Honor Code Dbq

In the realm of Academia, an honor code often refers to a set of rules, either written or unwritten, which establish principles on dishonest practices, such as plagiarism and cheating. The goal of an honor code is to create an environment of trust and integrity between students and peers, as well as between students and teachers. Though some may argue that honor codes do the opposite by creating suspicion and distrust between students, I believe that implementing an honor code in my school would ultimately be beneficial to myself and my peers because it would help to foster an academic environment where students can trust each other, it would prevent peers that depend on cheating from being left behind, and would encourage participation of

Throughout my high school education, I have found myself being unable to trust my peers as I have been told to cover my answer sheets during tests, or have seen other students on their phones during quizzes that I had studied hours for the night before. In my school, cheating runs rampant as many students feel that there is no consequence as it has been deemed socially acceptable, many teachers don’t discuss repercussions for cheating at the beginning of the year, and it is not very difficult to difficult to cheat. In fact, as outlined in Source F, two thirds of students surveyed at the collegiate level admit to acts of academic dishonesty. The same source found that “the highest levels of cheating are usually found at colleges that have not engaged their students in active dialogue on the issue of academic dishonesty,” (Source F). Although many would believe that implementing an honor code would stir further distrust among students as they are told to suspect and report each other, I believe that an honor code in my school would set an important precedent for academic honesty, as there is currently little to no social pressures around cheating. With consistent discussions and reminders of the consequences of cheating, it would become clearer to students both the repercussions of academic dishonesty, but also set an important social precedent around cheating. Additionally, it has been observed at school with honor codes that as more people in a school are honest, an honor code will amplify these positive traits and create a feedback loop where the expectation of being caught is higher and students are less likely to cheat (Source