The Pros And Cons Of The Honor System

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.

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

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

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

Susan Greenberg, author of “Why Colleges Should Ditch Honor Codes”, discusses the issues behind having an honor-code and why colleges should no longer have this practice. She addresses the conflict at a Stanford University computer science class that brings attention on whether the code is still in appropriate use today. These students enrolled in the course were under questioning about their academic dishonesty and received harsh discipline from their instructor and school. It was a class that related to their future occupational field that involves collaboration with others daily. For some students, the honor-code fails to stop them from cheating and collaborating again outside the classroom.

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.

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.

Honor codes, or sets of regulations "intended to cultivate integrity" have been brought to recent debate. Several educational establishments are initiating a culture of honor codes within their schools. My own school, Sheyenne High School, has such honor codes requiring that students have the responsibility to be honest in their schoolwork. However, disunity over these codes have brought to question whether the codes are honorable or improbable. While at first glance, honor codes appear responsible and promising the unfound skepticism of students brings to light the confusion and doubt of their ability to rewrite student life. Honor codes have been implemented in my school over the past several years, but these codes must be revised to ensure

The honor code is a system that many schools use to establish trust with teachers and students by having students report each other for cheating, plagiarizing, stealing, and getting consequences for violating those codes. I argue that it could be improved. I believe that giving students that much power to control each other isn’t a great idea. It may work in some schools but it could easily be corrupted. If you think about it, many students are broke, a student could easily pay the other student to allow them to cheat or copy. It’s an easy bribe and I'm sure it’s been done. I know people would attempt to counter my argument with “that’s why the honor code is there for,” but not everyone goes by their word, there’s always someone to

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.

An honor code is a set of rules that might be enforced in schools. Children sign an agreement contract that says if they break these rules they accept the punishments. I believe that honor codes should be enforced in schools when cheating or other misbehaviors get out of control. In some schools “ students convicted of lying or cheating can expect to receive punishments ranging from suspension to expulsion .” I believe at this moment hotchkiss high school just work on revising our honor system.

This way, the honor code is maintained and the teacher is able to address the issue of cheating. Finally, someone following the honor code should act with an ideal of integrity. If someone is whole and has firm values, they should not feel it necessary toile, cheat or steal. For example, if Ms. Hawkins leaves Paul alone in the classroom with the key to the chapter 9 test for the next day, Paul should act out of integrity and not take pictures of the key. Paul should be confident enough in his own abilities and firm enough in his ethics that he does not want to or need to cheat.

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.