In modern day, students tend to prioritize higher grades over honorable actions. Many students carry their cheating habits from high school to college, and some spend more time devising a plan to cheat than they would have needed to learn the material. Cheating is a disease, and the only cure is to implement and enforce an honor code. Without honor codes, students would believe that there is no punishment for dishonesty, which in return prompts them to cheat again, creating a never-ending cycle of deceit. We cannot allow these habits to infect young students and hinder them in their adult lives. Although there will always be those who feel compelled to behave dishonestly, all schools should establish honor codes in order to prevent cheating,
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If a student cheats, he is constantly putting himself at risk of punishment or expulsion, all the while developing a mindset that justifies cheating. If one’s friend cheats, one face the moral dilemma of deciding whether to live with the betrayal of exposing one’s friend or to live with the guilt of ignoring the issue. The individual is torn in a battle of morals. However, the concept of being an honest student trumps all feelings of remorse one should have when exposing a friend who has cheated. In order for this to happen and for this concept to be installed in the minds of the growing generation, honor codes should be a common practice at all schools. Incidents of cheating are reported significantly less at schools that have an honor code than at those which do not (Source F). If it has been proven that honor codes lessen cheating, then why would a school choose not to have one? No school wants to be known for cheating, and no student wants to have the reputation of a cheater. For example, when an honor code was first proposed at the Lawrence Academy in Massachusetts, students were definitively opposed. However, once they understood the benefits an honor code provided, such as the reduction of cheating, the honor code soon gained communal approval (Source B). It is not a question of whether or not having an honor code is a necessity, but rather, if the school wants to cure cheating
If a student cheats, he is constantly putting himself at risk of punishment or expulsion, all the while developing a mindset that justifies cheating. If one’s friend cheats, one face the moral dilemma of deciding whether to live with the betrayal of exposing one’s friend or to live with the guilt of ignoring the issue. The individual is torn in a battle of morals. However, the concept of being an honest student trumps all feelings of remorse one should have when exposing a friend who has cheated. In order for this to happen and for this concept to be installed in the minds of the growing generation, honor codes should be a common practice at all schools. Incidents of cheating are reported significantly less at schools that have an honor code than at those which do not (Source F). If it has been proven that honor codes lessen cheating, then why would a school choose not to have one? No school wants to be known for cheating, and no student wants to have the reputation of a cheater. For example, when an honor code was first proposed at the Lawrence Academy in Massachusetts, students were definitively opposed. However, once they understood the benefits an honor code provided, such as the reduction of cheating, the honor code soon gained communal approval (Source B). It is not a question of whether or not having an honor code is a necessity, but rather, if the school wants to cure cheating