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Pros and cons of an honor code
The debate on the honor code
Academic dishonesty among high school students
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Pros and cons of an honor code
The debate on the honor code
Academic dishonesty among high school students
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
If a teacher or administrator needs to monitor someone to see if they uphold the honor code, that defeats the whole purpose of relying on a student's honesty, that's not an honor code anymore but rather just another written rule regarding a student's integrity. This false idea of an honor code is teased for being blatantly counterintuitive; Source A is a political style cartoon that illustrates this perfectly with a board that reads, “Using honor codes to prevent cheating” with subtext underneath saying, “Recent research has shown that a spycam can greatly improve honor code”. The idea of an honor code is so ambiguous and misconstrued to the point where the practice has fallen away from actually honoring honesty. A practice that has changed so much, there is little trace of the original idea left, seemingly having formed into just another
Though signing a piece of paper will most likely not result in the immediate adoption of such qualities, an honor code should seek to remind students of the morals they have promised their school, their friends and their family to live by. It is necessary to have an honor code as it reminds students not of the consequences that come with cheating, but of the importance of the morals and the values that they have promised to
It is something that can hardly impact others, but can greatly impact the person committing the act. Although many people believe that students in college or high school are old enough to be treated like adults and should know better, they restrict them with the honor code which demeans them and expects the worse from them. If they should be treated like adults, is it not fair to trust them to not cheat or plagiarize like one would trust any other adult not taking an exam or completing a paper? By involving the students, promising privacy, and coming to a consensus with ways to effectively inflict discipline, the honor code will not be a set of rules that the students will have to follow, but will, instead, instill a sense of unity between the student body and staff and achieve
In schools cheating is something that is looked down upon and seen as a huge issue to teachers and administration. There are multiple methods that have been used to stop this dishonest actions however, the honor code is the most well known. Many schools have unique versions of the honor code but, they all have the same goal. Cheating is a serious topic and should not be tolerated however some honor codes don’t do the best job in controlling the students. My school does not have a harsh and over the top honor code which is a good thing and should be maintained.
Throughout my high school education, I have found myself being unable to trust my peers as I have been told to cover my answer sheets during tests, or have seen other students on their phones during quizzes that I had studied hours for the night before. In my school, cheating runs rampant as many students feel that there is no consequence as it has been deemed socially acceptable, many teachers don’t discuss repercussions for cheating at the beginning of the year, and it is not very difficult to difficult to cheat. In fact, as outlined in Source F, two thirds of students surveyed at the collegiate level admit to acts of academic dishonesty. The same source found that “the highest levels of cheating are usually found at colleges that have not engaged their students in active dialogue on the issue of academic dishonesty,” (Source F). Although many would believe that implementing an honor code would stir further distrust among students as they are told to suspect and report each other, I believe that an honor code in my school would set an important precedent for academic honesty, as there is currently little to no social pressures around cheating.
Yee brings up the fact that for these students, “anything less than a grade of 85 is “failing”; achieve anything more than a grade-point average of 95, and you might be bound for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Yale” (Yee 5). The fundamental issue with this is very reminiscence of the issue with the last point that was discussed. The issue here is that if cheating is a necessary means to get into a good college, then the student who cheated is not ready for the curriculum of that college. Hard work should be the deciding factor of who makes it into Ivy League colleges.
With an honor code you’re forced to tell the truth at all times or your enrollment will be suspended or terminated. You can’t offer or ask for help for school work within the school’s codes. Students will lie continuously to keep others from getting thrown under the bus and blame others who were innocent. Honor systems are for schools that lack trust and security of education in their school. I feel as though Fairmont Heights is perfectly fine without one and it should continue to stay like that.
An honor code can be so effective that “many schools with academic honor codes allow students to take their exams without proctors present, relying on peer monitoring to control cheating” (Source F). Despite this system, there is research that “indicates that the significantly lower levels cheating” (Source F) at schools with honor codes. This is possible because there is a peer culture that denounces cheating, making kids embarrassed to commit academic dishonesty. Such a peer culture was formed by educating the students about the value of academic dishonesty.
2015 Synthesis Project Many argue that the world is full of negativity and dishonesty. Even the people or companies we have looked up to and trust have committed crimes. Although the look of the future seems dreadful to some, school systems have created an idea to change the outlook on the future of the world. Honor codes or systems are a set of rules or principles that allow students and administration to cultivate positive qualities. New Prairie High School should establish an honor code in order to instill commendable qualities in their students.
“The success of [an] honor code depends on the expectations that students have of their peers’ behavior” (Dirmeyer and Cartwright, 2013); as a result, if peers are the ones who establish and maintain an honor system, the probability of a responsible student community is much higher. Nevertheless, “with a peer-enforced honor code, the likelihood of being caught depends on other students’ tolerance for cheating” (Dirmeyer and Cartwright, 2013). To ensure that the students have a strong moral basis, the school’s administrative board should still guide the students toward the right direction and provide a strong enforcement of whatever form of honor system is composed by the selective student body. A typical issue discussed by many student bodies is “to [function] based on our consciences, but [also in a manner that] represents skeptical and uncertain views of fellow students” (Vangelli, 2013). Therefore, a strong and supportive administration at GSMST would also benefit the students in this way as
That aside not every student will take a pledge and feel obligated to stop cheating or to be completely honesty. This could be the flaw in the honor code, stating that the students take a pledge to not use plagiarism or cheat which means that not every student will have the integrity to not cheat when he/ she didn’t study for a test and has the integrity to be honest to the educator that they have
“Since “everyone else” is cheating, they have no choice but to do the same to remain competitive. And there is growing evidence many students take these habits with them to college.” (McCabe, Donald and Pavela). More and more colleges are using the honor codes. The honor code has helped to prevent cheating.
Cheating is something that everyone, at one point, deals with. Whether it is in a relationship, in board games like Monopoly, on their taxes, or at school or work, everyone has encountered it. Cheat is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “to deprive of something valuable by the use of deceit or fraud, to elude or thwart by or as if by outwitting.” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.) In the case of the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) system, it was a combination of the two.
The degree of cheating is enormous and it is confirmed by McCabe (2005) – about 70% of recent graduates participated in academic cheating. The social importance of this problem is that employers will face the problem of differentiating highly valuable employees from
Study shows that one reason why students cheat is because they feel as if they almost have to because of their peers. In their article, “Source Is Important When Developing A Social Norms Campaign to Combat Academic Dishonesty”, Jennifer N. Engler and Joshua D. Landau maintains that “By this account, students cheat because they believe that their peers