Why Is Honor Code Important

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.

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

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.

Honor codes are the embodiment of two things – trust and integrity. When schools maintain these honor codes, it gives off many advantages. “Unlike the majority of colleges where proctoring of tests and exams is the responsibility of the faculty and/or administration, many schools with academic honor codes allow students to take their exams without proctors present, relying on peer monitoring to control cheating.” (Source F) By allowing non-monitored tests, the honor code instills a better relationship between staff and students. When a student is having a problem with the class, they will more likely talk to the teacher rather than resort to copying. The code makes staff more trust worthy.

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 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.

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.

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.

Students following the honor code have an obligation to justice. They want justice for themselves and their classmates. For example, if Mitchell saw his best friend steal 8 packs of munchies from the school store and a pack of ice cream, even though it wasn’t lunchtime, Mitchell should feel responsible for bringing justice. He should tell the school store employees so they can reprimand him for

As mentioned in source B, “Students were expected to report or confront a fellow student…. Failure to confront or report a student would result in a period of probation” The problem with this honor system is that it’s saying that if the student doesn’t report the other student, he/she will receive a consequence. The problem with that is that the student might be scared or not have the courage to report the student that is copying and that student will receive a punishment instead of the cheater receiving the consequence.

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

A study done in Source E shows that there are only eight percent of students that would turn in a fellow student for cheating. If that sort of dishonesty becomes rampant in a school, the honor codes can no longer be upheld properly. The honesty of students is key to the success of honor codes. If a student is dishonest about the misbehavior of another student, then the honor code goes to waste, because now the cheating has not been taken care of by the justice of the honor system. There is no foreseeable remedy for such behavior, and there will always be a “bad apple to ruin the bunch.”

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.

Some colleges take the honor code to the next level - a student run system of cheating. This seems like a very odd recourse to take in order to put cheating levels at a standstill, but then you take a look at a variety of colleges, such as Williams College at Massachussetts. What if I told you that class exams are taken completely unsupervised in some schools, and as difficult as it is to believe, cheating incidents are very rarely identified compared to many other schools that take inordinate

From all the things that may get me intellectually excited history is the one that sparks my curiosity the most, specifically XX century history. Every single time that I hear a conversation that is history related it is imposible for me to avoid eavesdropping. History is my passion so every time that I can I am reading famous character biographies or historical related books. Therefore, I find very appealing the Honor Code, because it impulses one’s desire of learning by creating an atmosphere in which debate and disagreements are respected and embraced. Furthermore, I totally agree on the fact that the community nurtures the student and plays a key role in his education. One can learn countless things from the people of the community in which he lives in and the scenery of his life enhances and praises intellectual learning.