'Students sell work that's not theirs'
YOU probably have heard of school examination papers being sold openly.
This issue was raised by Member of Parliament Denise Phua in Parliament yesterday.
Related link:
»Trade or borrow notes? Sure. But sell notes? No way »Teachers: It's immoral, appalling
»We gave our notes to juniors for free
But in exam-centric Singapore, even study notes are now being peddled for money.
Some former junior college (JC) students have gone on online forums to offer their study notes for sale.
Not surprisingly, there are more than enough willing buyers.
This practice has sparked strong reactions from teachers who feel their former students should not be profiting from their hard work in creating the study notes.
It also raises some issues: Has education become a money game? What's happened to hard work? What about students who cannot afford to pay?
Perhaps, most importantly, these students are selling work that is not even theirs.
The sellers claim that the notes would help students save time on sieving through thick textbooks.
Some claim to sell 'branded' JC notes.
A check found listings in 10 forum pages and three blogs to sell and buy study notes from top JCs.
There are comprehensive lists of subjects and prices, which range from $5 to $45
One blogger even had a 'CNY special: Revised prices for selected items.'
Of the 32 items posted for sale, 13 had been snapped up. There were enquiries by interested parties for more than five items each.
Renting notes
On sgforums, there is another variation of note sharing: Rentals.
'Aloof-guy' is offering to rent out a compilation of study notes from top JCs for photocopying, at $20 per subject.
Those who rent them have to do their own photocopying.
When other forum users complained about his high charges, he responded: 'I'm charging $20 per subject for two whole years of JC notes. Is that expensive?'
Copyright infringement of intellectual property seemed to be the least of his worries.
There were also those who made postings seeking to buy study notes.
One reader from the Straits Times Online Media Portal (Stomp) started a thread by asking if anyone was willing to sell JC notes.
One netizen offered to provide various notes for a price while five others offered to help him for free.
The peddling of notes may not be restricted to just the Internet.
The New Paper understands that notes are also being sold in bookshop of a top JC, no questions asked.
A student from another JC who wanted to be known only as Monica, 18, said she had bought physics notes from that particular bookshop for her entire class.
The notes, which costs $10 a set, were bound with a front cover.
She said: 'I did not face any difficulty with ordering such a large number.
'As long as there's demand, I think the bookshop will keep printing because they are making money.
'I think people buy extra notes partly because of being kiasu (afraid to lose in Hokkien) and also due to the new syllabus.
'We can't rely on Ten Year Series anymore. I wanted those notes because they were comprehensive with answers.'
But why buy so many sets of notes?
Some parents feel that having the extra material would help their children reduce their study time.
Shorten studying time
Mr T B Lee, 55, a father of two, said that study notes help to save time spent on going through a thick textbook to pull out a few main points.
He said: 'As a parent, I think many would like their children to be able to cut short their studying time with comprehensive notes instead.
'If the notes are only available to those who pay, it would not be fair to poorer students.
'But if there is no money involved, I think sharing of notes is a good thing.'
Some JCs are upset that their notes are ending up with students in other JCs.
A spokesman for Raffles JC said: 'Currently, our students pay only for the printing cost of their lecture notes, which is collected directly by the photocopying shop.
'The school owns and holds the copyright to the resources, and as such, circulation by any other means definitely infringes on copyright laws.
'The school takes a serious view of such matters.'
Some students couldn't care less with having extra study notes.
Second-year student Tan Shu Feng, 17, said: 'I prefer to read my tuition teacher's notes, because they are more concise.
'I don't really see a point in having other school's notes. I still think I'm more prepared than most of my peers.'
Former JC student Y C Hao, 20, said: 'For students, selling their unwanted notes is easy money, but I don't think they should stoop so low as to do it for personal gain.
'Their teachers would probably feel cheated.'
Han Su-Ying, newsroom intern
YOU probably have heard of school examination papers being sold openly.
This issue was raised by Member of Parliament Denise Phua in Parliament yesterday.
Related link:
»Trade or borrow notes? Sure. But sell notes? No way »Teachers: It's immoral, appalling
»We gave our notes to juniors for free
But in exam-centric Singapore, even study notes are now being peddled for money.
Some former junior college (JC) students have gone on online forums to offer their study notes for sale.
Not surprisingly, there are more than enough willing buyers.
This practice has sparked strong reactions from teachers who feel their former students should not be profiting from their hard work in creating the study notes.
It also raises some issues: Has education become a money game? What's happened to hard work? What about students who cannot afford to pay?
Perhaps, most importantly, these students are selling work that is not even theirs.
The sellers claim that the notes would help students save time on sieving through thick textbooks.
Some claim to sell 'branded' JC notes.
A check found listings in 10 forum pages and three blogs to sell and buy study notes from top JCs.
There are comprehensive lists of subjects and prices, which range from $5 to $45
One blogger even had a 'CNY special: Revised prices for selected items.'
Of the 32 items posted for sale, 13 had been snapped up. There were enquiries by interested parties for more than five items each.
Renting notes
On sgforums, there is another variation of note sharing: Rentals.
'Aloof-guy' is offering to rent out a compilation of study notes from top JCs for photocopying, at $20 per subject.
Those who rent them have to do their own photocopying.
When other forum users complained about his high charges, he responded: 'I'm charging $20 per subject for two whole years of JC notes. Is that expensive?'
Copyright infringement of intellectual property seemed to be the least of his worries.
There were also those who made postings seeking to buy study notes.
One reader from the Straits Times Online Media Portal (Stomp) started a thread by asking if anyone was willing to sell JC notes.
One netizen offered to provide various notes for a price while five others offered to help him for free.
The peddling of notes may not be restricted to just the Internet.
The New Paper understands that notes are also being sold in bookshop of a top JC, no questions asked.
A student from another JC who wanted to be known only as Monica, 18, said she had bought physics notes from that particular bookshop for her entire class.
The notes, which costs $10 a set, were bound with a front cover.
She said: 'I did not face any difficulty with ordering such a large number.
'As long as there's demand, I think the bookshop will keep printing because they are making money.
'I think people buy extra notes partly because of being kiasu (afraid to lose in Hokkien) and also due to the new syllabus.
'We can't rely on Ten Year Series anymore. I wanted those notes because they were comprehensive with answers.'
But why buy so many sets of notes?
Some parents feel that having the extra material would help their children reduce their study time.
Shorten studying time
Mr T B Lee, 55, a father of two, said that study notes help to save time spent on going through a thick textbook to pull out a few main points.
He said: 'As a parent, I think many would like their children to be able to cut short their studying time with comprehensive notes instead.
'If the notes are only available to those who pay, it would not be fair to poorer students.
'But if there is no money involved, I think sharing of notes is a good thing.'
Some JCs are upset that their notes are ending up with students in other JCs.
A spokesman for Raffles JC said: 'Currently, our students pay only for the printing cost of their lecture notes, which is collected directly by the photocopying shop.
'The school owns and holds the copyright to the resources, and as such, circulation by any other means definitely infringes on copyright laws.
'The school takes a serious view of such matters.'
Some students couldn't care less with having extra study notes.
Second-year student Tan Shu Feng, 17, said: 'I prefer to read my tuition teacher's notes, because they are more concise.
'I don't really see a point in having other school's notes. I still think I'm more prepared than most of my peers.'
Former JC student Y C Hao, 20, said: 'For students, selling their unwanted notes is easy money, but I don't think they should stoop so low as to do it for personal gain.
'Their teachers would probably feel cheated.'
Han Su-Ying, newsroom intern
