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). Repetition …show more content…
An opinionated piece from McGabe, Donald, and Gary Pavela argue that, while any rule can be made, it is the punishment that comes after it is broken that causes everyone to follow it. However, since high schools cannot enforce a serious punishment that can truly teach students a lesson, the only way to enforce an honor code is to have the students do it instead. Since students will act based on what other students think of them, having the students enforcing the honor code will be the most effective way of incorporating the honor codes (Source F). In order to get the students to enforce the honor codes, the teachers must create a community within the classroom that includes a ratio that has a greater number of honest to dishonest students. Since students are heavily influenced by their peers, having the dishonest students be in a group with the honest student will discourage them to cheat, since they know that their peers will judge them. Add in that no dishonest students can work together and should be seated away from each other, and this will allow room for the honor code to take effect and be integrated accordingly. One might argue, that putting honest students with dishonest student will not work, because of the fact that cheating has already happened in schools that are known to have strict honor codes, such as the University of Virginia, in which Chris Khan, the author of the article “Pssst—How Do Ya Spell Plagiarism?” discovers, “Since last spring, 157 students have been investigated by their peers in the largest cheating scandal in memory. Thirty-nine of those accused of violating the school’s honor code have either dropped out or been expelled—the only penalty available for such a crime” (Source D.) However, Khan overlooks that just because an honor code is strict does not mean that it is effective in reducing cheating. If 157 students were willing
It is proven that the honor code doesn't always work in full effect.Things Don't usually work in full effect at Rockville High school unless there are follow up consequences. Dirmeyer and Cartwright take their position on the topic stating , “our honor code is strictly enforced,and the enforcement is handled by an all-student court.Students convicted of lying or cheating can expect to receive punishment ranging from suspension to exclusion.”(Source C).Rockville high school administration can always revise this rule.Instead of students being suspended for cheating and lying there could be a different punishment. Let's face it,nobody likes to feel like a complete prisoner.It wouldn't hurt for the administers to take action by grabbing ideas
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Honor codes and systems are proudly displayed by high schools and colleges alike. These collections of rules are proposed with the hope of achieving the ideal of education: producing productive citizens with integrity. While these systems do provide incentive to follow the clearly stated rules and assist in lessening the effects of favoritism on student punishment for violating rules, they are also open to interpretation as they do not qualify situations based on the severity of the infringement or take into consideration the he-said-she-said aspect of reporting cheating. At my school, Union High School, we do not have an official honor code which leads to extreme crackdowns of authority at the first glimpse of a broken rule in some classrooms and a near absence of rules in others. Because of these disparities in punishment by teachers, a system of increased punishment severity should be created by each teacher and approved by the principle to help promote equitable treatment and provide incentives to follow school guidelines.
Multiple studies have found that students are spending less time on their academic studies leading to a decrease in education and an increase in temptation of academic dishonesty. Cheating has been prevalent since mankind existed, but writer William Chace gives his outlook on the issue in his article, “A Question of Honor”. Chace is able to use adequate reasoning to engage the reader in an article that depicts perspectives from every angle. Included within the article are a sense of sympathy, through explanations and even a proposed solution of how to end academic dishonesty.
The increasing prevalence of honor codes in schools has changed the way students approach academic integrity. Honor codes are sets of regulations that require students to refrain from any sort of cheating and hold their peers accountable. Schools should continue to uphold their current system of honor codes in order to ensure academic integrity within the school while still respecting student privacy. The key to maintaining school honor codes is to involve the students in participating in the decision making aspect of honor codes, as well as enforcing them.
Abiding by an honor code is nothing new to me. I currently follow the Lake Travis High School football honor code, which demands a life of cleanliness and stresses no consumption of intoxicating substances, as well as academic honesty. My football coaches have instilled a great sense of pride in me; being a Lake Travis football player means holding myself to a higher standard, because I represent both a prestigious organization, my school and a team of other individuals. I have proudly lived up to these honor codes and led my team by being the first to sign up for the voluntary drug testing program at my school called Leaders for Life. I am also fortunate to have parents that have always been strict in making sure I stick to my morals, even
The motivation to follow the honor codes ties with the development of a positive peer culture. As source F States, a positive peer culture is, “A culture that makes most forms of serious cheating socially unacceptable among the majority of students. Many students would simply feel embarrassed to have other students find out they were cheating” This desired positive peer culture will only be achieved through the honest student body. The cheating student body can be encouraged to be honest with the harsh punishments.
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.
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
When an honor code is strictly implemented, for example by making students sign a paper that states that they will not cheat, it will negatively affect their ethos, or character, when they do cheat. In an environment where honor codes are implemented, if a student get caught cheating, that student will be deemed a bad person and lose everyone’s trust never to gain that trust again fully no matter how hard he or she tries. Increasing the awareness that the students can get caught and reminding them that they have “responsibility to perform honestly in the school environment” (Source B) discourage them to cheat. As a result, implementing an honor code provides an environment “where students and faculty could live in complete trust of one another” (Source B). Students should not have to worry about the consequences they will face just because another student is cheating off of them.
At basis chandler, my high school, the students are forced to sign an honor code. But even though we sign it, Cheating is a prevalent problem at my school because the honor code is ambiguous, ignored and very hard to enforce. As a sophomore, I understand that extensive changes to this honor code won't happen overnight, but I would like to see revisions done in order to establish a better environment to learn in. The honor code is buried deep within a sea of paperwork we are forced to sign, however many of us don’t even read the honor code. The way it is presented makes it very easy to ignore and therefore becomes ineffective.
It is essential that schools have programs in place that will help then be responsible and learn integrity. It is important that students learn how to be successful and learning the meaning of honesty. Learning what this meaning will help them develop the life skills they need in order to be successful in the future.
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.
Prior to completing the Academic Integrity Program, I thought academic integrity was as simple “not cheating.” I considered it a policy solely implemented to ensure that students learned the material. To me, cheating was mostly plagiarism, or trying to pass off someone else’s work as your own. It was not until I completed the program that I began to understand the long-term effects of cheating on the peers, the professor, and the institution. Now, I understand that cheating affects not just me, but also the other students in my courses and the university’s reputation. I also understand the reasoning behind the university’s strict policies regarding academic integrity violations, as they are in place to protect the student, the classmates,
Firstly, education on ethics can help to prevent academic dishonesty such as cheating. Prohaska (2012) states that students will be encouraged to behave ethically if teachers emphasize on the connection between their academic development and ethical behavior in school. By explaining the consequences of academic misconducts, students will always be reminded that their self-image will be affected if they behave dishonestly (Prohaska, 2012). In this way, students will abide by the rules and are less likely to commit an offense, for instance,