Honor Code Does Not Make The Cut

By Jonathan Tomczak

The fact that an academic honor code is in the works is a good thing. I just don't think it will do enough to solve the problem.

I don't doubt that cheating is a prevalent problem, not just at Santa Clara, but at any academic institution. I also don't doubt Associated Student Government Chief Justice Aven Satre-Meloy when he states that schools with honor codes see less cheating than those without them. What I question, however, is whether honor codes are the most effective way to fight cheating, when they work in a way that is too little, too late.

Yes, students will have to sign an honor code at the beginning of the academic year. They will also sign a dozen other forms that will mean just as much to them: a formality to registering for classes. The true effectiveness of the honor code will only be after the cheating occurs, and someone decides to report it. Perhaps it increases the risk and penalty for cheating, but that's an act of enforcement, not prevention. The better way to eliminate cheating would not be to attempt to scare people into behaving, as enforcement does, but to lay mechanisms in place that would prevent cheating from even being possible.

The other problem is the idea that students will actually report cheating by others, honor code or not. It's not that students are inherently inclined to cheat or that they support a cheating epidemic. The issue is whether people will go out of their way to do something that doesn't directly benefit them. It's the same reason so few people fill out comment cards at restaurants or vote in elections; with no direct reward, the incentive to participate is very low. To a point, ASG itself knows this: everyone who took the honor code survey was told they could win a prize.

There are no easy solutions to curbing cheating. One step, however, might be a standard that professors could follow for administering their tests: no bathroom access until the test is completed, multiple versions of the test, minimum distance between desks, etc. This would put the burden on the cheater, and not the honest students who, under the honor code, would have to report them. The honor code could still be put in effect, but the guidelines would be the first line of defense.

As with any regulation, whether it be an honor code or speed limit, there is a margin of people who might have committed the act but won't because the rules exist. This margin, however, is always small. The best way to eliminate cheating is to prevent it. Beefing up enforcement might work somewhat, but preventing the cheating altogether would do much more. I'm glad the honor code is being tried, but I don't think it's the best or only approach.