The fearful pestilence will lurk among the next few months of school as the teachers will observe and diagnose each work as diseased or uncontaminated when no symptoms of cheating shows. While a common argument may maintain that honor codes creates an oppressive environment while being unsuccessful at keeping the integrity of students, revising the honor code system at Nevada Virtual Academy with student court can foster a culture of shared trust and respect, instill accountability and responsibility, and equate to help deter academic dishonesty.
NVVA should establish a revised honor code by students to form mutual trust and respect between students and the faculty. However, first and foremost, some will submit that honor code create oppression among school as administrators may take excessive measures to maximize their assurance of student’s academic integrity as some suggest spycam in classrooms can efficiently manage cheating (Source A). However one can assume all the riots and revolt of students declaring it as an invasion of privacy. Therefore, a revision that compromises both NVVA’s faculty and students’ interests can create an environment of trust and respect such as Lawrence Academy high school did when they reached a compromise to a less frequent pledge of honor instead of writing it on every piece of work submitted which helped gain student’s approval.
Student approval is crucial when establishing a reliable environment where students will respect the honor codes and in return, the faculty and administrators will grant a degree of trust without the need for an extreme supervision that fosters students’ feeling of being dominated. The balance can only be achieved through integrating both faculty and student’s goals, values, and priorities as fundamentally, without both of their agreement, a successful honor code will not form. Not to mention, a successful school environment created by a strong honor code can truly actualize honesty and reduce dishonesty in classroom settings, forming a relationship of trust and respect. Hampden-Sydney College, handled by an all-student court, had minimal occurrences of students cheating despite instances when professors were not present during exams.
However, since most of the online school’s quizzes and tests are executed by the student without a formal supervision, there is in need of further certainty concerning student’s integrity than an average school to form trust and respect. Revising and involving students to help reestablish the honor code can open a discussion from what small actions can signify as a potential cheating to lines drawn to clearly separate what will be considered a potential dishonesty and when “trivial” dishonesty becomes critical. In such ways, students helping to revise the honor code can establish a balanced relationship of trust and respect so the faculty will not trust in excess or too minimally. In the end, even if there may be minimal to even no revision, reexamining and reconsidering modification with students is a necessary step to form common trust and respect between the students and the faculty.
Furthermore, students having a power over revising the honor code at NVVA instill accountability and responsibility among students. Revising through student involvement will help them understand the honor code as well as the consequences of violating it as according to a highlight from a student research, forty-two percent of students do not know the range of punishment that can occur as a violation of academic integrity. Through student involvement in revising the honor code prompts various dialogue among student court and the settlement of degrees of consequences will ensure the student will be aware and informed about the range of sanction that can occur.
As a result, it creates an environment where students will be accountable for any consequences that were established and responsible for any noncompliance of the honor code. Students will have a sense of responsibility for complying and enforcing the codes created with their interests compromised or if not, mediated by students’ votes upon it. In turn, students, if found guilty, cannot dispute over the consequences received as they will have no excuses that they were uninformed of the honor codes created.
Studies show that establishing a revision honor code can help discourage dishonesty and motivate honesty; nonetheless, s ome contest that an establishment of an honors code system is ineffective and does no contribution to keeping students integrity. After all, r egardless of having stern enforcement of honors code for more than a century, the University of Virginia, an exceptional school, was caught in a large cheating scandal where a jarring 157 students were investigated. Critics will argue that the implementation of an honor code does not signify students will be, in fact, follow these codes. While it is true, the example alone cannot justify eliminating the entirety of the honor code system while not regarding the fact it has been successful several schools.
The fact still remains that honor code system was at least century-old and may were in need of a reinforcement or rather instead a revision that will create a consultation so students can communicate with their administrators and faculty the possible fault in the system and ways to tackle them to assure there will be stronger enforcement to catch any other students who neglect the system. Since, the highest level of academic deception occurs in schools where there is no engagement of students in the conversation of the policy. Therefore, deeming the honor code system as ineffective will not help motivate honesty nor does it discourage it.
On the other hand, participation of students participating in the revision of the honor code creates a peer culture that ultimately discourages to cheat. Research of several colleges found there was a correlation between lower cheating reported, the success of the honor code, and the peer culture that makes most forms of dishonesty socially unacceptable among students. When NVVA considers revising their honor code with at least some student power involved, there will be a degree of awareness of the consequences among students that diminish their ignorance of the severity of academic dishonesty, creating a culture that looks down upon those actions and behaviors. This culture will help discourage students to cheat as especially during teenage years, peers’ perception is a very powerful motivation to keep them from doing anything outside of the line.
