AUTONOMY IN
Continued from page 5
and more honor councils are recognizing a
tandem purpose or even reversing the priority. Both practices can diminish cheating,
but honor education has a better chance of
fostering academic integrity. Reflecting this
developing trend, an entire section (Chapter 5) in CSEE’s Handbook for Developing and
Sustaining Honor Systems is devoted to the
honor education program. The retreat is a
splendid opportunity to plan the educational
activities for the coming year and slot them
into dates on the academic calendar. This
would be the time to brainstorm a signing
ceremony, an honor emphasis week, or open
“
ACTION
a good time to plan outreach initiatives for
parents (exactly how much help should they
provide children? What should be the guidelines for tutors? What are the steps involved
in a case and what should be the home role?)
and staff (how should a maintenance worker
or office staff members respond when
overhearing students chatting about malfeasance?) and even trustees (some schools
arrange for council members to meet with
the board once a year for Q&A).
The retreat should also include ample time
for discussing the rewards and burdens of
being campus leaders. Fair or not, there
...honor cases at most schools took a back seat to
case adjudication...both practices can diminish
cheating, but honor education has a better
chance of fostering academic integrity.
forums for discussions of integrity. If teams of,
say, three council members will be visiting
English classes, the agenda of items every visit
must cover (plagiarism, for instance) can be
determined now.
Honor Codes are intended to encourage individual integrity, of course, but the larger goal
is social or communal, so the honor education
thrust should reach everyone in the community, not just students. Thus the retreat is also
Page 6 Winter 2014
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is a de facto double standard that shines a
spotlight on student leaders; they are always
under scrutiny for any lapses as role models.
Few things undermine honor systems more
devastatingly than hypocrisy, and students always seem to know when someone sitting
in judgment over them is guilty.
For example, students might be guided
through a discussion of how to comport
themselves at hearings, with attention given
CSEE Connections