Alyssa Vangeli Honor Code

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

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

To me, the primary reason Charlotte Country Day has an honor code is to keep students equal. The honor code keeps students equal, disallowing students to help each other during tests and before and after tests. By this, I mean one student sharing information about a test to a student who has not taken it yet. The honor code and council also keep students equal because there is a set of standards everyone must abide to. The honor council then assesses these standards and applies them to all students equally when in an hearing. The honor code and honor council is also important to keep students honest. While these standards are not upheld 100% of the time, the vast majority of students try their best to abide by the code.

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.

As a student develops the question of a honor system within themselves is based on his or he own integrity. The problem regarding that is it honor codes can range from elementary schools to college. Several may argue honor codes unsuccessful in decreasing cheating or lying in schools. While others may argue that honor codes should be enforced because they promote an honest academic environment within any school. In my opinion, I do agree the honor system should be enforced at my school because it’s only fair to students who do their own work and is also punishing those who cheat while also cheating themselves.

My high school’s honor code system must be revised to incorporate the students’ input to prevent the cheating that harms the integrity and the future success of my peers. By revising the honor code system, students will have a greater incentive to uphold the honor code and create a safe environment. With a University like Harvard that has the esteemed status as an Ivy League university, one would presume that Harvard would have a fairly progressive honor code system to address the growing issue that is plagiarism. In Source C, Jennifer Dirmeyer and Alexander Cartwright display that even the most prestigious universities such as Harvard are plagued with cheating when Dirmeyer and Cartwright state that, “The possibility that 125 Harvard 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.

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.

You may think that this is a problematic mindset. I would tend to agree. As the Chair of our school’s Honor Council, my job to uphold our Honor Code. That is to say, I try to make sure that students do not cheat, plagiarize, lie, steal, or create forgeries, nor tolerate peers who do. Violators of the Honor Code come to the Honor Council for investigation, judgement, and even punishment. Thankfully, I have the help

Being a high schooler at Windham High School, I can say that I am not in favor of the honor codes being established at my school. I am a very busy student-athlete that always completes work on time, does what I’m expected to, and never cheats. Why should I have to follow honor codes that would make no difference in my life. Cheating, stealing, and plagiarizing are already not acceptable, we are told by our teachers constantly, and it is stated in our syllabi.

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.

First of all, a cheater does not change his ways, because if they want to cheat they will find a way and do it even if they signed a honor code. As source D debated that “even here [University of Virginia], where honor is so well defined and policed by an elite student committee, plagiarism has become a problem.” Even in an university with an elevated system of honor code, the students still cheated because they choose to, completely ignoring the honor code. Also, the source C indicated “if a student enters a college with mostly “cheater” types [will encourage] even “honest” types to cheat.” This is a clear example of the decision took by any type of student to cheat, regardless of a honor code.

In fact, Donald L. McCabe, a professor at Rutgers University who specializes in student integrity, said he found that there was “little evidence to cheating, even when professors work in their offices during exams” (Source C). What this shows us it that the honor code system does indeed diminish the amount of cheating among students further backing up the previous point that the honor code system promotes an environment that discourages cheating because students who follow the code are found to cheat less. Creating an environment which discourages cheating is only possible through the implementation of an honor

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.”