Why Colleges Should Ditch Honor Codes Analysis

In Aaron Bacall’s cartoon, the inefficiency of school honor codes is displayed through his use of satire. By setting the cartoon at a staff development meeting, there is evidence that the existing honor code has not been successful and revision is needed. However, rather than editing the honor code policies to value integrity and trust, the man leading the presentation declares that “Recent research has shown that a spycam can greatly improve the honor code” (Source A). If a spycam is required to prevent cheating and plagiarism, then the honor code is not an effective method to stop dishonest behavior. Rather than claiming the honor code needs a revision, the honor code should be eliminated entirely.

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.

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.

“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

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.

Our school community abides by a strict honor code. We believe honesty comes before all other values. Our team kept these morals in mind and adhered to them for all aspects of our project. Our school's honor code states: "As a member of the Charlotte Latin Community, I am responsible for upholding and promoting honesty, trust, respect, fairness, and justice in all venues of School life. To maintain personal integrity, I will not cheat, lie, steal, or plagiarize. I will do my best to raise awareness of the importance of honor for the purpose of making Latin a better place to learn and work. I understand the Charlotte Latin School Honor Code and will uphold my HONOR ABOVE ALL."

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.

Therefore, having an honor code and enforcing it is almost essential to creating a culture with integrity. An honest culture allows students to be in a trustful environment where they can rely on their peers won't cheat off their paper. At a school where cheating is not common, those who previously cheated will most likely refuse to cheat due to the integrity of other students. Honor codes, present to students the honesty that they might have previously not experienced and that culture leads students to become more honest in other

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.

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.

Although, some may not think an honor code can be useful in a college environment, but it can be seen in Dirmeyer, Jennifer, and Alexander Cartwright article which states, "students at colleges with honor codes—typically students enforced cheat less than their counterparts elsewhere do (Cartwrights). Which comes to an understanding that a more healthy academic environment will take place in a college community, if a college does enforce an honor code. This honor code will typically stand

Schools from every level, Elementary, Middle, High, and college have their own honor codes. They each mold their rules and consequences based on the students’ behaviors. Once the faculty begins to realize that their students cheat on their test, they enforce harsher consequences to avoid further cheating. Afterwards faculties assemble and become aware that the majority of the students cheat, they establish an Honor Board and an honor code and make their students sign honorary documents promising to not cheat. Implementing an honor code is the best way for students to understand the consequences of cheating, but some of the ways they have tried to decrease the amount of cheating needs polishing; also, the environment a student surrounds himself

Establishing an honor code policy without students’ input consequently leads to misperception of the honor codes as “another rule to obey” and not as another step into a more righteous direction (Vangelli). If the student population of Union viewed the codes as a formal disciplinary action, then they will only fear of being convicted for academic dishonesty and will not consider the immorality of such action. On the other hand, an honor code mandated and enforced by an elected student-body will ensure that students, the concerned party, have a voice in the system meant to curb academic misconduct among themselves. According to Source C, students in school institutions with “honor codes— typically student-enforced— [cheat] less than their counterparts elsewhere do” because the students, both possible-cheaters and the enforcer of the codes, have previously reached a mutual decision that academic dishonesty is socially unacceptable, through the honor codes. Therefore, it is crucial for the codes to explicitly act as an aide in cultivating long-term integrity in students and not purely as an extension of a school’s rigid and inefficient

In conclusion, the honor code system is one that is valuable in an environment in which it can thrive, (i.e. the presence of “honest” types, corporal punishment, etc.) and would benefit the school society in general, making students more honest and less susceptible to cheating and fraudulent