Integrity Themed Education Activities | What Is Integrity?

 

June 2^nd, 2020

 

 

Integrity is the traditional virtue of Chinese nation.

 

A man cannot succeed without honesty and honesty is basic criterion of our behaviors.

As an old Chinese saying goes that “Better be poor with an ambition than rich with no faith.”

As the progress of our era, we have been still advocating integrity in modern society during thousands of years.

One of the principles of Eight Honors and Eight Shames is “Honor to those who are honest and trustworthy, and shame on those who forsake good for the sake of gold”, which warns us to regard to integrity as the code of conduct and moral standards. Therefore, it can be seen that China puts emphasis on strengthening integrity education.

 

 

 

Integrity has been a part of Chinese culture for over 5000 years, which connects interpersonal relationship in ancient society and becomes the highest principle of interpersonal relationship. Looking further back in history, we find that integrity is considered as a virtue by Chinese nation and is engraved in the mind for generations.

 

Looking further back in history, we find that integrity is ubiquitous.

Shang Yang, a politician of the Qin state, who adhered to integrity, promoted the reform successfully. Under the great reforms, Qin became the first empire of China.

Yu Pian, a solid of Jin state, always adheres to the principles of honesty and is respected by Chinese.

Ji Zha, a politician of Wu state, kept his words to give precious sword to the emperor of Xu state although the emperor passed away. 

All these people of Spring and Autumn period in ancient China reminds us the significance of integrity.

 

However, with the improvement of material life, affected by the corrosion of decadent ideas and the lack of integrity, there are some dishonest behaviors, which has hurt the social climate. In modern society, college students will be accused of integrity. Unfortunately, many college students are accepting and simulating the behaviors that will hurt personal credibility and impair social civilization.

 

False Advertisement and counterfeit product can be seen everywhere in our daily life. Moreover, there are delinquent accounts, tax evasion, smuggling and foreign exchange fraud by many enterprises and business operators. Some departments only do “face projects”, engage in formalism, exaggerate fact and deceive others.

 

Online communication greatly symbolizes human’s behaviors, which means that unreliable and even irresponsible remarks, making viruses, plagiarizing and defrauding are covert and are easily made without taking much effort. Mixed-quality information is difficult to distinguish and people lose trust in each other.

 

According to a survey of enrolled students in South China Normal University in 2004, nearly half of respondents expressed they had insufficient trust and security when they were asked “attitudes toward others”. What’s more, 45.8 percent students agreed with “Keeping cautious is necessary when dealing with strangers”.

 

As one of the groups that use the Internet the most, college students will also inevitably be affected.

 

The universal phenomenon of dishonesty in society and the lessons we learn from our life experiences tell us that honesty may do not pay, on the contrary, lying may often be rewarding. For those of us who are naïve and inexperienced, these will undoubtedly bring bad influence and temptation. In this case, we must stay true to ourselves, be honest, and live our life with integrity.

 

Having said so much, do we really understand what integrity is?

 

 

 

Perhaps many people do not heed this problem. However, in the “Survey on the Status Quo of the Honesty and Morality of University Students in Shanghai” carried out by East China Normal University in 2003, 67.0% of students admitted cheating in college, but the vast majority of them still consider themselves “honest students”, while only 3.9% of them admitted that they are “dishonest people”.

 

 

From this we can know that quite a few students are not clear about the concept of “honesty”, and they don’t understand honesty in the true sense. Just as in a news report, Haiyan Lin helped Mr. Wu purchased the lottery ticket without taking the purchase fee, but did not take forcible possession of the 5 million yuan lottery prize. And we can immediately learn that Haiyan Lin is honest, but few people realize that arriving on time when plan to go shopping together is also an honest behavior. Honest is nothing classy and is not only about big events. Honesty can also be applied to everyday life.

 

Common examples in universities

 

 

Perhaps some students believe that few college students are dishonest, but they are wrong. According to a survey carried out by China Youth Daily, only 6.2% of school students have never told a lie, among of which, kindergarten children account for 84%, elementary school students account for 51.3%, middle school students account for 20.1% and college students only account for 0.48%.

To give an example, when your classmate asks you to go out to do exercise, you may say, “Oh no, I need to study!”

 

But actually,

 

Or your friends ask you to hang out. The appointed time has come but they can’t see you, and you may say, “I’m almost there.”

 

But actually,

 

 

More examples are but not limited to copying homework, playing hooky, cheating on exams, just like copying and pasting homework, ask classmates to help escape the attendance-taking, and more.

 

As for cheating on exams, it is more complicated. According to a survey of 5,000 students from 7 universities in Jiangsu Province, 59.5% of the respondents admitted to cheating occasionally, and common cases are using cheat sheets, peeping, sending secret signals, etc. and more sophisticated ways include micro wireless earpieces, pens with receiver inserted, invisible pens, and more.

 

 

Finally, we have to say

 

 

 

Honesty does not mean stupidity. It means that we are willing to treat life with a sincere heart. We all carve understanding and we all complaint that no one relay understands us, but we neglect that understanding requires honesty. Without honesty, the bridge between people to enhance relationships will no longer exist. If a person always lies, or if he has never kept his promise, then how do others understand him? Life without honesty is full of hypocrisy, and we will never know the true and false. Who would want a life like this?

 

 

Honesty is not only related to great things. Why bother to think so far if you can’t even be honest in your own affairs? Many situations require honesty such as keeping your words, daily conversations, and even swiping cards in the school canteen. Honesty is important regardless its size. Let’s start from ourselves.

 

 

 

 

Life is like wine, which is fragrant, or astringent, or sweet, while because of honesty, it becomes mellow;

Life is like a song, which is rich, or plaintive, or low, or deep, while because of honesty, it becomes elegant;

Life is like a picture, which is bright, or dark, or plain, while because of honesty, it becomes beautiful;

Life is like a book, which is gorgeous, or fantasy, or ordinary, while because of honesty, it becomes wonderful.

Let’s be an honest person.

Let’s lead a mellow life, sing songs for the beautiful life, and write an honest life chapter!