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Essay / Why Honor Codes Don't Work in Schools
The Ineffectiveness of Honor Codes in Schools Many schools preach academic integrity as a trait that all students should have. However, cheating has become incredibly prevalent in the modern world, leading some schools to look for ways to prevent it. One proposed solution was to implement honor codes aimed at stopping cheating, theft and plagiarism and promoting integrity. Schools should not try to establish an honor code because cheating is impossible to stop. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Initially, cheating is inevitable due to technological advancements in the modern era. Specifically, the rise of smartphones has made cheating easier than ever. According to a survey at a small public university, 40 percent of students reported violating the current honor code and not being arrested (Source E). Another article from an online publication found that "research confirms recent media reports regarding the high levels of cheating that exist in many American high schools, with approximately two-thirds of students admitting to one or more incidents of cheating explicit over the past year” (SourceF). This is already a significant proportion of students, and this data was found before 2010, when telephone technology was less advanced. Today, most people have phones capable of sending high-resolution images and access to the Internet, which is "an inexhaustible source of information" (Source D). This means that cheating can no longer be monitored as easily since it does not necessarily have to be done in person. Students can easily send each other photos of their homework or simply search for answers online instead of having to copy a classmate's answers in class. This activity cannot be monitored because it would require teachers to monitor each student's activities on their personal devices, which would be an invasion of privacy. So, cheating is now impossible to stop since technology has taken it from a physical act, in school, to a wireless act, outside of school, that schools cannot control. Overall, honor codes should not be implemented since technology has made cheating impossible to prevent. Additionally, cheating is impossible to stop since students don't want to report each other. the social effects it has. In the survey, it is indicated that only 8% of students would report a classmate for cheating (Source E). This low number is due to the consequences that denouncing a person can have. When an honor code was established at a private school in Massachusetts, it was found that "[students] feared that a mandate for confrontation with peers would create friction and that subsequent reporting would not be able to easily remain confidential” (Source B). In other words, students are afraid of having to report a classmate because they don't want to be called a snitch and experience negative reactions from their peers. The people they reported would likely feel resentment toward them, making students feel that adhering to such an honor code is not worth it. Therefore, such an honor code system is ineffective because children do not want to deal with the negative social reactions that come from reporting a peer for cheating. Overall,.