Under certain circumstances, an academic institution can cultivate an environment that exhibits the common ideals contained in an honor code; for example, “Donald L. McCabe, a professor … at Rutgers University … [, has found that] students at colleges with honor codes … cheat less than their counterparts elsewhere do” (Source C). This research, coupled with example honor codes in action shows that, at Union Public Schools, administration should establish a carefully maintained, balanced honor code that reacts to shifts in the student culture. The honor code must not be too coercive, but it is also necessary that the majority of the student body understands and respects the honor code. Most critically, students cannot be forced into following
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Even honest students are driven towards academic dishonesty to remain competitive in a school that does not have a respected honor code. In this environment, students are not honest because “they don’t expect anyone to else to be” (Source C). To cultivate an academically honest environment, academic institutions must focus on propagating the significance of a student enforced honor code to generate a “feedback loop [that] generates the culture of trust and integrity that students … value so highly” (Source C). Thus, innate cheaters will be discouraged to cheat because, in a sea of honest students that possess integrity, the risk of being caught cheating will outweigh the benefits. If properly implemented, an honor code at Union Public Schools can capitalize on the benefits that an honor code provides as ammunition in the never-ending war against cheating. Today, “roughly two-thirds of [high school] students [acknowledge] one or more incidents of cheating in the last year” (Source F). A carefully crafted, nonintrusive, meaningful, and respected honor code can contribute to the development of an honest educational environment, where cheaters are the minority and gain little benefit in comparison to the risk of getting caught; in an honest academic culture, they will inevitably be
Even honest students are driven towards academic dishonesty to remain competitive in a school that does not have a respected honor code. In this environment, students are not honest because “they don’t expect anyone to else to be” (Source C). To cultivate an academically honest environment, academic institutions must focus on propagating the significance of a student enforced honor code to generate a “feedback loop [that] generates the culture of trust and integrity that students … value so highly” (Source C). Thus, innate cheaters will be discouraged to cheat because, in a sea of honest students that possess integrity, the risk of being caught cheating will outweigh the benefits. If properly implemented, an honor code at Union Public Schools can capitalize on the benefits that an honor code provides as ammunition in the never-ending war against cheating. Today, “roughly two-thirds of [high school] students [acknowledge] one or more incidents of cheating in the last year” (Source F). A carefully crafted, nonintrusive, meaningful, and respected honor code can contribute to the development of an honest educational environment, where cheaters are the minority and gain little benefit in comparison to the risk of getting caught; in an honest academic culture, they will inevitably be