But still no to Novalis: I, for one, never read licences. I don't know what they say, and I'll generally use the product however I want regardless. Generally this is just normal use, of course. They're exactly equivalent to my saying that I agree to be bound by a certain set of rules, and I agree that enforcing the agreement is identical to enforcing the rules.
HOWEVER, what is NOT true is that the agreement carries the same moral weight as the rules. The agreement in this case says that we, the school, trust that you will be honest. We won't look over your shoulder while you're taking tests. You can take the test during any four-hour period, and we trust that you will not look at forbidden resources or talk to people about the test during that period. You'll be in your own room, or the library, or anywhere, really, so we won't even see you. BUT if we find out that you cheated, you'll be punished.
That's the honor code at Caltech, if I remember correctly. But see, you're given complete freedom, and it would be very easy to just mathworld the theorem you forgot on the math test. What's to keep people from doing it? Nobody would find out, seriously. Nobody at all. And yet, it works. Why? Because people are trusted to conduct themselves honestly. There's faith in the system. Whether to cheat isn't a question of how you can avoid getting caught, it's whether you would violate your professor's trust in this way. I think it's much stronger among the right group of people.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-11 10:48 pm (UTC)But still no to Novalis: I, for one, never read licences. I don't know what they say, and I'll generally use the product however I want regardless. Generally this is just normal use, of course. They're exactly equivalent to my saying that I agree to be bound by a certain set of rules, and I agree that enforcing the agreement is identical to enforcing the rules.
HOWEVER, what is NOT true is that the agreement carries the same moral weight as the rules. The agreement in this case says that we, the school, trust that you will be honest. We won't look over your shoulder while you're taking tests. You can take the test during any four-hour period, and we trust that you will not look at forbidden resources or talk to people about the test during that period. You'll be in your own room, or the library, or anywhere, really, so we won't even see you. BUT if we find out that you cheated, you'll be punished.
That's the honor code at Caltech, if I remember correctly. But see, you're given complete freedom, and it would be very easy to just mathworld the theorem you forgot on the math test. What's to keep people from doing it? Nobody would find out, seriously. Nobody at all. And yet, it works. Why? Because people are trusted to conduct themselves honestly. There's faith in the system. Whether to cheat isn't a question of how you can avoid getting caught, it's whether you would violate your professor's trust in this way. I think it's much stronger among the right group of people.