Came across a couple of news of impersonators found at Stanford University ...
Impostor discovered at Stanford
O.C. teenager posed as freshman for months, lived in two dorms
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/24/MNG17Q1AES20.DTL
and ...
Second impostor found at Stanford
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/26/IMPOSTER.TMP&feed=rss.news
same incident ... Imposter II? Four years in Varian
http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2007/5/25/imposterIiFourYearsInVarian
The summary is ... 2 people (both females and of East Asian descent) had been discovered passing themselves off as undergrad and postgrad in Stanford University respectively.
It might boggle the mind what these people had been up to, but it also reminded me of a similarly weird incident during my first year in JC.
There was also this girl who wore the school uniform and hung around in the canteen, pretending to be a student in my JC.
At first, I took her to be a friend or classmate of one of my friends, and treated her with friendliness. She herself made it a point to take the initiative to talk to others. Not sure if she ever actually attended any lecture, but especially during the first year, no one would really know she's not a student 'cos the lecture group is so big.
It really freaked us out when I learned from the same friend later that the girl was not her classmate nor friend, and was not even a student ...
How it was discovered, I never learnt, though I did hear the girl's mum came to our JC to take her home.
In our minds back then, all we think of was she's a nut case. Didn't matter whether she was deluding herself, or merely out to delude others.
Yeah, we knew our JC was an elite institution, and many excellent students tried and were unable to get in, including one of my best friend back then who was a head prefect in his secondary school. As we had studied together for our 'O' levels, I know he was strong academically too. In fact, my getting in and not him (based on our prelim results) was due to me being from an affiliated secondary school. He went to another premier JC and is practicing succesfully as a doctor today. But I still remembered the disappointment on his face when we went to check the results of our posting together.
Psychologists have long identified people with certain delusional disorder.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor has a long list of impostors, some who know what they were doing, some not.
I can't say I really sympathise with those who resorted to being impostors when they could not be the 'real thing'.
But on the other hand, it also reminded me that some of them were under great pressure from people around them, like parents ...
It is a warning to me never to create such a relationship with my children where such pressure is due and they could not talk to me honestly.
I hope in the coming years, when I expect Singapore to be under greater pressure, Singaporeans will also adopt a pragmatic approach and face up to the truth rather than delude themselves thinking all is still well.
Various industries in Singapore had already suffered shock-treatments ... marine ... construction ... manufacturing ...
But the Singapore government continue to paint a rosy picture, and many Singaporeans are still splurging hard earned money on doubtful expenditures, especially "bubble" stuff ...
Which JC did you attend? Hwa Chong?
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I face this problem in my very home. I would love to share more, but it's not exactly the right thing for me to be criticising, even amongst friends.
ReplyDelete-big sigh-
well, not only students, I've heard of lecturers holding fake certificate. The last case was a man taking his wife's certificates to apply to be a lecturer.
ReplyDeleteThere were an Chinese talk show many years back in CNA taking about fake U -certificates in China. And they are talking about how many of the politicians in Taiwan is holding a hard-earn certificate or ....( can't remember how to call it ). buying certificate ...
No ... the boys' uniform is all white, the girls uniform is white blouse and green skirt ...
ReplyDeleteI think there's just one JC in Singapore like that, but if not, the next clue to you is it's next to Braddell Road today.
Oh, RJC. Ok, I see.
ReplyDeleteI know of one such incident back when I was in Secondary Four. We were chosen to be part of a combined school band to take part in a Music festival in Sweden. At least one JC was involved, AJC. There was a guy who was part of our group going to Sweden, until it was finally discovered, he wasn't really a student at AJC, he didnt get in, but he wore the school uniform etc. This was possible in the first place because during my time getting the first three months before the O level results are released, students who got into JC walked around with their old school uniforms but with the JC badges.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if I would classify all such cases as self-delusion. There can be other reasons.
incidentally these incidents are not related to colleges, it happens in workplaces too. One famous related to me told me a guy just showed for work at a big corporation, did so well that when he was found out, they promptly hired him.
At the end of the day, ability and being capable should count for more than a cert.
I fully agree.
ReplyDeleterecent papers. couple has been masquerading as passengers and living at Changi airport for weeks... complete with travel baggage and cart.
ReplyDeleteYou know, i can admire them for sheer inventiveness. BTW, I don't know what happened with my post above. My grammar is even more atrocious than usual. ok, back to work for me.
ReplyDeleteThat would depend on the nature of the job.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, while ability counts, intentionally faking a cert also reveals an undesirable trait to an employer. If he cannot be relied to be honest in this, how can we know what else he'd not be honest in (when it suits him)?
Sometimes, even people who don't really need them are not immune from making dubious claims.
This brings to mind Richard Li Tzar Kai (李澤楷), second son of HK tycoon Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠).
A successful businessman in his own right, Richard attended but did not actually graduate with a degree from Stanford University, as claimed by the then official website of PCCW - he is its chairman (as well as founder). After the news broke in 2001, the website quietly dropped the claim.
In certain cases, it's not a case of ability versus cert.
ReplyDeleteThe manga "Black Jack" (ブラック・ジャック Burakku Jakku), translated into Chinese as 《怪醫黑傑克》 or 《怪醫秦博士》 tells of one such character who did graduate legitimately from medical school, possess near-supernatural skills as a doctor, but for adhering to his own eccentric code, had his license revoked by all official medical boards around the world.
What I do admire the character was his continuing to practice (mostly illegally) without pretending to have a valid license, being upfront about it, practically snubbing the establishment.
This manga did stimulate me to question why some certs are required in certain cases, when they should be required, and how claims could be verified.
With the explosion of degree mills employers have turned to querying the colleges themselves, and I suspect this is the way forward when such networks are linked, you no longer even need to produce your certs, a check with your college will suffice. A certificate is after all just a piece of paper, with commonly available technology and skills these days its easy to fake.
ReplyDeletein any case I was not specifically referring to persons attempting to get a job with fake credentials . I am referring the certificate obsession Singapore has, and I cant really blame the poor employees. In my current place of work, I know a lady who for years was doing the exact same work as her colleagues but getting less than what a new grad was getting because she only had a poly diploma. She eventually got her a degree and jumped to where she is now (a big consulting firm) earning more than before, but because she has the degree and the experience. Without the degree she wouldn't have got in the first place.
This is not a criticism on certification. They are important and they serve their purpose, in some cases they serve as direct evidence of capability in performing the job.