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• Mekdem Petros on December 31, 1969
  The only way I would sign it is if the teachers sign it and if it didn't say "not limited to those things on the Honor Code."
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• Jeanne Davidson on February 9, 2002
  As a parent, I can't help but wonder if there's something missing from this puzzle -- in particular, whether the school administration or board suddenly realized that Blair was out of compliance with some legal requirement to have an honor code and therefore rushed to adopt one. Otherwise, it's hard to understand why the code would be distributed during the second week of the second semester, with no advance discussion or notice, and why the students would be required to sign on the spot, without even having an opportunity to think about or discuss the very serious commitment of an honor code. I doubt that many students would oppose the concept of an honor code; young people understand better than many adults the principle of "fair play" and frequently prefer the clarity of "rules" over ambiguous and subjective control. If there was no reason (such as a lapsed legal deadline) for the rush, it would have made sense to mail the code to parents and students during the summer with an announcement that it would be adopted during the coming academic year, and that students (and parents) would be required to sign a paper showing that they had read the code and agreed to abide by it. With respect to the substance of the code, what is glaringly missing(particularly if the code was drafted by teachers) is any express recognition that students generally can be trusted and have demonstrated their commitment to honesty and integrity, as embodied in the following principles ....
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• nadie (View Email) on February 9, 2002
  The true meaning of signing that form of honesty is dubious. It can be openly viewed as
  
  (a) a form of administrative bullying
  
  (b) a pointless waste of time
  
  and
  
  (c) an open declaration of war against cheaters
  
  
  
  The fact is, however, that most of the students did not go to their administators due to their peer's influence. Most of the students do not have the time to waste, going to the administators, and frankly, could care less about it. In fact, many Magnets were discussing how pointless the forms were. "The signature on the paper is always a little weak. It only bonds you to your soul, and your commitment is only as strong as your faith in keeping a healthy soul. People without soul can sign such papers without thinking, much like the way people swat mosquitoes," says a fellow Magnet in 4th period.
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• Anatoly Preygel (View Email) on February 9, 2002
  The staff clearly beleive this Honor Code has ample weight, merit, and purpose.
  
  I, being absent last Thursday, have never seen, let alone signed, this fine document.
  
  Thus, following the staff's logic, it is clear that I must abandon all my previously-held beleifs and morals, and act as all students presumably did before signing this honor code. I must promptly proceed to turn in an Encyclopedia Brittanica article as my own work, forge my parent's signature, cheat on a test, before walking out of the school with an iMac under one arm.
  
  After all, isn't that what we were all doing before this important document had to be immediately given to us second week of second semester, and immediately signed. It is amazing what reading (well, that part was presumably optional) and being forced to sign a simple Honor Code can apparently do.
  
  Now excuse me, I think I have some theft to attend to.
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• Jared Sagoff (View Email) on February 10, 2002
  Actually, Silver Chips gave prior notice of this honor code in December -- the article was put online before winter break in the "print edition" section -- check it out.
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• Jeremy Hoffman on February 10, 2002
  Jared's article can be viewed here.
  
  Interesting... I suppose we lose our cry of "no fair warning." However, this just shows the irrationality of the administration's implementation of the Code. If they've had it ready for a month, why give us just twenty minutes to consider it?
  
  Well said, Anatoly. Also, all staff members do not support the Honor Code as it was given to us; I'd say about half of my teachers agreed with the students' arguments against the Code.
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• Michael Sidorov (View Email) on February 12, 2002
  I signed the honor code but now regret that I did. When people didn't sign it, I thought they were just doing it to be difficult, but after reading through it more thoroughly I am outraged that administrators forced us to sign the honor code. I don't have any objections to what it says, but we already have rules and punishments for cheating. They didn't need to be restated. My problem is this honor code was written only by administrators and had no student input. With no student input, I don't see any difference between the honor code and the current rules we have in our planbooks. Also, I don't believe the honor code will prevent cheating at all. In my class, most people indifferently signed it and won't change if they do or don't cheat based only on this document.
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• Kristofer Running (View Email) on February 12, 2002
  The Honor Code is yet another clear attempt at the school's progression towards a complete and utter authoritarian system. First off, you have little freedom as to whether you are able to sign the document or not. It is at least a 3 page document, handed to you with roughly 5 minutes to read, and then, you sign it and turn it in. Then, when you are found picking up a pencil off the floor during a test, they'll refer you back to your forced signature...what a joke.
  
  And if you don't sign it...well, you get to have a nice little chat with the Principal, or something of that nature. And what are you supposed to do then? Not sign it and be forced to suffer in school suspension? Well, we don't know yet, because every student has submitted to this "Honor Code" being forced down our throats.
  
  And it's clearly obvious that a large majority of students have violated the Honor Code...no, not cheating on a test, but copying homework during lunch or before the class starts, just to stay out of trouble. It's no big deal, really.
  
  This document will do nothing to stop cheating/plagiarism, and if nothing, anger students even more.
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• Joe Howley on February 12, 2002
  Matt, E Paspalis, I find your comments very disturbing.
  
  
  
  Consider: Without community involvement, the adminstration construced this essentialyl redundant set of rules and punishments, then dared to label it an Honor Code, both offending our intelligence (as if we can't handle something that is not black-and-white rules) and belittling the notion of honor.
  
  
  
  I don't think there's any such thing as "just" an Honor Code. Similarly, to sign it just to get it out of the way is to devalue the signature and the personal pledge. If you don't mean your signature here, do you mean it anywhere else?
  
  
  
  Reactions such as yours illustrate to me the problem with the Administration's "Honor Code." Basically, it devalues honor and pledges and personal integrity. If you won't fight this battle, which one will you fight?
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• Jeremy Hoffman on February 12, 2002
  A transcript of the Honor Code is now available. Read it here.
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• lisa howe (View Email) on February 12, 2002
  I really think this is all a bunch of crap! What can we do if we know we can't follow these rules that prohibit us to do anythig relevent to giving an answer! If we can't commit to it then we are there by going to break this "honor code"!! By signing this sheet, some people can't commit to it which results in us breaking this honor code! You cant expect everyone to be all cheery and great about it! This is our freedom! I know it is cheating but this is NOT a way to convince us not to cheat!! Please!! No one can say that in there time at Blair or at any school they will or have cheated!! This is somthing that shoudln't be sealed with a piece of paper with our signature! This is rediculous!
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• Anonymous on February 12, 2002
  I, like many students, oppose the forced signing of the honor code. However, the teacher that presented it to my class made an important point: no matter how bad the implementation turned out, the intention of the code is to establish academic integrity at Blair, which would be a good thing.
  
  That said, I still disagree with the administration's method. I think it is disgusting that someone (E Paspalis) would sacrifice their own integrity in order to not "make waves." I edited the statement I signed
  on my paper because I do not support the code, and if the administration pursues me then they have hypocritically lost sight of the code's intent, which is to preserve honor and integrity, because my integrity would have been compromised by signing an unaltered, and untrue, statement. E Paspalis, I assure you that I am losing no sleep.
  -Ben Meiselman, Silver Chips Staff
  
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• Seana Miller (View Email) on February 13, 2002
  I have been keeping track of most of the issues concerning this new policy. While there have been many issues bubbling around in the background, my newest one is student?s lack of concern for this. No one cares enough to stand up for what they believe in. Either people did not care at all about their rights, and did it to not have to put up with a hassle, or they cared, but didn?t want to fight about it. And those are the people I feel truly sorry for. If you?re not willing to stand up for your own beliefs, whose will you stand up for? I agree with Joe Howley on this point: ?If you won't fight this battle, which one will you fight?? Truer words were never spoken, Joe. Students need to wake up and see what?s going on around them. These are the issues that concern them. If something bothers you, stand up and fight for what you believe in. Isn?t that what being a Blazer is all about?
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• Anonymous on February 14, 2002
  I am graduate of Blair high school and presently attending state university. I just wanted to say that where I am attending school there is an honor code. You sign when you are accepted into the institution and it is something that can be used against you if you break on of the rules stated. I understand that you don't want to be forced to sign an honor code but the school has to keep some sort of integrity as learning institution. The only way to prove it is by documenting it. Since you are minors and if you have a real issue with the honor code you should get your parents involved and come up with other ways Blair can uphold their integrity and not force students to sign a honor code. It is all cool to complain but you also need to present an alternative or your complaining means nothing.
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• Jeremy Hoffman on February 23, 2002
  Well written, George Koehler. I agree that some sort of "includes, but is not limited to" statement is necessary for an anti-cheating policy to avoid cheaters trying to escape on a technicality. I don't think it would be used to make left-handedness cheating like "Student" said comically. But it was just one more thing that made students uncomfortable when they were forced to sign it.
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• Mrs. Cherie McGinn (View Email) on February 27, 2002
  I've been following the comments on the honor code with great interest. As one of the faculty members involved in developing the honor code, I can tell you that many teachers presented it in ways that were far from what had been intended. In retrospect, there are many things which could have been done differently. However, the important thing now is that a group of students who believe in and recognize the value of an honor code, have come together to work on an alternative way to accomplish what had been originally intended. About 25 students attended the first meeting, and the second meeting will be held on Feb. 28. Many of you had general complaints about the whole concept of an honor code, but some of you also had excellent suggestions. Please consider attending the next meeting. The faculty and administration are excited by the prospect of an honor code that is generated from and supported by the student body. Contact Joe Howley, Lauren Safranek or Jeremy Widder for details.
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• Farrah Farley (View Email) on March 2, 2002
  Of course the principle of having an Honor Code is necessary to maintain community-wide honesty and integrity--but a clear line needs to be drawn to distinguish between cheating and the accusation or allegation of such. Punishing students for telling authority figures an "untruth" is completely ridiculous and unrealistic--but this is just a small example of what the honer code should not represent. Also, after reading the proposed Honor Code, I "understood" the document, but sliding in the words "support" and "agree" afterwards, completely repelled me from signing. The Blair Honor Code needs to be created by both authority figures as well as students, just like how most Honor Codes are created in college. There needs to be mutual trust among teachers administrators and students. The teachers need to have more trust and respect for their students, and allowing students to work on an adjusted Honor Code is a great idea. I hope that the new and improved Honor Code provides the opportunity for students to exhibit the honesty, integrity and maturity that they possess.
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• Jim Mogge (View Email) on March 13, 2002
  A big thumbs up to Silver Chips and Silver Chips Online for providing their ongoing coverage of this story and providing a forum for discussion.
  
  This is what education/schooling is all about -- identify an issue or present an idea -- explore it in a variety of ways -- try to reach a consensus -- recognize the value of dissenting opinions -- revisit the issue or idea with a greater knowledge and understanding.
  
  MBHS rules !
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• Josh Stern (View Email) on March 13, 2002
  I think that George Koehler's comment about the elastic clause was very well reasoned. But it is based on the premise that when an elastic clause is used to supplement a list of other offenses, the clause itself only expands the list to related offenses.
  
  It sounds to me like such limitation of an elastic clause is a convention. The problem is, I was not familiar with this convention when I was asked to sign the honor code, and I'll venture that much of the student body was not either. After all, we're students... there is a lot that we don't know.
  
  So maybe it's all right to have an elastic clause, but its definition certainly should have been articulated more explicitly in the document that students were expected to sign.
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• Amy (View Email) on March 19, 2002
  I am so intrigued by this whole "honor code" thing at Blair that I can't help but post my thoughts as a graduate.
  
  To directly quote my chemistry professor, in response to cheating he will "do his damndest to get you kicked out of this university." And he's got a lot of power and he'd do it too. There's no place for cheating, and there should be consequences for it, whether it's college or high school.
  
  The problem is - the difference between a high school honor code and a college one, like say at Haverford College, is that most kids there are motivated to attend the college with the honor corde, therefore they are more likely to abide it. I cannot imagine a student applying to Haverford and cheating. However, their honor code entails that they can take finals while sipping lemonade out on the quad. I cannot imagine a teacher at Blair administering a test like this - ever, given the population of students at Blair.
  
  While I think that an honor code system would be ideal for a place like Blair, I would say that many students at Blair could care less. They'll sign it but they won't abide by it. It would be great to get the kids going to college ready for academically challenging environments where cheating will get you kicked out of school. But for those students not so much motivated to pursue college, the honor code system would be pointless to them.
  
  I am very glad that some kids have refused to sign the honor code, but to those kids, you should be helping those four kids organize a new honor code system. If you want change, don't just sit around, you have to make it happen yourself. Otherwise, it's all talk.
  
  So to summarize, I hope the students can have as much input in a new honor code as possible. I think that if it was written by them, there would be more motivation to really abide by those rules. I especially wish the students luck in coordinating with the administration, as it may be a tireless process and sometimes unfulfilling. But all in all, this seems like a great venture in the power of the student at Blair and I wish each one of you luck in compromising and getting an awesome honor code for the student body. Good luck and DON'T CHEAT!!! =)
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• Eric Schaffer (View Email) on April 4, 2002
  I am one of those who went ahead and signed the Honor Code despite general complaints about it, and also one of those who thought for a while that the general complaints were, like Michael Sidorov said, just to be difficult. But I can definitely see now that this isn't an honor code at all, and that it might as well just be written into the set of school rules that probably already contain it. But this seems to just be a problem of nomenclature, not anything truly significant. If we could just call it "that redundant set of rules we all signed" or something similar, I think it should all be okay.
  
  And in my opinion, it's silly that people are making a better honor code. An honor code shouldn't have to be written out. It should be an idea of honor that people might have. So I really don't think that a better honor code will improve the school's sense of honor.
  
  And besides, we're only going to be here for four years-chances are that that redundant set of rules we all signed won't really be that important in the big scheme of things.
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• Nicole McBurrough (View Email) on June 27, 2002
  I am currently doing a research paper on the University Honor Code. I think honor code sets limitations to students. I feel that it shouldn't be an honor code I think by the time you enter into college you should be able to act and handle situations as an adult. Therefore I feel that the honor code is waste of time. Thank to this website I have completed a profound research paper. Thankyou for all of your opinions posted at this site.
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• India Mcknight on September 9, 2002
  I think for 9/11, we should have a moment of silence, and not the microsecond that principle Gainous is known for.
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