Honor Roll

The pressures on young people to get ahead are nowhere more evident than among the elite high school students of Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton. Thirteen top students at this high-ranking public school have been ousted from the National Honor Society for cheating in a philosophy course.

The school has had its share of tragedy and scandal in recent years, but there is no question that this is fundamentally a very good school. The students have acknowledged that they were wrong, according to school officials. But in the aftermath, some confusion is evident.

It was disturbing, for example, that one of the 13 said that his main concern was whether the incident would hurt his chances with three prestigious colleges that already had accepted him and that cheating on a homework assignment--the issue in question--was not as grave an offense as some others.

No doubt, there are gradations of severity of violation. But efforts to draw the distinction between homework and test situations and to suggest, as some have, that group homework assignments somehow create a gray area go only so far by way of explanation.

There may be room for mixed signals for the students on the intent of a particular assignment, but that ought to be easily addressed. On principle, it’s clear that it is one thing to submit a group report and quite another to submit work represented as the unique effort of individuals.

Academic honesty goes to the heart of belonging to a community of students and teachers. It was particularly disturbing to see that one student in the class, not involved in the incident, said that cheating had been going on at the school for a long time and that punishment was long overdue.

There are lessons here for all our high schools. Top administrators must redouble efforts to communicate the basic message of ethical conduct. Also, eliminate any confusion for teachers and students about what constitutes an individual homework submission and what would be acceptable as submission by a group.

This should be done early each year and ought to be promulgated in a prominent way, perhaps codified in a handy booklet so that all understand the rules and the expectations for student life. Make the effort to find the appropriate forums for addressing the issue of rampant pressure to get ahead. One student counselor at Sunny Hills High School noted that pressure did exist on campus even as she attested to the basic honesty and integrity of the students.

All the more reason for clear guidelines and for establishing that cheating in any form is wrong and will not be tolerated.