FREE ESSAY ON SCHOOL TIES - THE CODE OF HONOR

SCHOOL TIES - THE CODE OF HONOR

The Code of Honor
Honesty, respect, accountability, these are all words the honor code stands by, it's a
foundation on which academic integrity abides, and a line drawn between what's right and
wrong. The honor code in the movie School Ties meant more than just a signature one
signed, it was a living entity, a guideline the school swore by, and those that broke the
code met with the consequences.
"It is the students responsibility, not the teachers, to uphold St. Matthews honor code,"
said the headmaster as he addressed the students gathered in the chapel for mass at St.
Matthews. The headmaster understood the relevance of the code, and that the power was
vested in the students to make it work for the entire student body. Another example of
the honor code was when the history teacher addressed the class by asking the students to
discuss among themselves who cheated on the recent test. He went on to strongly urged the
class that overlooking the incident would be robbing them of the honor code. At the end
of the movie the main character, David Green, takes the fall for Charles Dillon, the
student who cheated. However, the headmaster finds out the truth from the prefect, Rip,
and Dillon is expelled from school. As David leaves the headmasters office, the teacher
reminds him, "The honor code is a living thing, it can't live in a vacuum." St. Matthew's
knew how to fill the vacuum, but it was the students that lived it. A life not set by
rules or regulations, but an internal drumbeat, marching to the beat of its own,
honesty.
I have sincere doubts about the usefulness and the meaningfulness of the honor code,
because addressing cheating requires more than just the honor code alone. Cheating is a
problem in part because of the enormous pressure put on students by a school's
high-strung atmosphere to achieve. I think students feel that in order to survive, they
must take advantage of the gray areas of being honest, often stretching the limits as to
cheating and using someone else's work. Therefore, any honor code implemented in such an
environment will result in students changing cheating techniques to work around the code.
I feel the best way to deal with this problem is to make students fully aware that
cheating is unprofitable and nothing good come of it. Ultimately, the honor code works
because it is fully enforced by the students themselves. As Mencken once said, For every
complex problem there is a simple solution -- and it is wrong. Solving the issue of
dishonesty requires far more than just an honor code alone.