Death of an Honor Code

"Proctoring was "a means of bad moral education," the author wrote. Treat students as presumptively dishonest, and some would become so; treat them as honorable, and they would learn to behave honorably. And so the editorial board suggested a different approach: "Let every man write at the end of his paper a pledge that he has neither given nor received help, and let professors and tutors address themselves to some better business than watching for fraud.""

"When students take their final exams, professors leave the room. Students write down a pledge not to cheat. They are expected to report anyone who does. Any student accused of impropriety comes before a jury of their peers. The Honor Code had a good run. F. Scott Fitzgerald (who enrolled at Princeton in 1913 but did not graduate) once wrote that violating it "simply doesn't occur to you, any more than it would occur to you to rifle your roommate's pocketbook.""

"The code lasted through two world wars, the upheaval of the 1960s, the disillusionment of Watergate, and even the rise of search engines and SparkNotes. It finally met its match in generative AI. Yesterday, after the rise of AI-facilitated cheating became too obvious to ignore, Princeton's faculty voted to begin proctoring exams again. Technically, the Honor Code is still in place. Students will still sign a pledge that they didn't cheat. But now professors will be watching to make sure they're telling the truth. The Honor Code can't run on the honor system anymore."

In 1876, Princeton’s campus newspaper opposed proctors for exams, arguing that monitoring teaches bad morals by treating students as dishonest. The proposed alternative required students to pledge they neither gave nor received help, while professors and tutors focused on instruction rather than watching for fraud. This approach later became Princeton’s Honor Code, adopted in 1893 and largely maintained for more than a century. During final exams, professors leave the room, students sign a pledge not to cheat, and students are expected to report violations. Accused students face a jury of peers. The Honor Code persisted through major historical and cultural changes, but generative AI made cheating too difficult to ignore, prompting faculty to restart proctoring while retaining the pledge requirement.

Read at The Atlantic