<p>Does whether a college has an honor code play any role in influencing your college search? And more importantly, even if a college does have an honor code, does whether students take it seriously play any role?</p>
<p>Recently, I have given this idea more thought. Especially coming from a high school that does have a serious honor code, I really do value the idea of being able to live in a college community where I could continue that kind of a school life. But that's not to say that a student who has never experienced an academic environment with a serious honor code couldn't appreciate it; rather, I would argue that they could appreciate it even more.</p>
<p>I remember reading a news article about a Sewanee University student who cheated on one of her final exams. She turned herself in and reflected on her intellectual growth during her yearlong suspension. I can't find the article, but it's worth a look if you have a chance.</p>
<p>I have to be honest, I think the honor code thing is sort of unnecessary.</p>
<p>When I asked a friend at an honor code school what was different he said, “Sometimes, we take exams, and the professor walks out of the room!”</p>
<p>My response was, “That’s pretty much every exam I’ve had in a class of fewer than 20 and we don’t have some specially advertised honor code.”</p>
<p>Now I don’t think that this can be done at all places, but I think in general, it’s not hard to find schools where professors will treat you like adults and colleagues and you’ll be expected to treat classmates as adults and colleagues and they’re not necessarily places that plaster their honor code all over the place.</p>
<p>I think an Honor Code is a great thing. It means that at a place like Cal Tech you can take the exam back to the dorm and work on it overnight as long as you don’t consult external reference materials or other people.
I would be interested to see a list of Honor Code schools if anyone has one.</p>
<p>I would be interested to see a list of Honor Code schools if anyone has one.</p>
<p>That’s the thing, though. I think most schools would fall in that category, but it’s not so clear distinguishing which ones actually value their honor codes and take them seriously (unless you’re a current student, of course).</p>
<p>Both my kids attend Honor Code schools. They would both tell you that it does make a difference and making it one of your considerations is a good idea. As one of them put it to me, enforcing and abiding by the code is important, but the biggest benefit is that schools with seriously strong honor systems tend to attract a self-selecting student body which is what really makes it work. </p>
<p>That said, not all honor systems are created equal. Some only exist in name only. On the other end of the spectrum some can be more akin to The Salem Witch Trials.</p>
<p>And btw, honor systems encompass much more than just unproctored exams.</p>
<p>And btw, honor systems encompass much more than just unproctored exams.</p>
<p>That’s a great point, one that I forgot to mention.</p>
<p>I don’t know how honor systems work at colleges, but I know the one at my high school applies just as much to exams as it does to textbooks or laptops; if we leave them in the library, we can come back three hours later (or three days later, for that matter) and find them where we left them.</p>
<p>I’m not oblivious; I know this is pretty impractical in a more realistic setting, especially at a lot of colleges. But I still feel as though it’s worthwhile to consider this kind of thing ahead of time.</p>
<p>^I know exactly what you’re talking about. I went to a high school just like that. I could leave a computer in the library for a week or come back for a winter jacket a full month after I left it somewhere. However, I don’t think you’ll find this at a college… I hardly doubt it.</p>
<p>spark, that’s exactly the way it is at W&L so I know for a fact the environment you describe exists on the college level. Not living in such a place, I have to adjust everytime I visit because it’s hard to get used to the idea that many students never even bother to close the doors to their room when they aren’t there. No worries there whatsoever about personal belongings “getting legs.”</p>
<p>Haverford’d honor code was drafted in 1896 by Rufus Jones (a prominent Quaker, Haverford grad, Nobel Prize winner). It is student run; it encourages any student who observes apparent violations to confront the suspected offender. I don’t know whether students at peer schools without such a code are significantly more apt to steal or cheat on tests. Haverford’s emphasis seems to be not only on deterring these behaviors, but on teaching students not to condone them.</p>