This is a funny story about me cheating roughly 20 years ago.
The Class
I had English tuition classes in the afternoon throughout most of my primary school years. It was at EM tuition center located at Mosjaya of Miri. It was a new tuition center where most of the mothers considered it to be the best. During that time, a young dedicated, honest looking teacher name Mr. Sim was teaching me. I remember my mum would tell me that he’s such a nice guy that whoever marries him will have no worries for the rest of her life.
This English class Mr. Sim conducted was fun and dynamic. He would throw in an exam every month just to make sure we’re keeping up. I was pretty poor with my grammar at that time and I would always get a sounding from my mum for making stupid obvious mistakes like not putting ‘ing’ on an adjective that describes continuity in action.
The Cheat
As I recalled clearly it was a Thursday afternoon. The whole class have got our exam papers back. Mr. Sim wrote all the answers on the board for us to learn the mistakes we’ve made during the exam. I scored 78 and was really disappointed in myself because I would like to get an A for my mother. Secretly, when no one was watching, I changed one of my answers to the one on the board so that I could get that extra 2 points to put me up in the A group. Without thinking or analyzing I went ahead and rub off the answer carefully and nervously.
The question:
Yesterday, I went to the store to _________ some groceries.
What I wrote:
Yesterday, I went to the store to buy some groceries.
What I changed to:
Yesterday, I went to the store to bought some groceries.
By now, I summoned my courage to walk up towards Mr. Sim in hope that he will not notice that I’ve changed the answer. I passed him my paper and told him that he has got a marking error and I deserved more points. He took my paper with a slight disbelief in his facial expression and carefully read the sentence. He looked at the board and cross checked at my paper again. I was nervous but in my heart I was confident I’ll get that extra points.
The Reality
He stood up and went to the white board to change the grammar and announced to the class saying that he made a mistake and whoever wrote the real correct answer should see him immediately to redeem their points. I was so shocked that I felt numbed. The other kids are all swarming in front of him to get their extra points while I took my paper back and sat in my seat quietly dumbfounded.
The Lesson
I did thought to myself that if I tell the truth I might get that extra points. But I didn’t, I shall take this paper home and show it to my mother and let it be a lesson for the rest of my life that if you cheat, you’ll end up losing more in life.
