I don't remember agreeing to an honor code at my college

Really? Huh. Almost all of my college peers had to agree to an honor code as part of freshman orientation. Of course, we were late Gen X and so therefore much more debauched than the rest of y'all. @@

I think many students regard honor codes much like software EULAs -- you have to agree to it to get the stuff you want, but if it's patently unfair you may not feel it's binding.

I think honor codes have gotten more common in recent years.

Apparently not if you'd agree to something and not do it.

Oh fuck that shit, Trudy. An Honor Code is as insulting as a Vow of Allegiance to me. I think it's a complete abdication of ethical responsibility. I'd never let any institution dictate what my moral choices are. I'm sure there's a Firm Email Policy you had to sign to get hired that you haven't followed to the strict letter.

Really? Huh. Almost all of my college peers had to agree to an honor code as part of freshman orientation. Of course, we were late Gen X and so therefore much more debauched than the rest of y'all

Hec went to a VERY LIBERAL liberal arts college, IIRC.

But what if they squeak by or manage to cheat on that too and some day I end up with a shitty nurse?

There's a difference between a shitty nurse and a dangerous one. A shitty nurse might lack empathy and an ability to organize her time effectively. While I'd really rather there were no shitty nurses, a lack of empathy isn't going to kill someone. A dangerous nurse, on the other hand, kills people. If I saw someone endanger a patient's well-being in a clinical setting, I'd certainly intervene. Seeing someone cheat on a nursing research exam? I couldn't care less.

There's really a bare minimum of squeaking by nowadays. The amount of knowledge expected of nurses has really deepened and broadened, especially with the advent of bachelor's degree programs, and the information you're expected to know for the licensing exam is pretty binary. Either you can successfully calculate mg/kg dosages or you can't. Either you know the immediate, life-saving intervention for tension pneumothorax or you don't. Either you know the compatibility of IV phenytoin with D5LR containing 40 of KCl or you don't. And the only way you'll know that information is to learn it.

There were two students in my class who were accused of cheating on an Introduction to Nursing exam two years ago. As a result, ever since then my entire class is treated like a group of kindergartners. We have to leave our purses and bookbags at the front of the classroom during an exam. We have assigned seating. We have to sign an academic integrity statement at the beginning of each exam. We can't get up to go to the bathroom during an exam. We can't wear hats during the exam (I swear to God). All because two students were accused of cheating on one exam, one time.

Those two students have since been relegated to taking nothing but essay tests in rooms by themselves (which begs the question of why the rest of us are still treated the way we are) and are reportedly very close to failing out of the program. Color me unsurprised.

Oh fuck that shit, Trudy. An Honor Code is as insulting as a Vow of Allegiance to me. I think it's a complete abdication of ethical responsibility. I'd never let any institution dictate what my moral choices are. I'm sure there's a Firm Email Policy you had to sign to get hired that you haven't followed to the strict letter.

An honor code is closer to a firm's confidentiality statement, imho.

And, no, I don't use firm email for personal matters. (though I didn't sign anything that stringent here)

Booted from the class, or in some cases the university altogether? No, I'm sorry. Cheating is a serious matter, but I don't think zero tolerance is any more effective or fair in classrooms than it is in courts.

You know, they're all big talk, but it turns out quite often that kids who get kicked out end up back in (often because their parents threatened to sue).

Anyway, I see a continuum. Cheating on a lab report -- I agree, booted from the class seems on the harsh side, and kicked from the university probably too much (in most circumstances) -- especially since sometimes what's happened is slippage from discussing an assignment with their peers to working on it together to copying. But what about students who turn in term papers that are absolutely not their work?

I've been kicked out of a college for not following the code of conduct that I signed.

"Cheating is bad. Richard Basehart is good."