Pros And Cons Of Honor Codes

Honor Code Alternatives

Cheating in the classroom has become a common resort to many students who struggle academically. Several schools have tried preventing this immoral act with a student honor code. The honor code is intended to unveil any students who cheat on tests or quizzes by having them pledge, before the test, to refrain from any wrongdoings and to sell out anyone they find cheating. While this policy may sound flawless, the majority of honor codes fail to banish cheating. Many students are not comfortable selling out their peers, and they find it easy to contravene their “no cheating” oath, especially when a teacher is not overseeing the test. To reduce cheating offenses, schools can enforce harsher disciplinary actions on the students and can encourage teachers to use supervision strategies during tests. Teachers can …show more content…
To catch cheating firsthand, the teacher can sit at the back of the classroom to monitor the students. Typically, students are more nervous to cheat off their neighbor when they cannot see the supervisor, and those who are tempted to cheat will turn around to check if the teacher is watching. This simple technique will make it easy for teachers to pinpoint the students who are cheating. To prevent cheating, teachers can also hand out two different copies of the test to alternating students. If the teacher informs the students beforehand that the tests are different, or if they print it out on different colored paper, it is likely that the students will refrain from cheating. If they still peek at their neighbor’s test to copy an answer, they will have copied an incorrect answer, and their test grade will suffer. In the event that these techniques do not reduce