Yale Daily News guest columnist Yifu Dong wrote a column last week called “Honor without a code.” Dong challenged the necessity of honor codes at universities, maintaining that they are “superficial and superfluous,” ineffective and encourage cheating for many students.
Dong’s argument falls apart for several reasons. His assertion that a considerable number of students cheat “to rebel against the system” because honor codes “only reinforce the thrill of rebellion” like underage drinking laws is baseless. Extensive evidence demonstrates that students at schools with honor codes are much less likely to cheat than students at other institutions. Researchers Donald McCabe and Linda Trevino, who arrived at this conclusion in 1993, conducted a qualitative study in 1999 in which they determined that “[students at institutions with honor codes] refer to the honor code as an integral part of a culture of integrity that permeates their institutions.” The number of students who “[cheat] for fun” and are “glorified by tales of their successes,” as Dong writes, is insignificant next to the number of students who buy into honor systems. For Dong to frame half of his discussion of honor codes around this weak hypothesis is absurd.
Dong goes on to write that “the idea of an honor code more or less reflects the concept of collectivism.” What Dong fails to understand is that honor codes are equally individualistic. While a goal of the honor system at the University is to preserve a community of trust, the system ultimately aims to cultivate personal honor in each student at the University.
“[Cheating] is not just wrong,” Honor Committee Chair Evan Behrle said in an interview. “It’s in fundamental violation of what makes a community strong and an individual strong.”
Furthermore, the argument central to the column operates under the assumption that honor codes exist to prevent cheating. If this were the sole objective of honor codes, then I would agree with Dong that “all of the principles in an honor code should already be covered by [Yale’s] undergraduate regulations.”
But the purpose of honor codes extends beyond preventing academic dishonesty.
“An honor code, especially at the University, is about more than not cheating,” Behrle said. “It’s supposed to be a way of life.”
Unlike undergraduate academic regulations, honor codes are not simply terms and conditions that prohibit lying, cheating and stealing. At schools like the University where there exists a student-governed honor system, an honor code is a social contract between each individual and his or her peers. The honor code creates a culture of integrity on which students pride themselves.
Such an abstract idea is best communicated anecdotally. For example, the Honor Committee recently held a “Tell Your Honor Story” event in which students shared their positive experiences with the honor system. Although I have only been a student at the University for a few months, I’ve enjoyed being able to leave my laptop in the study rooms of Balz-Dobie without fear that it could be stolen. The University’s culture of honor affects the surrounding areas as well. One only has to walk down the Corner to see a Virginia Honor sticker at the entrance of Littlejohn’s.
Research in behavioral economics corroborates the idea that honor codes are useful in encouraging honesty. Duke economist Dan Ariely and his colleagues conducted a study in which 450 students at the University of California at Los Angeles were asked to complete several mathematics tasks, view the correct solutions and report their scores. After the experiment, students were paid according to their performance. Half of the students in the experiment were reminded of their school’s honor code. Ariely observed that these students reported significantly lower scores, which suggests that students reminded of the honor code cheated significantly less. Reminders of ethical standards such as honor codes bring to awareness an understanding that cheating constitutes a violation of one’s ethics.
Qualities of trust and honesty are certainly not absent at schools without honor codes such as Yale; however, it is undeniable that honor systems, especially those that are supported by a culture of integrity, are effective at any university.
Nazar Aljassar is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily.
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