Debate Topic: Corruption Erodes Trust In Hard Work

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.
Respected judges, honorable chief guest and my dear fellow participants, good morning and Assalam-O-
Alaikum. Its an honor to be a part of this esteemed platform.
Corruption erodes trust in hard work.

Im a firm believer that corruption within a society is a direct as well as an indirect cause of demotivation
and demotion of faith in hard work.

As I stated earlier, a quote by the Nobel Prize winner, John Steinbeck.

So essentially, you dont become corrupt when youre given power but the second you fear losing that
power you become infected with it. The moment you opt for dishonest means like fraud and bribery you
are dominated.

Primarily before raising fingers towards the rich or those in power, we ought to observe our everyday
life and how much we compromise our personal responsibilities. Whether its getting your drivers
license or seeking admission in a school, at various degrees we fall prey to corruption. We seek for the
shortest, easiest & fastest route and that is where we fail. Before anything, lets learn to say no. Say no
to anyone offering alternative methods and no to that little voice in our head telling us to forget the
system. Learn to respect the system because once respect has been lost it only leads to chaos. How is it
fair for a hard working individual, who knows the value of struggle & aims to look for fair means to
achieve his goal? Do you really think some extra cash is all that his hard work is worth? Thats it? I dont
think so. Who are we to equate our money to the blood, sweat and tears of an honest man? After all,
we are made from the same skin as him, we are all born equal. The answer is no one. We are no one to
do so. This is exactly why a hard worker is discouraged to further struggle.

Now coming to the wealthy and powerful, you all are already familiar with where the problem is. What
ever happened to Knowledge is power.? Where is governance when its time to keep a check and
balance on the rich? Where is it when there is need to sustain justice? Again coming back to ourselves,
along with all those things I mentioned before we need to say no to personal opinionated voting. Ezra
Klien said, "Politics isn't about love. It's about who you fear." Why do we tend to vote for someone who
belong to our village background or speaks a similar language? This is how we destroy democracy. This is
how a nation fails and yes, this is corruption. Elect credible leaders who then can weigh out measures to
ensure effort based success rather than fraud based.

I quote, Fighting corruption is not just good governance. It's self-defense. It's patriotism. Joe Biden

As evaluated by to the World Bank, more than 1 trillion US dollars are paid in bribe every year and
according to one estimate the cross-border flow of proceeds from corruption, criminal activities and tax
evasion is 3.61 trillion US dollars every year, which is equivalent to 3 to 5 percent of the worlds Gross
Domestic Product.
Recently an article surfaced the webs where Pakistan Muslim League Noon (PMLN) was deemed the
most corrupt political party in the world but interestingly enough; the leaks were just a tale with no
actual substance. Shocking, I know.

There has been lots of talk about the negative effects of corruption on the education system, such as
low quality education, unqualified teachers, mismanagement of public funds, excessive bureaucratic
burdens etc. but no actual insight on how corruption might affect students behavior and opinions.

We need a hardworking young population that strongly values work and uses its knowledge and skills to
achieve the best results. Young Pakistanis should also be encouraged to believe that hard work will
greatly help them to get to where they want to be in terms of their future career. However, corruption
seriously undermines such attitudes and beliefs.

For example, if corruption is left uncontrolled in the education system, and students are able to bribe
their teachers to get good grades or pass school exams, there are no incentives for them to work as hard
as they should. Exams are designed to assess students ability and give them the incentives to learn their
subjects. But instead, they are used as a tool for teachers and students to pursue their personal ends at
the expense of a high quality education.

Worse yet, this problem continues to affect their studies in higher education. There are many factors
that contribute to students poor performance at university, but the inability of some students to deeply
value their study and work hard to achieve grades, surely plays a role.

Further, corruption can also influence the way they view success in life. In some cases, young people are
under the influence that they dont have to work very hard in school since they might do just fine if they
are able to get a government post, for they believe that they could amass a huge personal fortune
through corruption.

Another major concern is that many students have been ex-posed to malpractices while in school. This
ex-posure to corrupt practices reduces students respect for laws and regulations. Tellingly, if they run
into trouble with the school, they can often bribe their way out, leading to chaos.

The lack of respect for the law will also impede the governments ability to develop the country. Taking
traffic as an example, if people are caught breaking the laws, and they have the temptation to settle it
through corruption; they might inadvertently help reinforce such malpractice. Of course, they might be
forced to pay a bribe by traffic police officers, but with no significant punishment, the drivers are still the
ones who decide to what extent they are willing to follow the traffic laws.

Fighting corruption in the education system is a complex task but an effort must be made and civil
society and private individuals must be encouraged to join these efforts.

Having fallen prey to these practices is what leads to mistrust. How will one learn to respect and obey
the devised systems if everyone is inclined and encouraged to opt for unrighteous paths?
In the end, lets all try to learn some things:

Say no. To ourselves and to the corrupt world around us.

To respect the system of equality and justice.
To teach the people around us and of our future generations to choose the right path.
Learn and teach to vote for credibility.
Dont just highlight the problem, do something about it.