About The honor Code
The honor code is a set of guidelines and expectations dictated to students at the beginning of courses or preceding exams. It spells out how students are to deal with instances of academic dishonesty and usually lists consequences.
It is suggested the mere existence of an honor code is enough to deter cheating on university campuses. There have been three major studies that attest to this very statement: William Bowers 1964, Donald McCabe and Linda Trevino 1993, and McCabe/Trevino and Kenneth Butterfield 1999. There studies revealed that honor codes can be quite impactful and drastically affect rates of academic dishonesty by employing the use of Social Contract Theory; students are responsible for policing each other. It is theorized that a person is more likely to “behave” when they are answerable to their peers as opposed to some hierarchical authority (Callahan, 2010). But, a recent study at Middlebury University showed that 63% of students said they would feel neutral about, or not report cheating on an exam, at Stanford University 45% of students said they would not report instances of cheating, at Princeton University the number nearly doubles (Cheung, 2014)! There seems to be a divide between what students ought to do versus what is actually done.
It is suggested the mere existence of an honor code is enough to deter cheating on university campuses. There have been three major studies that attest to this very statement: William Bowers 1964, Donald McCabe and Linda Trevino 1993, and McCabe/Trevino and Kenneth Butterfield 1999. There studies revealed that honor codes can be quite impactful and drastically affect rates of academic dishonesty by employing the use of Social Contract Theory; students are responsible for policing each other. It is theorized that a person is more likely to “behave” when they are answerable to their peers as opposed to some hierarchical authority (Callahan, 2010). But, a recent study at Middlebury University showed that 63% of students said they would feel neutral about, or not report cheating on an exam, at Stanford University 45% of students said they would not report instances of cheating, at Princeton University the number nearly doubles (Cheung, 2014)! There seems to be a divide between what students ought to do versus what is actually done.
Callahan, D. (2010, December 14). Why Honor Codes Reduce Student Cheating. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-callahan/why-honor-codes-reduce-st_b_795898.html
Cheung, J. (2014, April 12). The Fading Honor Code. Retrieved March 28, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/education/edlife/the-fading-honor-code.html?_r=0
Cheung, J. (2014, April 12). The Fading Honor Code. Retrieved March 28, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/education/edlife/the-fading-honor-code.html?_r=0