Honor Code By Susan Greenberg Summary

Honor codes have been a strong subject of dispute over the last few years. Whether to hold students accountable for their own actions, and allow them to control the cheating in a school is, in all regards, a major decision that could potentially be detrimental to a school’s society and reputation. However, the rewards for a successful honor code are exponentially higher than the cost. Schools should always have some form of honor code in place, whether it be something like a signed contract at the beginning of each semester paired with an honor court to hold violators accountable, or something as simple as a statement of trust on a worksheet.

The existence of honor codes has had basis in helping students learn since their inception, but there are still those who object to their very definition. Nearly every institution centered around the education of children has some sort of code of conduct or set of rules in place for the betterment of the students. However, the term ‘honor’ in the title ‘honor code’ is what people can occasionally take issue with, as the term often implies a much more respectful idea. This issue leads one to question the purpose of honor codes. Although honor codes, like that of the school in Tobias Wolff’s Old School, exist for the purpose of bettering the students by ensuring that they all have an equal chance and that they all do their own work, Mr. Ramsey objects to his school’s honor code because he believes in a much more personal and valuable meaning of the word ‘honor’.

The conflict of whether or not honor codes should be established has been brought up again due to an increase in cheating and collaborating on tests and school work. Recently, a surplus of students have been caught cheating in unexpected places, like Harvard and the University of Virginia. Those colleges are considering using honor codes to counteract the surge of cheating that has arisen. Although there is currently a cheating problem that needs to be dealt with, incorporating honor codes into high schools and colleges is not the most effective way to solve the cheating problem, and will not solve the cheating problem indefinitely. It is very difficult to change a person’s personality and their morals, no matter what paper they sign, but there are ways to make people’s convictions stronger. One of which is student interaction. Like many people, students have a “follow the herd” nature and want to fit in with the crowd. If many students discourage cheating, the “crowd” may choose to not cheat in fear of being shunned. Student interaction is much more effective than honor codes, and is a much less drastic change.

If a college campus harbors an environent where cheating is seen as acceptable and an activity many people participate in, even students with correct morals and no desire to cheat themselves are less likely to report fellow students for unsavory behavior. This can also go a step further and that same student who failed to confront a peer for cheating, may give in to the school’s atmosphere and start cheating themselves. This makes them all the less likely to report other students for fear of appearing hypocritical and/or being reported themselves. A study on honor code effectiveness was completed by Sally Sledge and Pam Pringle at a small public university (Source E). Their results showed that only 8% of students would report a fellow student for cheating. Even more surprisingly, 40% of students anonymously stated that they had “violated the honor code and not been caught”. This points to a very cheater-friendly attitude at this particular school and shows that the honor system is not very effective in this

“At the University of Virginia, there’s a saying that students soon commit to memory: ‘On my honor as a student, I have neither given nor received aid on this assignment/exam.’ Students write this on every test in every class during their college career, pledging as their predecessors have since 1842 never to lie, cheat or steal.” (Source D) By making students write this statement, it creates a false sense of trust that can be abused. They are more likely to cheat because they think that no one will notice just because they wrote a saying on a paper. By putting the honor code in students faces, it creates a fake trust that can be easily

In recent years, many schools and institutions have introduced an “honor code”. The idea behind an honor code is that, if a student is caught cheating or in violation of the honor code, then there are serious consequences. Also, in some institutions, if a student catches another student violating the honor code, then the students must turn in the violator. While in theory this sounds like a good plan, many cases have shown that this code does not work in a practical application. Even with the introduction of the honor code, many schools have found that students continue to cheat, and students refuse to turn in their peers.

Many schools tend to have problems with cheating and trust between students and teachers. Many schools have introduced honor codes which have either significantly improve these issues or have had no effect. Honor codes, if effectively integrated and properly interpreted, can help my high school minimize serious cheating, increase student morality, and improve trust. Honor codes can help students become more honest and make the classroom less vulnerable to dishonesty. An online article from the perspective of Alyssa Vangelli, a senator, establishes the way she perceived honor codes by illustrating the idea that “reminders of these moral values [give the student] a responsibility to perform honestly in the school environment” (Source B).

Chace, W. M. (2012). A Question of Honor: Cheating on campus undermines the reputation of our universities and the value of their degrees. Now is the time for students themselves to stop it. (Cover story). American Scholar, 81(2), 20-32.

Rules governing academic integrity among students and schools is a practice deeply entrenched in the American education system and that of those around the world. Likely beginning at the University of Virginia in the United States during 1842 as a way to discourage cheating, dishonesty, and plagiarism, it soon spread throughout the nation. Today, the overwhelming majority of schools in the US, from elementary to collegiate, have their own form of a honor code. Among these schools is Port Charlotte High School, PCHS abbreviated, whose own code of conduct is based heavily on students being educated about the effects that their cheating will have on their academic future and punishing those who are discovered to have cheated in any form. So far, these particular academic regulations have proven successful and because of this, the charge put forward by the school should continue to be maintained. Revising the Code of Conduct into a peer-enforced system creates is statistically inefficient, hostilities between students, and eliminating the honor code would easily produce a school where cheating reigns free.

A large subsection of cosmopolitanism is the power of external public shaming, and the power of shame to shape the behaviors of cultures. This is also the part of cosmopolitanism which can be applied more broadly to societies than to individuals. In his book, The Honor Code, Appiah offers various examples about the connected roles which shame and honor have respectively in guiding the morality of different cultures, and how these influences change over time through external forces which evaluate and judge the practices of that particular society. The reason he gives for honor having enough weight to influence behavior to such an extent is “our deep and persistent concern with status and respect, our human need for what Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel called Anerkennung¬—¬recognition” (Honor xiii). This theory about honor connects to a psychological notion that human beings are social creatures and depend on social connections and interactions for a large part of our own self worth. Appiah goes on to say that “we human beings need others to respond appropriately to who we are and to what we do. We need others to recognize us as conscious and to acknowledge that we recognize them” (Honor xiii). Not only do humans need to be recognized, but we must also have our actions affirmed, a theory which Appiah applies not only to individuals, but to collective honor as well.

Most people argue and debate on whether our (or their) school should have this honor code system. I would argue against the honor code system because there are numerous amounts of flaws associated with this honor code system, but i think not having it works better with students. Not every student is the same. Most students aren’t brave enough to follow this honor code system. Some might even fear this honor code system because of the unfair consequences associated with this system.

However, what they do not realize is that these honors codes help maintain some core moral values and integrity of the students. When a student is taking an exam, they should be able to focus on their paper without having the worry of whether or not the person next to them is going to be copying their paper. The last thing a student wants while taking an exam is the assumption that they are next to a cheater and might end up getting caught. Creating a safe environment can go a long way. When there is a "cheating free" zone and most of the students follow that practice, the kids who normally feel an impulse to cheat might find it harder to cheat. If most of the students cannot tolerate cheating, then those students most likely will not hesitate in turning in a cheater. However, if most of the kids in a college do cheat, then nobody would be likely to turn in another cheater (Source C). Creating an environment where cheating is a disgrace and socially unacceptable would make a person embarrassed to be labeled as a cheater (Source

In Aaron Bacall’s cartoon, the inefficiency of school honor codes is displayed through his use of satire. By setting the cartoon at a staff development meeting, there is evidence that the existing honor code has not been successful and revision is needed. However, rather than editing the honor code policies to value integrity and trust, the man leading the presentation declares that “Recent research has shown that a spycam can greatly improve the honor code” (Source A). If a spycam is required to prevent cheating and plagiarism, then the honor code is not an effective method to stop dishonest behavior. Rather than claiming the honor code needs a revision, the honor code should be eliminated entirely.

In the world of academia and the public social sphere, honor or the act of being honorable, has a way of influencing and encompassing everything from personal interactions, to the spirit of scholarly inquiry. As articulated by Christopher Marlowe and echoed in part by our own Honor Code, “Honour is purchas'd by the deeds we do.” I reflect Marlowe’s judgement that honor is achieved through the accumulation of all positive undertakings and endeavors, and without a sense of commitment, it is imperishable. My level of commitment to honor and personal integrity is not only enhanced by the Honor Code, but through my commitment to action as engaged citizen in the Center for Honor, Leadership, and Service. My involvement with CHLS has allowed me to

First, establishing an honor code will mold integrity into a social norm. Likewise, enforcing rules to eliminate cheating and unoriginal content remarkably impacts the culture of the school. By enforcing strict rules and punishments into the school's system, students gradually grow aware and take pre-cautions. As a result, "peer culture [develops] on honor code campuses... [that makes] cheating socially unacceptable"(source F). Though a handful of students may attempt to evade the honor code, the new culture will lead them to be "embarrassed to have other students find