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. …show more content…
The current regulations clearly define cheating, plagiarism and the consequences associated with being caught cheating and requires that students only read through the document and sign that you understand the consequences of cheating. Its simplicity contributes to its effectiveness in deterring cheating among students without the added tension of the possibility of stirring conflict between others. Even if an honor code with a focus on student-enforced reporting of cheaters, it’s unlikely that any students would actively choose to betray their
Honor codes and codes of conduct have existed for about as long as systems of institutionalized education have, as they exist for the betterment of the students. Honor codes often consist of a set of enumerated standards that the aforementioned institution holds its students to. Without them, students’ cheating would go unregulated, which would overall just harm themselves, since it would be detrimental to their learning experience. The use of outside advantage to garner better grades would make it harder for the students to gain the help that they need, as well as allowing students to proceed without actually
At East Granby High School, there are no honor codes or a system that would cultivate integrity and prevent cheating and plagiarizing. This is troubling because cheating and plagiarizing play a large role in the school’s community. For example, some teachers have had to make different versions of tests to prevent cheating in the classroom. By establishing a system in which students would have to sign a statement ensuring that they would not cheat, steal, or plagiarize on any of their assignments at the beginning of each quarter, the community as a whole would benefit through the maintaining of the honesty of more of the student body. Even though honor codes would not eliminate dishonorable behavior entirely, the act of signing a statement would make those who cheat or plagiarize understand the reality of their actions. Furthermore, the principles within the system could explain the punishments that would be administered for the violating of the established code. The student body at East Granby High School would benefit from the formation of an honor system that would provide rules that made it clear that cheating, stealing, and
People can very easily disobey the honor code even though many people may view that person as trustworthy or “would never do that.” They may just break the rule. The same idea goes with parents or teachers on students and kids. They always believe that a kid never disobeyed, cheated, or skip class but in reality, they actually did. In source C it says “The possibility that 125 Harvard students ‘improperly collaborated’ on an exam in the spring has galvanized a continuing discussion about the use of honor codes. While Harvard administrators hope that an honor code can improve the academic integrity of the college, critics--especially Harvard students--are skeptical that signing a piece of paper will suddenly cause a cheater to change his ways.” Many people who do cheat will tell their trusted peers. In Source E It shows highlights from student research in 2007-2008. 40% of students who have violated the honor code and not been caught. That’s actually a pretty high number and I don’t doubt that more students did the same thing but was not caught. In addition, no one wants to be that guy that points out that someone is cheating because other students will deem you as a “snitch” and feel that they can’t trust
“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 Source F, McCabe and Pavela report of “an ongoing dialogue that takes place among students on campuses with strong honor code traditions, and occasionally between students and relevant faculty and administrators, which seeks to define where, from a student perspective, ‘trivial’ cheating becomes serious.” Since students can determine more definitively what is right, what is wrong, and what is in the middle, unfair practices occur less frequently. McCabe and Pavela “see significantly less self-reported cheating on campuses with honor codes compared to those without such codes.” The pair of researchers have also confirmed that dialogue and encouraged student involvement are more likely to occur in schools where an honor code is in place. The conclusive and well-defined nature in honor codes allows for meaningful talks on school legislation and supports student involvement in these
During the seminar, the students unanimously agreed that PCHS does not have an honor code to prevent cheating on tests, or school related projects. Therefore, many students take the chance to copy answers from other students who work hard to earn their grade. That’s why these students ask that an honor code be implemented by the student government, monitored and enforced by PCHS faculty, and be constantly revised to make PCHS an exceptional learning environment for students.
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.
The issue I am interested in exploring is whether or not honor codes at a university level are effective in maintaining the integrity and academic honesty of their students. The issue is of interest to university administrators, faculty, and other employees, as well as students and education_______. While some argue that honor codes enforced by university administrators are the best or only way to enforce discipline in academic honesty, many argue that there are other solutions to this problem such as workshops, student governed programs, or peer-enforced honor codes. Today, the argument between the two groups continues to thrive and grow while a number of studies and experiments are being carried out.
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
Honor codes have specific penalties to students who break the rule. One such rule stated by Vangeli is that it is a student's responsibility to report on classmates if cheating and “failure to confront a student
I often wonder why rules or laws have to be established to cover every part of daily life. People generally know what is right and wrong but as I grow older I see that every set of rules is made to prevent people from doing a certain action ever/again. By acknowledging the set of rules it is in a way similar to signing an honor pledge but that just might not be enough in some places such as my high school. It would be a good idea to establish an honor code at my school to prevent practices such as cheating, plagiarism, and stealing with established consequences for violating the honor code.
In my school of cheaters and collaborators, students do in fact “live in complete trust in each other” (Source B) to not report each other and to provide. If the goal of an honor code was to create a close knit community, I’d argue that the rebellion against it has therefore sufficiently done so. I’ve noticed that hand in hand with cheating, is the desire to help others keep up. Students expected to report each other (Source B) would only break the bonds between us thus changing our community for the worse, academic “integrity” aside. Thus, an honor code in which students are expected to report each other is a wedge in the communal quality of the educational
The honor system, an intensely refined ruling with extreme discipline. For most the system or code is a valuable concept; for others it is a death contract waiting to be signed, and because of this you have too many opinions on this matter. The plain fact of it all is the honor system need to be revised. First things first the fact that you execute a student's education that they are paying is wrong. What needs to occur are two highly possible things, warn the students before they write any essay, and design a course completion to the structure of essay writing. As a “Plan-B” to these ideas use some of the latest plagiarism identifying software of today's time. Students hate the idea for the honor code included the specific penalties for
One of the expectations for students is to do their work individually and with complete honesty. At Robert Vela High School, honor code system is established to help the students achieve those expectations. If they do not, there are underlying consequences that would teach them a lesson. The honor code established at Robert Vela High School (RVHS) should be maintained for it includes rules concerning the academic misconduct of the students, however, students tend to not take them seriously because they are not enforced efficiently. Without implementing the system effectively, students’ integrity will be at stake, teachers will lose their authority, grade point average and rankings will be at risk, and students will not be prepared for college.
At Randolph-Macon College cheating is not accepted on any level. The Code of Academic Integrity explicitly outlines every possible situation that comes up and explains how and why it is a violation. This relates to Ariely’s concepts because while a student may believe that what they are doing is just a minor offense or not worth disputing about, the code states otherwise. For example, if a student believes that using a translator to help them with their foreign language homework is acceptable, they would be wrong. In addition, students have also read and agreed to the code so there typically isn’t a gray area when incidents happen. The code also states the possible punishments that could be distributed upon violating the code. Finally, the code clearly informs the student what is at stake and should diminish the chances of a cognitive illusion from happening.