A Case Study On The Honor System Of The University Of Virginia

The honor system is a kind of contract that the University of Virginia regulates the students' academic behavior and promotes the mutual trust among the university personnel.It is a credit system that the students commit themselves to the university.It reflects the tradition of students' autonomy and self-management,involves all aspects of campus life.The core idea is: others have full trust in you,and you are fully responsible for your actions.The honor system is the most important system of the University of Virginia.It is also regarded as the foundation of the University of Virginia and has become one of the characteristic systems of American universities.The study of the honor system of the University of Virginia and its characteristics can provide some inspirations for the university to better undertake the mission of fostering morality and cultivating people.The research questions of this thesis include: What development stages did the University of Virginia experience after the establishment of the honor system? What are the rules,and how have they been revised? What are the characteristics of the organizational structure and implementation procedures of the honor system? What are the inspirations for the establishment of Chinese university to foster morality and cultivating people?Research shows that Jefferson's educational philosophy is the ideological foundation of the honor system of the University of Virginia.The honor system was created at 1842 to address teacher student tensions and student cheating on exams.Since then,the use of honor system has been expanding.To the end of the 19 th century,it has been widely used in the classroom and outside,but there is no formal complaint procedures.In the 20 th century,the honor system has gradually become themost important system standard of the University of Virginia,influencing every aspect of students' study,life and social practice.Its organizational structure is also improving day by day,the content of the rules is constantly revised,the system is increasingly complete.Since the 21 st century,in order to solve the students' claims and the problems of the single sanction,the honor system has been reformed,and the Informed Retraction and the multiple sanction have been incorporated into the Honor Committee Constitution.Since its establishment,the honor system has been managed by students themselves,and its organizational structure includes Honor Committee,Standing Sub-Committees,Standards Panel and Support Officers.The safeguard measures of the honor system include setting the standard of violation,signing the honor pledge,making the regulations of academic integrity and giving full play to the important role of teachers in the honor system.In order to encourage self-reflection among students,the Honor Committee has developed the Informed Retraction policy.The implementation procedure of honor cases is serious and fair,and is divided into four stages: report,investigation,hearing and appeal,including the beginning,the establishment of a special Investigation Panel,the hearing on Contributory Health Impairment,the establishment of a trial panel,pre-trial preparatory meeting,the hearing of the trial and the guilty verdicts(appeal).Honor Advisors,investigators,Investigation Panel and trial panel all play an important role in it.There are no exceptions to the honor system.The Honor Committee handles about 40-60 honor cases every year,which plays an important role in maintaining the honor system.The honor system of the University of Virginia is characterized by: first,a long history and far-reaching impact;second,student autonomy and mutual trust;third,a complete system and strict punishment.The enlightenment of the honor system of the University of Virginia for our universities to better undertake the mission of fostering morality and cultivating people is as follows: first,to create a mutual trust education environment;second,to improve the relevant organizations;third,to formulate concrete and feasible system regulations;fourth,set up a complete implementation procedures;fifth,the implementation of student self-management.