On April 25, 2016, the students of Mr. Windnagle’s AP English class, period five, hosted a Socratic seminar to discuss the matter of establishing an honor code for Pearl City High School students. They analyzed texts from multiple sources and through a heated debate ultimately concluded that an honor code should be established for all attending students.
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.
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Questions like, “Is this their own work? How can students and faculty diminish the amount of cheating in PCHS? What needs to be completed to establish an honor code? How will the code be maintained in the following years?” All these questions address the fact that cheating needs to be monitored. In source C, the authors of the newspaper said that, “Our honor code is strictly enforced, and the enforcement is handled by and all-student court.” That’s why Mr. Windnagle’s students decided that the honor code should be written up by the student government, where those students can collaborate and discuss what’s best for PCHS students. By doing so, the amount of cheating will gradually decline because students have to oblige to the rule; especially if the faculty enforces the
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
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.
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.
In discussing the issues with having an honor-code and why colleges don’t need this practice, Susan Greenberg, author of “Why Colleges Should Ditch Honor Codes”, examines the conflict at a Stanford
A solution has been proposed to raise values of honesty and integrity within a student body. The solution is the establishment of “Honor Codes”. It is said in Source that the success of the honor codes depend on the student body. Cheaters will encourage cheaters or honesty will win. I deeply believe that schools should establish the honor codes because they will set up an educational environment with better student-teacher relationships,
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.
The decision of whether schools should enact an honor code system or not should be decided by those who it will affect the most- the students themselves.
Nowadays, it is a common occurrence for students to copy assignments off of either the Internet or their peers. Because colleges and society in general put so much emphasis on the grade students receive to determine their intelligence and their ability of attend a college, it becomes the grades, the letters students receive on a piece of paper, that matter. Even when teachers warn students about the punishments that go along with cheating, students still cheat, thinking they could get away with it. The students then carry the habit of cheating through their careers and lives. Therefore, it is important for the school to implement an honor code in order to promote a culture of integrity and to reduce academic dishonesty.
If our honor code is to be successful, changes must be made so that the student body notices it. In source B, many
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).
In the short four and a half years I have spent as a part of the Marist student body, learning their habits, celebrating their triumphs and considering their concerns, I have noticed a problem requiring immediate action, a silent plague sweeping our school that needs to be addressed to avoid imminent catastrophe. Across all subjects, from middle school theology classes to Advanced Placement arithmetic courses, the practice of cheating runs rampant and unchecked at our school. Popular cheating tactics include plagiarizing, using unauthorized outside sources and outright copying another student’s answers during a test, but exceptionally creative Marist students have explored less conventional strategies, such as the creation of secret codes to discretely convey messages.
Honor codes are becoming very common among many American colleges. This uprising in honor codes is due to increased rates of plagiarism and dishonesty amongst many students which has become much simpler due to the advancement of the internet and smartphones. Many high schools are following suit of college in enforcing an honor code and my high school should as well. Based on my experiences and the provided sources I have read my school should enforce an honor code to prepare students for a college institution and its rules and punishments.
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.
“ When Students cheat on exams it’s because our school system values grades more than students value learning - Neil Degrasse Tyson.” Cheating in school happens everyday around the world. This can be prevented by getting rid of tests, making class lectures more understable and fun, and also shortening the amount of homework students get.