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Printer-Friendly ModeArgument against honor code
submitted by Eric Lonsway
April 10, 2006 —
This is in response to the letter in the April 3 issue, "Honor code not needed," by Nickalus Phillips. Having an honor code is merely setting an implied standard of conduct, which is especially important to address with new students. The student honor code will be used to influence students' attitudes toward academic integrity, peer to peer, so that cheating is not the perceived cultural norm on campus. The author says he "would rather have students in school learning just a little and cheating than people out in the streets with no chance at an education." Condoning or accepting any type of dishonesty will never encourage people to embrace integrity. Research shows that academic integrity will not improve without much focus and effort being made, starting with an honor code.
Students already attending SVSU obviously have a "chance" to learn versus "being out in the streets," unless they intentionally violate rules they've known about since an early age. Students who cheat are intentionally jeopardizing their own future opportunities. The author states he wants people to have honor without being told they have to. This account contradicts one of his earlier statements that he's accepted students having no honor. The author continues, "if you tell them (cheaters) they have to abide by something that should be blatantly obvious by the time of the college years, it could have a limiting effect on the student." So telling a student to do his own work will suppress some hidden dormant genius deep within the cheaters psyche? Now I've heard it all.
Human nature travels the path of least resistance, so without some standard, many will not aspire to academic integrity. After all, doing your own work is much harder than cheating - that's why some students do it. Change takes time, but any effort we make to influence students to respect themselves, their fellow peers, and faculty is a good thing.
Eric Lonsway Student