Synthesis Essay On Academic Honor Code

An academic honor code is a set of rules that govern a community based on ideals that define what constitutes honorable behavior within the community. Personally, coming from a high school that does not necessarily have an academic honor code, I feel that academic honor codes are a good thing to have in place, but not before the high school level. At my high school we have a version of an “honesty” policy. The policy covers mostly issues of plagiarism whereas a full academic honor code would cover issues that go way beyond the topic of plagiarism. According to student research at a high school in 2007/2008 at least 40 percent of students had violated their school’s honor code and were not caught (Source E). With this percentage being almost half of the class, which can only mean at my high schools hundreds of students could be getting away with this. Unfortunately the growing issue of plagiarism and breaking policies cannot be solved overnight “Even, where honor is so well defined and policed… plagiarism has become a problem” (source D). If there was an academic honor code in place at my school, I believe a greater quantity
All student must be held accountable for their actions. Of course if we were all to carry out honorable behavior then schools would not need to reprimand students. Except, this is not always the case in today's society. At levels of education lower than high school students who cheat, steal, or even bully tend to not have to deal with any consequences for their unacceptable actions. I think Academic Honor Codes are unnecessary at any level of education lower than high school. However, there should be rules that students need to abide by when it comes to these situations alongside punishment. By doing so that they are preparing students for a successful life where they know that doing things like cheating and stealing will not be