All colleges and universities should adopt the use of honor codes that are similar to Arizona State University to decrease cheating among students. Honor code calls on students to agree not to engage in cheating in their academic endeavors and to inform a faculty member if they suspect that others have cheated. Cheating among college and university students has been recorded to be on the increase continually. Despite these facts, several institutions of higher learning have been able to significantly reduce cheating among students through the introduction and the use of an honor code. For instance, the Arizona State University has successfully and significantly reduced cheating through the adoption of an honor code. The honor code calls on students to agree that they will not cheat in their academic engagements and that they will notify a faculty member should they suspect others to have engaged in cheating in the different academic endeavors.
Most colleges and students have embraced systems in which teachers need to closely monitor the students. While Arizona State University used this kind of system, the teachers were able to report thirty cases of cheating in each year averagely. One year, after the introduction of the honor code, the students reported twenty-one cases of cheating. Five years later the figure had dropped up to only fourteen cases. Studies have also shown that students find it easier for them not engage in cheating as they handle their various academic engagements when they are subscribed to an honor code as compared to when they are without one (Hutton, 2012) . It is based on these facts that this paper shows why all colleges and universities need to adopt honor codes that are similar to that of the Arizona State University to decrease cheating among students.
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Students at various institutions with honor codes approach the issue of academic integrity in a significantly different way as compared to the students from institutions that have no honor codes. Despite the fact that students subscribed to honor codes felt the same pressure from the larger society on their academic endeavors just like the students that do not have any honor codes, these students who have embraced an honor code are significantly less likely to give in to such pressures to justify or try rationalize their cheating. These students find it easy and effective to refer back to their honor code and value it as an essential part of their culture of integrity and this permeates throughout the institutions (McCabe, 2005) .
Certain aspects of honor codes are effective and efficient in the creation of a culture of integrity. These aspects are primarily based on the fact that honor codes have a unique way of fostering a deep sense of community in schools. Honor codes emphasize the notion that it is the students that are responsible for policing each other as well as ensuring a level academic performance and grading scales. The honor code systems are run by the students, and this involves having the students assist in the orchestration of how different cases are handled and being part of making judgments on the different forms of punishment (Jordan, 2010) . Having the students as part of an honor code system has the effect of making them view themselves as a crucial part of a moral community one that offers a significant level of trust and freedom and also has corresponding rules as well as expectations that need to be honored as a way of preserving the trust and the freedom.
Another factor that makes honor code systems an effective way to stop cheating among students is the fact that individuals are more likely to obey rules when they feel like they are stakeholders in that community. This effect is achieved when the students believe that they have a say in how the rules are made as well as how they are enforced. It is this premise that even democracy and the criminal justice system are based. They stress the importance of having a jury that is made up of one's peers. When the students feel that they are answerable to their fellow students as opposed to the teachers and that they are answerable to their peers and not to the formal authority, they are bound to behave better (Owunwanne, 2010) .
The honor code specifically governs the student conduct with respect to academic integrity. The honor code is also intended to create and promote an atmosphere of confidence and trust among the students. Through the honor code, every student pledges not to take part in or tolerate any academic dishonesty. The code offers guidelines and governs all the academic conduct that includes all the assignments and examinations as well as papers and projects that are submitted for academic credit or as part of class activities that seek academic credit (Owunwanne, 2010). All these considerations are included in the honor code, and this explains why it is an effective way of stopping cheating among the students. Having all the students part of the code and fully aware of what the code stands for and how they are a vital part of it is an efficient tool of creating and cultivating a culture of academic honesty and integrity among the students.
Honor codes are reliable since they apply to all the different aspects of the examination process that includes the students’ conduct before, during and after any examination. They also include the procedures through which the examinations are administered. An honor code makes the students fully aware of all the stipulated guidelines and creates a sense of belonging and identity amongst them as a community governed by this honor code. It makes them feel accountable both at an individual level and class level as well as an institution whose standards they have set and agreed upon and by which they must conduct themselves accordingly (Kidwell, 2015) . Involving the students in deciding on the measures to be taken should one fail to conduct themselves in accordance to the standards of the honor code has a way of making them own up the system and embrace it as well as give themselves to ensuring that it is followed in the school as a community setup.
Most students stop cheating because they know and feel like they are being trusted. The fundamentals of creating an honor code are based on the need to create a culture that focuses on the students’ membership in the community that they are being connected with academic honesty and integrity. It is also based on having the critical conversations that reinforce the standards of that culture. The signing of honor codes by students has a significant effect on how they conduct themselves as they tackle the various academic engagements such as during their assignments and examinations (Hutton, 2012) . It is, therefore, an effective approach to be used in reducing teaching among college and university students. For most universities such as the Arizona State University, the honor codes in schools have resulted in significantly lower rates of cheating as compared to other colleges and universities by around a quarter. This effect is what necessitates the incorporation of the honor code as a central part of the colleges and universities’ culture. It is therefore evident that all colleges and universities should adopt honor codes that are similar to Arizona State University to decrease cheating among students.
References
Hutton, P. (2012). Understanding Student Cheating and Vhat Educators can do about it. College Teaching , 171-176.
Jordan, A. (2010). College Students Cheating: The Role of Motivation, Perceived Norms, Attitudes, and Knowledge of Institutional Policy. Ethics & Behavior , 233-247.
Kidwell, L. (2015). Student Reports and Faculty Perceptions of Academic Dishonesty. Teaching Business Ethics , 205-214.
McCabe, D. (2005). Cheating Among College and University Students: A North American Perspective. International Journal for Educational Integrity , 11-14.
Owunwanne, D. (2010). Students' Perception of Cheating and Plagiarism in Higher Institutions. Journal of College Teaching and Learning , 59-68.
