Corrupt Society: Cheating in Thai Education System Goes Far Beyond Exams by Phairath Khampha 19 December 2002 This expose of the incredible measures that Thai students take to cheat in schools clearly shows how dishonest and corrupt Thai society has become. This means Thai parents should look beyond the details and techniques of exam cheating and try to understand the culture of corruption facing all levels of Thai society, according to a Chulalongkorn University lecturer who oversaw shocking research into such scams that included hacking into university computer to switch one's marks with that of other students, destroying the latter's academic careers. The research also clearly demonstrated that a Thai person's academic credentials could obviously not be trusted. "It's not a question of which university has the most frequent cheating problem. But society must asked itself what it can do to make society, especially politicians, less corrupt," said Dr Amornwich Nakornthap, lecturer at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Education. Amornwich directed six female students to research examination cheating at half a dozen universities and discovered widespread cheating and sophisticated techniques used by students. At one major university, which he declined to name, students can buy services that include the employment of sophisticated hearing devices plugged in their ears. Most alarming is the service provided by some tutorial schools involving unauthorised use of the university's computer system to digitally alter a student's grades and swap them with another student's marks, thus destroying the latter student's academic career. "Thailand's is a society of corruption. People who do not cheat or steal are branded as foolish instead of having integrity. We must ask what long-term affect this will have on society when these students graduate, particularly as they are the children of members of the economic and political elite and potentially the next generation's leaders" said Amornwich, who admitted being startled by some of the techniques involved. "And it's shocking that some children of university lecturers are also involved in the syndicate." Jaet, a pseudonym for one of the six students who conducted the research, said they were warned by those running the grade-changing service not to mess with them. She said they claimed to have been in business for at least a decade, with strong connections to influential people. Apparently they threatened her with death if she revealed how it was done. The operator would charge from 5,000 to 20,000 baht (US$1 = 43.45 baht) for the grade of one subject to be altered, the research showed. The paper also revealed that many students appeared to have a nonchalant attitude to cheating and regarded it as a necessary part of student life. It was deemed to be so-called Thai style of getting through life. In some cases, cheating even involved students who eventually graduated with honours in graduate degrees, this suggesting that such degrees are meaningless and could not be trusted. "I'm afraid that this is a large syndicate that parades its services to the public through leaflets and uses tutorial schools as a front. Its brochures even guarantee a 100 percent success rate. University education has been reduced to merely getting a piece of paper," Amornwich said less-organised cheating existed at most, if not all universities, including Chulalongkorn. He wished that students would discuss the implications and repercussions of such widespread practices to find solutions, he said. However, part of the problem stemmed from the rigid examination system that encourages rote memorisation, which bored students and in itself also produced graduates who were incapable of properly problem-solving and critical and analytical work, he said.