Does the Honor System Work

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Does the Honor System Work

Almost everyone has cheated on something at least once, whether it was on a test or in a football game, everyone has cheated at least once. For the majority of us, it was only once and we felt guilty enough afterwards to quit, but there are some that continue to cheat at every opportunity. While most colleges and universities would like to think that this does not happen on their campuses, the fact is that it happens everywhere.

People have tried solving the cheating problem with various methods, most of which don’t work. The most popular procedure seems to be to spread the students out and keep a close watch. This method is most widely used to make sure that students do not look on each others papers or use a “cheat sheet” to help them with the answers. Some professors have even started making more than one exam, with the same questions just in a different order. For an experienced cheater however, these methods do not stop them, and, in some cases, it makes the desire to cheat even stronger. Almost as if the student feels that they “beat the professor at their own game” when they succeed at cheating. To get rid of this thrill, some colleges and universities have implemented an honor system. With this system, total trust is placed in the student because they are allowed to take exams home and return them the next day. Of course some students will take advantage of this since it would be so easy to cheat but a surprisingly small number have at colleges that already use this system. I believe this is because once students are trusted, they will not want to let that person down. To lessen cheating on college campuses across the nation and produce better prepared adults, the honor system must be implemented.

Many people ask what is wrong with traditional methods of catching cheaters. For one, there are so many new methods being thought up every day it would be impossible for any college, let alone professor, to keep up with them. Methods such as different exams, walking up and down the aisles during the exam, and using several proctors simply do not work any more. One student at the University of Arkansas confesses to cheating in almost every class. For example, in a Spanish computer lab the student was able to cheat on an exam by simply making a “cheat sheet” with all the answers on it and hiding behind his ...

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...ncreased morality in students today and more responsible adults tomorrow. In the end, this system could eliminate almost all cheating at all levels in our society by producing more accountable adults and parents, who in turn would rear more honest children. Obviously cheating will probably always be a problem in our society, there is a way we can lessen the desire and the actual act by applying the honor system.

Bibliography:

Works Cited

North Dakota State University College of Agriculture. Honor System Page. North Dakota State University. 1 November 2000

Haverford College. Honor System Page. Haverford College. 1 November 2000.

Kalamazoo College. Honor System Page. Kalamazoo College. 1 November 2000.

Hood College. Honor System Page. 25 September 1998. Hood College. 1 November 2000.

Wein, Eric. “Cheating: risking it all for grades.” Arizona Daily Wildcat 2 December 1994. 3 November 2000.

Brownstein, Andrew. “Beyond Cliff Notes: In college, on-line cheating is a grade-A problem.” Albany Times Union 9 September 1999. 3 November 2000.

Blur of Insanity. Cheating Page. April 2000. Blur of Insanity. 3 November 2000.

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