Honor codes are important guidelines, keeping students from cheating and plagiarizing; however, they are often not applied in the way that they should be. This makes them just suggestions that occasionally lapse through students’ minds. While honor codes do exist in they are rarely ever truly effective. The current honor code implemented at Bartlett High School should be revised and reinforced in order for it to be efficient.
One of the main reasons as to why the honor code at Bartlett High School, as well as other schools, is lacking is due to the teachers not properly addressing it. In a five-year study conducted by Sally Sledge and Pam Pringle, it is reported that 65% of the students present in the university said that the honor code was
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If there are no consequences for wrongdoings, the students who are cheating might feel as if it is acceptable to continue cheating. There is a constant increasing amount of students cheat who don’t face disciplinary actions. In my PLTW class this and last year, the amount of cheating and “collaborating” is ridiculously excessive. There are only a handful of students that do not copy each other's documents during class and after school. While this is not a serious offense, unlike a quiz or test would be, it is still considered cheating. The teachers must know what is going on for it happens far too often; however, nothing is ever done. While the teachers are somewhat at fault, the honor code itself is responsible for situations like this. The “Academic Dishonesty” section in Bartlett’s student handbook acknowledges but does not specify any punishments. The ambiguity of the honor code itself does not aid in the reduction of cheating. If the honor code does not provide any specifications of punishments or even degrees of cheating, the range of issues that can arise is endless. Students and teachers alike are not able to distinguish between what is cheating and what is not, leading to chaos. A five-year study conducted by Sally Sledge and Pam Pringle reports that 40% of its students said that they had violated the honor code and had not …show more content…
Students are the main individuals affected by the honor code itself, so they should have a say in how it works. In an article by Jennifer Dirmeyer and Alexander Cartwright titled “Honor Codes Work Where Honesty Has Already Taken Root.” the honor code is handled by an all-student court which confirms that the involvement of students aids in the effectiveness of the honor code itself: “With a peer-enforced honor code, the likelihood of being caught depends on other students' tolerance for cheating. Students who enter a college of mostly "honest" types will more often choose not to cheat even if they are innately "cheater" types, because the higher risk of getting caught makes the costs greater.” By having a student-lead honor code system, students follow the honor code earnestly because they may have more respect for their peers. Students are more inclined to respect their peers, even if they don’t know each other because they are often the same age and it is easier for them to relate to each other. If it were a teacher-lead honor code system, it might not be as effective due to teachers needing to first gain the students’ respect, which is not always an easy task to accomplish. Donald McCabe and Gary Pavela, in an article titled “New Honor Codes for a New Generation” write about what is crucial in effectively reducing cheating and
In the article, “A Better Way to Prevent Cheating: Appeal to Fairness,” author David Callahan compared the idea of professors who grade mid-term exams to the role of them playing cops or detectives. The article was about the struggle that a lot of universities are facing with the epidemic of cheating amongst its students. A lot of these colleges and universities have put in play honor codes but they are not being enforced effectively. It talked about how that the students feel that it’s the only way for some of them to succeed, get into the college of their choice or even get the job that they want. One student even argued that everyone cut corners to get ahead in life it’s the norm in all industries. Even when trying to appeal to the student’s
The essay, “Standing Up for the Power of Learning,” by Jay Mathews explained how one of many students was accused of academic dishonesty. During the regular school session of the year 2001, three fourths of 187 students at Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) were found guilty of cheating. This was because they collaborated on an assignment in a computer science (CS) course with friends. By communicating with others about the project, the students violated the course honor code that prohibited the discussion among students for that particular class.
To follow the honor code would be to expel all students involved and this would be a heavy hit on the academy. “At this time West Point had been having trouble recruiting soldiers because of the public attitude toward the military following the Vietnam War.” The other possibility was to scrap the way the system was supposed to behave to keep the cadets in school and to reconstruct the honor code and the way it handled violations. Diagnosis: a genitor The diagnosis of the problem stems from the fact that the honor code was a rigid book of rules that all cadets were expected to adhere to. All parties guilty of violations were given the harshest punishment of expulsion.
Honor Code has evolved over the years and its becoming more strict in its ways and flaws. “Taggert accused the administration of using the code to punish rather than to help students improve themselves” (Bergera). It lists of forbidden acts are antiquated and invade the students’ sense of privacy without truly defining the quality of honor. Other seemingly arbitrary codes such as no herbal tea, no short skirts and no beards are strictly enforced. Even Jesus Christ could not have attended BYU without shaving first. As a m...
In “Why Colleges Should Ditch Honor Codes” Susan Greenberg is trying to inform the audience as to why society does not require the honor code anymore. The rules that lie behind this regulation are becoming outdated and more students are finding themselves punished for disobeying it. A lot of honor code schools are trying to get rid of this process because it only brings the students more pressure. Typically, students that are in honor code schools tend to cheat more than schools that do not possess it. If a student is enrolled in a more prestigious school, he/she is more tempted to cheat in order to maintain his or her good grades. Greenberg explains a situation that took place in Stanford University that led more than 100 students in academic
However, this may stem from a lack of enforcement of the rules. Even at the most prestigious schools, such as Harvard University, students are not upholding the rules implemented: “The possibility that 125 Harvard students ‘improperly collaborated’ on an exam in the spring has galvanized … discussion about … honor codes” (Source: C). In this case, people may argue that the only party at fault consists of the students. However, the faculty may be partially guilty as well, as their lack of care towards the rules has created a situation that jeopardizes the school’s integrity. Revision may then seem like the least of the school’s priorities, as they must show they seriously consider educational integrity. Likewise, at the University of Virginia, “157 students have been investigated by their peers in the largest cheating scandal in memory” (Source: D). Again, the school and all those who work there hold at least part of the fault for this ignorance because, theoretically, they should preserve and enforce the rules provided. The fact that the scandal exists means that they were not doing their jobs to their fullest. Although revision may seem simpler to carry out, the school’s staff must show an attempt at intervention within the student lives to keep them on a path towards
If a teacher is unfamiliar with current advancements in the digital world, it is possible that they will miss the most obvious of cheaters. Because the student is never punished or caught, they assume the teacher does not consider it cheating. In some cases, schools are responsible for the rise in cheating because of the way curriculum is presented. In an article written by the Atlantic, a teacher received an anonymous letter from a successful college student stating that he had cheated all throughout high school. He told the author he cheated “because the grade [he]would have otherwise been given was not reflective of [his] true learning” (Lahey). In other words, he felt the teachers were giving him exams that were not accurate representations of the material he had learned. If students are giving themselves excuses for their cheating, that feeling of guilt will subside, and they will not view the action as wrong. Many think they are not at fault if they do not get caught or because they are just trying to keep up with their classmates who are cheating as well. These are the students that contribute to the statistics, the ones who are adding to
Honor codes differ amongst schools; however, each one provides a sense of how the school is run. The retributions listed in the honor code shows the freedoms the staff provides the students. Document C states that the success of honor codes “depends on ‘culture of academic integrity’ that leads students to take enforcement of the rules seriously.” In other words, the fairness and expectations of the school match with the students’ capabilities and interests, then the code will work. With some experience, I am able to see that it is important for both students and faculty to reach a consensus and find suitable terms; as a result, each goal is achieved and future confrontation can be
The first thing observers will notice is the “readability issue” when they read George Brown College’s student code of conduct and discipline, in particular, the part of the definition of plagiarism. It is full of long and wordy sentences, which can make readers confused and disoriented. Seneca College’s academic honesty, on the contrary, has a highly ordered structure so that readers can see the flow of the rules. It is arranged in order that why the academic honesty policy has been written and what types of things might be regarded as academic honesty
The case under review occurred in the city of Newton against a backdrop of economic decline, political disenchantment, and a widening racial divide. A Newton High School senior,Sheila Allison, is accused by her teacher of plagiarizing a book review. Mrs. Durnitz, the teacher, reported to the school principal that Sheila admitted to taking material from the web but claimed she did not know that doing so constituted plagiarism. The district’s policy states that students found guilty of plagiarism must receive a failing grade and repeat the course. Mrs. Durnitz feels that Sheila, having a copy of the student handbook in which plagiarism is discussed, should have known that what she did violated the policy. The teacher also believes that the policy, drafted by the teachers who teach honors classes and approved by the administration, must be followed to the letter despite any extenuating circumstances.
After some research on other university honor codes, the processes of honor codes are really similar to the University of Colorado at Boulder. In fact, Colorado State University (CSU) have a similar honor code pledge as us, which is “I have not given, receive, or used any unauthorized assistance. ” Comparing the discipline process between here and CSU and Stanford University, they are looks identical but written differently. However, the discipline from Stanford are harsher than here an CSU. From the Office of Community Standard Student Affairs website, “the standard sanction for a first offense includes a one-quarter suspended suspension. ” While CSU, they have a bit more lenient sanction for a first offense. From the CSU website, there are
An honor code can affect students’ behavior positively by the student knowing between what is right and what is wrong; that builds a principle that student will follow for the rest of their life. Honor codes reduce the amount of cheating that is occurred in classrooms, this is very beneficial since cheating is looked at very negatively since it is a very dishonest way of showing your knowledge. Also, if a student has cheated their whole way through high school, their life would be much more difficult. An honor code not only gives a school a better name, but it also shows that the kids that come out of the school are honest and hard workers. We need honest hard workers for several important jobs, such as a doctor, etc. If people were cheating and did not learn what they were supposed to know for this job, that can become very harmful. An honor code is necessary to make the world a better
Another reason people oppose is that there are people who want to abuse the honor code. In fact, they don’t understand the full consequences of cheating. In high school, the worst that usually happens is a zero for the grade, and some students think that it doesn’t impact them, but the situation is completely different in college. In college, it depends on the severity of cheating. Inadvertently cheating in some colleges might result in a failing grade, but deliberately cheating would result in failing the class (Thompson). Many people can just blow it off, but they would have to take the class again, and spend more money, in order to graduate. In severe cases, people are kicked out if they get caught plagiarizing someone’s work. Being kicked out of college can make some people realize the mistake they and learn just how serious the consequences were, but they also don’t realize the cost of their choice. All of the classes in college would have just been as waste and can never be recovered or forgiven. The student will receive a mark on his or her transcript, and that will be viewed by job employers later in their life (Thompson). As Thomas Paine said, “Character is much easier kept than recovered.” Students can also follow by example. They can learn that adults even plagiarize someone’s work. Those students can believe they have to
From a young age we are taught the differences between right and wrong, but as we get older the line between moral and immoral is often blurred. Things that were once thought of as unacceptable are now perfectly fine in our minds. Have you ever seen anyone cheat on an assignment or exam? Do you know anyone that’s been expelled from school for cheating? What if it was discovered that a U.S. senator plagiarized his college thesis paper? Imagine if it got out that one of the most respected universities in the U.S. was involved in a huge fraud scandal that involved thousands of students. Academic cheating is a terrible offense because it is unethical, self-degrading, and can be detrimental to the learning environment.
The failure of our education system is demonstrated by the fact that students are sacrificing their integrity for a handful of points on an assessment. Despite the efforts of honor codes, scholars have become numb to their purpose; they break such a promise of honesty to themselves, their teachers, and their peers without second thought. America’s children have lost the value of trust, compromising invaluable relationships with excuses regarding societal pressure and their excessive workloads. We cannot let such actions continue; if educators continue to tolerate cheating, our world may transition into one socially, economically, and politically operated by dishonest individuals. Society’s obsession with creating good academic performers has led to the subsequent creation of deceitful children and the possibility of a fraudulent