I have been meeting with 7th grade students and discussing the idea of creating an honor code here at McDowell as an extension of our BRAVE program. We looked at codes from other schools, such as “students will not participate in lying, cheating, or stealing, and will not tolerate those actions in others.” Some of the students have created analogies to try to think about what an honor code could do for McDowell. A couple of favorites include “an honor code would be to McDowell what trees are to monkeys.” At first I wasn’t sure about that one, but the students were able to explain that the monkeys can get where they are going faster and safer using trees. That was great! Another group came up with the comparison of wedding vows to a marriage. Those are the moments when an educator loves what she is doing:) What would you include in an honor code?
