a fellow student cheated bluntly, and, don’t know if the teacher didn’t see, or simply, turned a blind eye to it, and the grades were posted, the cheater scored ninety-eight, my daughter felt unfair, that, she’d, fallen behind the place, and naturally, this would bring down her GPA too, causing her to lose her chances of being rewarded the scholarship prizes.
She’d asked the fellow classmate why she’d cheated? The student told her, that her husband died young, leaving her with four young children, that she’d worked as an assistant baker, and raised her four children by her measly wages, on the monthly salaries of $20,000N.T.s, she was living close to the poverty lines. Approaching her midlife, wanted to earn a college degree, that it would help her get a raise from work, and wanted to have the prize money from the scholarship to help make her children, and her own life, better too, but, she’d busied at work so, and, burned on both ends of the family and her work, and couldn’t find the time to study, plus, she’s getting older, without the enough memory space in her brains to remember, that was why she’d, had, the, cheat sheet for the exams.
As my youngest learned, she’d understood the hardships of single mothers, that it was due to life pressing hard on her, that’s why she’d, selected to, cheat. But, cheating WAS, wrong, that it wouldn’t be fair to those who’d studied hard, she’d wanted to tell the instructor, but, worried that the woman may lose her scholarship qualifications, and my daughter was caught in this, moral, dilemma.
I believe, that she could, choose to forgive, this isn’t being soft hearted, but out of, wisdom. But the woman needed to own up to the mistakes of, cheating, because cheating IS, deceitful, even if she’d received the high grades, it still would not be by her own means; if she were caught, certainly, it would’ve, left a bad impression with her own children, and she would’ve, lost more than she’d, gained.
My youngest consoled with her classmate, and loaned her her notes, the classmate felt shamed, and, stopped cheating ever since. In the end, they’d become, the best of, friends, this is, a good end to their, story of, friendship.
So, there’s, the moral development in this, the woman considered how her classmate’s cheating was wrong, and how it’d, caused her to lose her scholarship opportunity, but she’d not turned her classmate in, after learning of the predicaments of her classmate’s life, and, in the end, the daughter helped the classmate to earn her grade the right way, and they’d become, good, friends too. It doesn’t end any better than this!
Mirroring the World 