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Copyright Clash v. Warning Letter, Dark Clouds Ahead?
In January 2001, some personages in charge of universities and all other higher educational institutions' entrance issues in the US received a letter from Educational Testing Service (the ETS) of the United States, sponsor of GRE (Graduate Record Examination), TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) examinations, calling for close attention and thorough inspection on the high grades obtained by Chinese students. The letter alleges that two cheating cases have been disclosed recently in China and some related references including a great number of GRE and TOEFL test questions are found having been illegally used by some lessons here.
Also sources with ETS said the institution was facing serious copyright infringement problems in China and it had filed a lawsuit against Beijing New Oriental School (New Oriental) last December. Beijing First Intermediate People's Court has accepted the case, court sources said.
ETS claims New Oriental has been reproducing, publishing and distributing without authorization copyrighted GRE test questions and test forms since the mid-1990s, while startling high GRE marks occurred in recent two years.
ETS's warning letter and lawsuit against New Oriental has caused quite a stir in China, especially in New Oriental and among Chinese dreamers for overseas study.
USE OF REFERENCE EQUALS CHEATING ON HIGH MARKS?
"Either in China's law or from that of the US we see no regulations that take using former testing questions for reference as a cheating action", said Xubin, famous lawyer for IP(Intellectual Property) circles in China. Former testing questions are customarily used for reference when preparations are made in China different from the US.
ALLEGED CHEATING IN EXAMS IS NOT FAIR
Facing the warning letter and the lawsuit by ETS, people in China's educational circle clearly give their opinions.
Rickety Marks: Drawbacks of Computer-Based Tests?
Yu Minhong, president of New Oriental, said that the high marks occurred right after introduction of the system of computer-based testing October 1999 in China. During this period of time, the references and teaching materials used by New Oriental remained unchanged, which shows that the problems lie in computer-based testing and are not with New Oriental.
First, computer-based GRE test grading is different from former written test grading. ETS used to remind examinees of that if they think the result of exams is not reasonable, they can write to ETS center. Another exam free of charge will be available if the case proved true. Now ETS asserted itself about the alleged cheating cases on high marks by Chinese students. It is absolutely unfair.
Second, small-scale question bases and high odds of repetition also lead to high grades. Besides, the time given for vocabulary and logic parts (weaknesses on the part of Chinese students) in the test has been prolonged from one fifth to one third in the way it is also helpful for Chinese students to achieve more high marks.
Stress on English Study Undeniable in China
Xu Xiaoping, vice president of New Oriental, sent his respects to the efforts by Chinese in studying English in recent years. He said that "'English study tide' has brought into being 'New Oriental', giving rise to "Crazy English", and has thus attracted lots of public and private funds into building audio classrooms, inviting foreign teachers and publishing English material.... The commendable high grades by Chinese students all come from their sweat and toil. During last Spring Festival, 4000 students had stayed in Beijing for GRE tests.
"All for One" Policy Not Equitable
"Even when one or two students are found cheating in exam, it is not fair to blame all the Chinese students", said Yu Minhong. "One can not say all people in the country did theft if only one of them went stealing. Cheating cases also appear in the United States, some of the students as suspects of cheating in exam had even won the lawsuit. ETS shouldn't malign the Chinese students."
NEW ORIENTAL WILLING TO NEGOTIATE WITH ETS FOR COPYRIGHT ISSUE
New Oriental will not deny its "mistake" in using copyrighted material. Yu Minhong admitted that in addition to most part of the materials used by New Oriental which are authorized by ETS, a certain part of the materials are "with problem". New Oriental has always been trying to contact with ETS for copyright authorization, but received no feedback. New Oriental hopes that it will be able to find an effective method to settle the problem this time, e.g. to help Chinese students get the authorized exercise questions at reasonable prices. New Oriental is willing to accept legal judgement and undertake related obligation.
NO ETS PUBLICAITONS IN CHINA: DISCRIMINATION?
According to related sources, ETS published its GRE testing questions with copyright authorization in the United States and many other countries across the world. However, despite repeated requests from many institutes in China, ETS refused to authorize any institute to publish their testing questions here. It is regulated in Truth-in-testing Law of the US that examination questions shall be opened to the public by stages. American students can prepare for the exams by using the former questions. Why can't Chinese students enjoy the same rights?
COPYRIGHT CLASH v. WARINING LETTER: DARK CLOUDS AHEAD?
"Bull rushing into 'China'?"
ETS claims that widespread dissemination of confidential test questions has led some American universities to doubt the authenticity of test scores from China. It believes legal action will help restore American universities' confidence in Chinese students. ETS even claims to stop the GRE and TOEFL exams in China. "ETS simply aims to destroy everything, just like a bull rushing into 'China'" reported foreign agencies. However, Xu Xiaoping, vice-president of the school, said "it was not possible for ETS to suspend the two tests in China, because that will severely influence the future of Chinese students and harm educational exchange between the two countries."
Tomas Ewing: I Believe Most Grades True
In an interview with Chinese journalists, Tomas Ewing, president of corporate communications for ETS, pointed out that most Chinese students are diligent. He believes that the greatest majority of grades are true and reliable. He expressed his good will in seeking the best way to settle the problem.
Professor of Foreign University: More to Consider
It is hard to tell what consequences the warning letter and lawsuit might incur. Students' worries about their approvals for applications are reasonable. With regard to the standard to accept the applications by Chinese students for studying in America, many universities begin to require TSE (Test of spoken Eng1ish marks). The dean of Rochester University even said that the University will probably make direct phone calls to its candidates for talks to see their oral English levels.
GRE Examinees: Imminent Disaster on Head?
The warning letter and copyright lawsuit undoubtedly have engendered panics among some Chinese students who wish to conduct further study in the US. Li Xiaolan, one of them, expressed her anxiety on the impact of the warning letter. "I am not afraid of their inspection on my marks, anyhow, as a result of this letter, I became a suspect for cheating. I feel insulted, and also really doubt if this will influence my future." Like most of the Chinese students planning to study abroad, Li spent over two years and nearly all of her spare time and money on her application.
ETS's lawsuit against New Oriental has been placed at Beijing First Intermediate People's Court. Chinese students probably would rather see a compromise. However, personages in China's educational and legal circles support Chinese students to safeguard their lawful rights by using laws and regulations available. The negative influence will be unforeseeable. How the case will be settled will not only depend on the judgement, but also on the attitude of ETS towards the issue.
ETS: Educational Testing Service of the United States, founded in 1945, is the biggest private educational testing service center. It deals with testing services in 181 countries across the world. During the two years from 1998 to 1999, there have been 11 million people taking part in the examinations sponsored by ETS.
New Oriental: Beijing New Oriental School. The first class school near Peking University providing after-class lessons for overseas study in China. It has established sub schools in Shanghai and Guangzhou. It also deals with migration issues and online book business. |
By PD Online staff member Du Minghua
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