My school:
The Vanderbilt Honor System was instituted in 1875 with the first final examinations administered by the University. Dean Madison Sarratt summarized the system as follows: "Let every individual who contemplates entering Vanderbilt University ask himself first this important question: Am I strong enough to give my word of honor and then live up to it in spite of every temptation that may arise? If you can answer this question in the affirmative, Vanderbilt University will welcome you and will promise the cooperation of every person here in helping you realize this ideal of integrity implied in your answer."
A student's personal integrity then, as now, was presumed to be sufficient assurance that in academic matters one did one's own work without unauthorized help from any other source.
Seat belts aren't only for the protection of the person wearing them. In the case of the driver, they keep the driver behind the wheel, giving him a better chance of steering the car.
I have skipped and skimmed like one of those little birds that flies an inch or two above the water, occasionally dipping down to scarf up and insect. I think that this is a real creature and not just an image my brain made up. Anyway, it appears that you have all been going on having lives and crises and triumphs while I was wrapped up in my own drama and not paying attention. Brackets and congratulations and compliments as they should be apportioned over the last, I-don't-even-know-how-long-it's-been.
My folks just got high-speed internet service, so i will most likely be around quite a bit more often. My goal for today is to not spend all day catching up on my internet addictions diversions, but achieve some progress in decreasing the entropy of my immediate environment. Achievable, but a challenge. A good goal.
Ooh, I can be on topic. My school had a very serious honor code that we discussed all the time among ourselves - what it covered, how best to handle violations, etc etc. We had non-proctored exams, collaborative homework, and take-home closed book timed exams. We were treated as adults. If anyone violated that code, the whole system wouldn't have worked, and damn straight that person would have been turned in if I knew about it. It appears (from what I have learned from reading alumni bulletins and suchlike) that the code has been watered down and there is more supervision of today's students. This makes me (a) very sad and (b) less likely to ever donate to my school. Also, going to grad schools in environments that did not have such honor codes was very weird to me - all the proctoring and different copies of the same exam distributed to the class to prevent cheating all made me feel like I was back in high school and that the whole experience of school was to be taken less seriously than when I was an undergrad.
Brenda, click here for a sample of the college font (free download if you need it ) [link]
the professor said "take it whenever you want to, it's closed book, take 3 hours, and make sure that it's in my mailbox by 5PM on the 15th"
Huh. Okay, maybe if all the tests were like that. It's just, most take-home tests I've ever taken were sort of explicitly open-book.
I was the fat girl in an urban public high school - the one everyone wants to sit next to in chem lab, and no one but other geeks will sit by at lunch. As a matter of self-preservation, I made no fuss about people who copied off my tests. Well, I did say no to someone who was polite enough to ask, once. But then when I turned in my test, he walked up to the teacher's desk, looked at my answers, then went back to his desk and put the answers on his test paper. What was the point of trying to fight that? Life was hard enough without making people hate me more. I wasn't pretty enough to have power in high school.
At college, things were different. I had more social status, more strength, and more power. In point of fact no one ever asked me in college for answers. To this day, I hate bullies who take advantage of smart, low-status kids in school, and I don't see much difference between those who do so at 16 years old, and those who do so at 20, or 25, or 37. Tell me again why these people deserve my loyalty, over my loyalty to my own hard work?
and will promise the cooperation of every person here
And did they mean it? Cause that's the thing -- if the teacher's too busy to help you, and you're falling behind and not understanding things and not getting any help, the temptation goes up pretty darn fast.
I'm leaving now, so you'll all have to handle this without me.
I know you're crushed.
I'm leaving now, so you'll all have to handle this without me.
Our (cheating) hearts will go on....
And did they mean it?
When I was there, I'd say they meant it. Of course, Madison Sarratt was still alive. It's amazing how a few strong personalities can shape a school.
Hellllllloooooooooooo, -t!
t /animaniacs
