O'Neal Honor Code Assemblies Held
Students and faculty in Upper and Middle School divisions attended separate assemblies to learn more about the School’s honor code on Wednesday, August 26th.
Middle School Director David Williamson reflected on what honor really meant to him by way of positive student actions and behavior. He says, “Honor means having honesty, fairness, and integrity in all your actions. It is the most valuable currency we have as humans, the currency of relationships. It is how we judge the quality of the people around us.” The Honor Code was read by eighth grade student Sam Henry, followed by a signing ceremony where the lists of signatures are posted on display under the Honor Code in the Middle School for the rest of the year. “ I was impressed with the way in which our students conducted themselves during the signing ceremony,” states Williamson. “I asked that they use this time to reflect on what honor means to them while the signatures were being taken and you could truly see that they were doing just that. Our honor code is taken very seriously at O’Neal, and the students demonstrated their value and understanding on what it represents.”
The Upper School assembly followed, with Honor Council Advisor Michael Norman presiding. He addressed the students on O’Neal’s Honor Code and states, “The O’Neal experience is based on mutual respect and personal integrity and ours is a community in which all members are expected to honor the rights of others, to conduct themselves in a moral and decent manner, and to see this responsibility as an integral part of their lives as citizens of the School and equally importantly of the world at large.” Students then recited the honor code. To end the ceremony, all students filed on stage to place a card stating the Honor Code with their signature into a basket.
The goal of O’Neal’s Honor Code includes five tenets:
- To support, in individual students, the further development of integrity, responsibility, and accountability in both academic and personal matters
- To instill a loyalty to The O'Neal School in the student body as a whole
- To assist in maintaining a high ethical climate in the Middle and Upper Schools
- To ensure that a student's work be his or her own and not that of another person
- To instill in students a constant awareness of the ramifications of their actions and the need not to place themselves in questionable situations or in circumstances which connote dishonest or unlawful acts.
Students are requested to abide by the following pledge as a personal commitment to the honor, integrity and high standards of the School:
- I shall be honest in all matters regarding the life of the School. My word may always be trusted.
- The work that I present will always be my own.
- I shall not seek unfair advantage over my fellow students by cheating or by plagiarizing.
The School’s honor code provides for a safe environment where lockers remain without locks. Students write “On my honor” on their tests, and quizzes indicating that the work is their own. Education on the definition of plagiarism is very strong and highly monitored.
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