Honor Code Research Paper

When a new Boilermaker enters Purdue University, they must take the following pledge: “In accordance with the honor code, I will not engage in dishonesty in my academic activities, and I will not tolerate such dishonesty by other students” (Purdue UNW). The code is similar to other schools’ honor codes. Students make this pledge on almost every assignment, but when does it just turn into a redundant sentence to sign under before they turn in a project, homework, or assessment.The honor code has been around for over a hundred years and has helped build bonds between students and teachers to try to reduce cheating. However, it has not always been successful at keeping students from cheating and students see it as arbitrary. While the

In conclusion, honor code schools have students that don’t understand the honor code or are not well informed because the rules are interpreted in various ways and there is a lack of conversation about the honor code. For instance, a student at Stanford University helped another student in his class catch up after a hospital stay and found out he would not get a grade for the class for “cheating” on the classwork. One of his answers was too similar to the other students, the student claimed that the only way he knew to explain it was the same way he answered it (Greenberg). The honor code is uncompromising in dealing with its cases of cheating. Students who are only trying to help others are being punished because they explain the work the way they understand it. The code is so strict that it gives no room for exceptions, which can ruin a student 's educational career if on a prime scale. In a survey of honor codes, 4 out of 7 did not have easy access to the honor code. In some cases It was hard to find on the homepage (Wade). If the schools expect the students to follow the honor code shouldn’t they have an easy access to it? Students should be able to view the honor code whenever they want to guarantee that they are not breaking any rules. It can also make it harder for parents to view the honor code when wanting to know what rules their child is under. If they expect students to follow the code they should make it easily accessible at all times. The students should not be punished for a rule that is hardly talked about. Finally, in a student survey of 275 responses from 2007 to 2008 faculty perception of students knowledge of the honor code is low (Sledge and Pringle). The survey shows how little students and teachers talk about the honor code in class. If there is a limited amount of talking about the honor code students can’t find out how a teacher enforces it and what exactly falls under cheating. Also, the faculty 's comfort about the honor code