According to a recent report, cheating among college and university students is on the rise. However, Groveton College has successfully reduced student cheating by adopting an honor code, which calls for students to agree not to cheat in their academic en

The argument claims that there is an increase in cheating instances in universities and adopting an honor code that is similar to one applied in Groveton College, which was successful, would be beneficial in dropping the number of cases. Stated in this way, the argument fails to provide a cogent case since the conclusion of it relies on assumptions for which there is no clear evidence. Hence, the argument is unconvincing and has several flaws.

First, the main statement the argument relies on is the honor code in Groveton is successful. However, the only information that is taken as the indicator of success of the honor code is the decline in the number of cases that are reported. There might be a surge in cheating among students even though these are not known by the university administration. In the previous system teachers were able to report the cases they suspected, but the current version relies on trusting students and expecting from them to inform the university board about other students who cheate. However, the students might not be willing to obey the honor code or snitch on their friends. Even if they are willing to do it, they might be oppressed by their fellow friends or afraid of being called as an informer. Consequently, the argument would be much clearer if it explicitly stated other evidences that prove the success of the honor code in reducing cheating.

Second, even if there is a decline in number of cheating instances, adopting the honor code might not be the reasons of this decrease. First, the argument provides that there is decline from 21 cases to 14 cases in four years. There might be a decrease in the number of students of Groveton College in these four years. Hence, it may be the reason of the decline in the number of cases. Moreover, the university administration might adopt severe punishments for cheating such as terminating the student’s relation with the college. If this is the case, students might avoid cheating in order to not to face with such serious consequences. As a result, the argument would be more convincing if it demonstrated clear connection between the decline in cheating cases and adopting the honor code.

Finally, the argument averts that according to a recent survey a majority of students reported that they are more likely to cheat without the honor code. Hence, the author concludes that adopting an honor code would be beneficial in reducing cheating in other colleges. This is again very weak and unsupported claim. Initially,even though it is explained that majority of students said in that way, there is no specific information regarding the scope of the survey. There might be only few students who participated to the survey. In addition, the questions that are asked in the survey is not specified. Researchers might choose questions that would lead the students to the conclusion researchers desire. Without detailed information about the reliability of the survey, adopting honor code would be successful in all colleges relies on more of wishful thinking rather than substantive evidence.

To sum up, the argument fails to provide a convincing case for the above-mentioned reasons. In order to assess the merits of a certain situation, it is essential to have full knowledge of all contributing factors. In that case, specific details that proves the success of honor code would be useful. Without this information, the argument remains open to debate.