I guess it is true what they say, "everything foreign is better," and it does not matter where you fall on the education scale we all have this view.
The most recent development at the Sir Hugh Wooding Law School is an all-out blanket ban on all watches. Yes, that is right, watches are now banned from the exam rooms of future lawyers. I guess it makes sense when you consider the real world applications of training attorneys to operate without reference to time. Oh wait there are none, shoot.
Okay all jokes aside, the truth of the matter is some schools in London recently banned watches because of the possibility of students using smart watches in exams so of course we had to follow the leader, right?Wrong!
These foreign universities have implemented safeguards to prevent their students from feeling any negative effects of the ban such as a 3D projected clock that can be seen from anywhere in the classroom and the grant of special clear plastic bags that allow students to place their watches on the desk and view the time but not touch them.
While all these implantations are fancy they are costly. But nothing beats the old fashion checking of watches prior to entry into an exam room. After all this has to be done in any event and it should be obvious to any reasonable, right-thinking adult to identify whether a watch is a regular watch or holds hidden cheating capabilities.
Furthermore, it is unreasonable to make students adapt every time a new invention is published. It is obvious, as technology advances there must be amendments to old and outdated rules but they must come with discussion, or at least proper notice and of course a suitable substitute before measures are implemented. Those who have the desire to cheat will do so regardless of the rules. Besides it would not be called cheating unless a rule or two were broken.
So let us take a moment to recap the list of things not allowed in an examination room because exams are about preparing students for their respective profession and these things would not be readily available in the world: pencil cases, clear plastic bags, paper, scientific calculators, water and food (because truth be told a hungry student is a smart student right?).
Furthermore, the Sir Hugh Wooding Law School has decided to go a step further in preparing our nation's future attorneys. Both Norman Manley and Eugene Duluth Law Schools offer their students the Code of Ethics during exams. HWLS has decided to remove this document.
Again, which attorney would have access to this readily available document in practice?
The removal of the document was done by the course director who said she has the authority and the examination council has no say in the matter.In another course, Civil Practice and Procedure, the new course director, the recently retired CCJ official, declared the complete opposite.
She said she has no control over the decision of the examination Council to disallow the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (a 398-page document) and the Rules Governing the CCJ's Original Jurisdiction. Which are all vital requirements to complete any question of law raised regarding the operations of the CCJ.
Of course there is nothing a timid, well-trained student population can do about any of this. While many have cried out against what they refer to as a social injustice, few have written the institution in protest and even fewer will continue to protest.
The reason for this is quite simple, students are deathly afraid of victimisation. Some forms of discrimination cannot be proved but can affect a student in the most severe way. Thus, silence is golden if you want to "get out" of the school and conformity is ingrained into the heart, soul and mind of every soon to be attorney.
Batten the hatches Trinidad and Tobago if you thought the last generation of lawyers were corrupt wait for the incompetence of this generation's to rear their ugly heads.
Ana Moss
By email