Synthesis Essay On The Honor Code

The hurried rush of pencils on paper, scratch, scratch. The slow ticking of the agonizing clock, tick, tick. Finally the words, “Pencil’s down,” are said and sighs fly across the room. However, many of those are sighs of relief for not being caught cheating. Today, many students aid their way through not only tests but assignments as well. With a simple Google search, students are given the answers to anything and everything. This started the creation of the ‘honor code’, which promotes students to be fully honest while completing an assignment. The question is, though, is the honor code actually beneficial? Research has shown that despite the pledge every student is required to take, it has changed nothing. In order to truly make the impact

They have seen it as another rule to obey, many of which would not follow. Students are even encouraged to report when one of their peers is cheating. However, they often do not as, “... they did not see it as their responsibility,” (Source B, Vangelli). While they are not wrong, what another student does when completing an assignment or exam is not their business, the one who failed to report the violation would be punished along with their classmate. It has brought the question of why a student should report another for something they are not involved in or did multiple times. It pushes stress onto the student who was not directly involved and makes them feel responsible for a crime they did not commit. To make the honor code work, this should not be a responsibility pushed onto all students and instead the peer who committed the dishonor. Often, these students never tell on their peers for fear of the rising tensions it would create. This only goes on to form a dishonest environment for the students; as they worry if they will be punished for an act they did not commit, while also trying to complete their own school work. Colleges and universities have made it difficult for their students to work in stress-free classrooms because they choose to push the honor

This goes to show that no matter your education, the desire to ease your way out of school work will always exist in order to avoid the aggravating hours you may face trying to complete an assignment. Students at Harvard, one of the top Ivy schools in the nation, have even been accused of plagiarism and cheating, “The possibility that 125 Harvard students "improperly collaborated" on an exam…” goes to show just this. Over 100 students possibly cheated on just one exam, ignoring the fact that they had a code to follow. This is because, “Not all colleges have what it takes to make an honor code effective-not because the students aren’t honest, but because they don’t expect anyone else to be” (Source C, Dirmeyer and Cartright) Even colleges and universities do not expect students to be completely truthful. If this is the case, why is the honor code anything to be honored? This so-called honor code is not put into place because they expect the students to obey it, but because they have no faith in their ability to be truthful. If students realize that there are no repercussions for their actions, then only more and more of them will cheat. Colleges and universities play a huge role in the environment created. These environments will affect how students perceive and continue their education. If colleges wish to limit cheating and untruthfulness