I have been a student at S.P.School (it was boarding school) for 2 years, and over the course of my stay I have grown and learned more than I thought possible. I came to this school to stay away from my comfort zone, my home. I wanted to learn how to carry myself and lead my life by taking decisions on my own and facing the consequences whether good or bad on my own. Being in this school had thought me how to be me.  I have learned here how to express myself and how to find the answers to the things that I don't know. Most importantly I have learned how important it was to stay on top. This school has reputation of 100% student clearing there SSC board examination since its inception.

When I started at S.P.School I was at bottom according to my academic performance but gradually I had made in top 5 in class. Being in top 5 ranks I got opportunity to be in checking group, were we checked our fellow classmates test papers. There were 14 rounds of test conducted of each subject before board examination. Apparently, I use to check my best friend’s test papers too. He was not good in algebra and geometry subjects. I use to make sure that he clears all his tests by giving him more marks. These test papers were conducted to evaluate student and let them know which area they have to work on.

Our day starts from 4AM; we use to study from 4 AM to 5AM. Then, from 5AM to 6AM physical exercise and from 6.30AM to 8AM algebra geometry special classes. After this, 8 AM to 10 AM we all friends will get ready for our school. These two hours use to be the best time. We use to have fun, play in bathroom, chit chat freely with any fear. Our main bonding with each other was done here. We had our school from 10 AM to 4 PM. After our school, we use to relax and get ready for games from 5 PM to 6 PM except for those who were in bottom 15 in their academic performance. 6PM to 8 PM again studies and after that dinner and then again study till 10 PM. We all use to be so tired that all of us use to wait for lights to go off.

Life of students who were not performing well in their studies was hard. They were punished hard even beaten up for being underperformer. They had to study 12 hours every day, no games, no social life unless they perform good in their studies. Our Dean was very strict and was short tempered. He had already set many examples of his austerity in front of students. He would never show any kindness when it comes to discipline and studies. Every student and even teachers were scared of him. The environment was such that after some point we started liking to break rules and do things which were not allowed. Some where it has also became moment of audacity when you break the rules and come out of it without any punishment. At that age breaking rules and doing things that are not allowed like having a cell phone, sneaking out from hostel in midnight etc. was adventures. There were mainly two reasons why we use to break rules. First, we all were in our teenage and with complex feelings and very little knowledge of what right and wrong. Second, there was not many fun element or excitement cause of discipline and rules made by our dean.

Today, I can say that the decision that I took was out of ethics of care. Where, psychologist Carol Gilligan and philosopher Nel Noddings emphasizes that the development of morals is not caused by learning moral principles but by learning norms and values in specific contexts. They also draw attention to that other people are of fundamental importance and solutions to moral problems must always be focused on maintaining the relationships between people. And that’s what I did in those days. I was more focused on maintaining my relationship with my friends. Because somewhere in my heart I knew that I need them too.

I was hard broken to see my best friend to be in that list, so I did this favor to him .When I took that decision for me importance of helping friend was more important as I believed in ‘friend in need is friend indeed’. I thought if I was in his place even I would have wanted my friend to help me. He would stand for me whenever needed without thinking about the consequences. He asked me to help him and I did cause I didn’t want to lose my best friend. I was not mature enough when I took this decision. At that moment, in those environments for me friendship had more value. We all were away from our family, so our friends were like family to us. We use to share everything, right from food to our emotions. Whenever I was feeling home sick my friends use to cheer me up. If I was feeling low, they use to motivate me and boost my energy. And when someone is spending all his time with only his friends, that person tends to take their side and go one step extra to protect or help them.

But today when I think about those days I feel I was wrong. I shouldn’t have done that risking my best friend’s career and putting school reputation on stake. What if he had fail, his parents would have blamed teachers for not looking after his studies properly. I should have helped him out with studies rather than helping him by giving him more marks then what he deserved. In future, if I come across same situation again, I will never misuse my powers and manipulate anybody’s test results which are taken for his/hers own goodness. I have also learnt very important thing

that if you lie to hide about one issue you have to say many more lies. In future, as I have more insight and knowledge about different ethical theories I will use more holistic approach, where I will help my friends or colleagues or my employees ethically.