By Dr. Robert Bruce, Faculty Sponsor of the Upper School Honor Committee
This article first appeared in the Spring 2015 edition of the Window Magazine.
It's 2 AM and my eyes open wide as I strain to make out the dark ceiling above me. I know it's not jet lag waking me up because I overcame that the night before. Flicking on the bedside light and grabbing my pen and notepad, I furiously race to record a flurry of ideas and facts gleaned earlier in the day before they permanently escape me. I've just finished the second day of the Honor Systems Conference at Campbell Hall School and Day 3 of the conference is approaching fast. After that I am to visit Harvard-Westlake School and The Webb Schools to learn about their Upper School Honor Code and Honor Committee programs. The aim, then, is to discuss and learn the best ways to implement and maintain Honor Code and Honor Committee programs, for which I am the TAS upper school faculty sponsor.
Character Education at TAS
One of the major endeavors undertaken by Taipei American School in the past several years has been to create and integrate a KA-12 Character Education program into the learning experience at all three divisional levels. The results have been truly worth celebrating. From the beginning of KA to Grade 12, students are actively taught about and encouraged to explore the five TAS Values – Kindness, Honesty, Respect, Responsibility, and Courage – that serve as the bedrock of our school. The ultimate goal of this process is to ensure that our students develop habits of the heart rooted in a strong moral foundation and a steadfast commitment to character both in their own lives and in the world at large.
At the center of this Character Education program in all three divisions now stand two key pillars: (1) a character-focused document that every single student signs affirming his or her commitment to the five TAS Values, and (2) a dedicated student organization that is charged with promoting the five TAS Values to the wider student divisional body. In the upper school, these pillars are embodied by an Honor Code and an Honor Committee.
First, it is essential for all students KA-12 to sign a document such as an honor code because this makes the TAS Values personal to each and every student and encourages students to uphold the highest ethical standards in their lives. An Honor Code serves as a positive force in allowing the TAS Values to become concrete for all students. Furthermore, when students sign an Honor Code they not only personally commit themselves to upholding the TAS Values, but also state their expectation that other students do so as well. And so it binds the entire student body together as a group and leads to a better school. In the end, we all benefit by being part of a community that strives to uphold the highest ethical standards.
Second, it is essential to have a dedicated student organization that promotes the TAS Values to the wider student divisional body in a myriad of ways. While a Character Education program requires participation from all school stakeholders, the core of a truly successful program must be based on student ownership and leadership. This mandate becomes even more essential once students reach Upper School and begin to actively question, confront, and probe what character really means. The bottom line is that while adults must guide and educate students, it is the students' responsibility to learn truly about character and instill it into their own lives.
The Prototypical Honor System at Independent Schools
The Honor Systems Conference I attended at Campbell Hall in Los Angeles brought together faculty from twelve independent high schools, from Harker School in San Jose to The Hill School in suburban Philadelphia, to discuss strategies for implementing and maintaining the best Honor Code and Honor Committee programs. In addition, I had the privilege of visiting Harvard-Westlake School and The Webb Schools afterwards to learn about their own Character Education programs. What emerged from this trip was a singular theme: while some variations do exist, the vast majority of independent high schools in the United States with an Honor Code and Honor Committee follow the same standard format.
With respect to the Honor Code, the typical high school format consists of:
- An Honor Code that students sign in a single book. This book is typically shelved and not displayed for public viewing.
- Students sign the Honor Code only once - either in their freshman year or otherwise upon entering high school as a new student.
- A Values Pledge that is often signed by all students on each assessment, stating that the student has neither given nor received any unauthorized help.
- Estimates by schools indicate that often a majority of students typically aren't closely familiar with what the Honor Code says. This flows from the fact that students sign it only once in their freshman year.
- With respect to the Honor Committee, the typical high school format consists of:
- An Honor Committee with a dual mandate to: (1) hear student violations of the Honor Code in a court-like setting and recommend disciplinary action, and (2) educate the student body about the importance of character.
- In reality, the second mandate is rarely practiced, and instead the first one becomes the exclusive mission of the Honor Committee. The Honor Committee is thus better described as an "Honor Court" that serves a purely disciplinary function to hear cases of student violations of the Honor Code and recommend punishment to high school administrators.
The student body at large often supports the decisions of the Honor Court, but nevertheless commonly views the student members on the Honor Court as the "bad guys." Students who serve on Honor Committees in the United States report being labeled as "narcs" and "fascists" by their peers. Students at one school in Southern California bemoaned the fact that once they serve on their Honor Committee, they are socially ostracized by the wider student body.
The Upper School Honor Code and Committee at TAS
Given the above Honor Committee structure for high schools in the United States, it comes as no surprise that a budding trend among United States high schools is to try to find a way to actively pursue the second mandate of an Honor Committee, namely to educate the student body about the importance of character. Schools have indicated some level of frustration with a lack of time to positively educate their students on character, and feel sometimes as if their Honor Committees have become factory-like bodies churning out case after case of Honor Code violations.
At TAS, the Upper School Honor Committee is very fortunate to have a single mandate, namely to promote the five TAS Values and the Honor Code to the upper school student body. The Committee is self-run and self-governed by twelve students who undergo a highly rigorous selection process with input from students, faculty, and administrators. The emphasis is on student ownership and leadership of Character Education in the upper school. To achieve this, the Honor Committee undertakes an ambitious agenda each school year.
Activities include:
- An Honor Code Assembly in the Fall where all students are introduced to the Honor Code and the Honor Committee members, with an emphasis on why character is important;
- A series of Honor Code Signing Ceremonies at each grade level in the fall, where all students sign the Honor Code. In addition, each student receives an Honor Code pen to take with them as a reminder of the ceremony. The dress code is formal for students at these ceremonies as a reminder of the importance of what signing the Honor Code means, and it is only one of two times during the school year when upper school students are asked to dress up (the other time being the Awards Assembly at the end of the school year);
- Two series of student-led advisor groups (one in the fall and one in the spring), where Honor Committee members lead groups of students in activities designed to generate discussion and ideas about the TAS Values and character;
- The Gratitude Project in the fall, where the Honor Committee members lead students in writing thank-you letters to any adult at TAS who has made a meaningful impact on their life. This year, over 400 such letters by upper school students were distributed by the Honor Committee throughout TAS, thanking staff members, teachers, and administrators for the wonderful service they provide to our school;
- A bulletin board prominently located on the second floor of the D-block as a platform to illustrate character issues. This year, a "Person of the Month" from the news has been featured each month as a role model of character in action;
- The Speaker Series in the spring, where both faculty members and students are invited to speak about current events topics designed to show students that the five TAS Values apply not only here at TAS but also in the world at large. Past topics have ranged from the financial crisisof 2008 to Jeremy Lin to bullying. This year's current topics include responsibility in learning and music as a vehicle for social change;
- And surveys of the upper school student body in the spring to elicit feedback on what character issues most concern students and how the Honor Committee is doing as a student organization. These results are then shared with the wider student body.
Two years ago, the Honor Committee voted to add Courage as a part of the Upper School Honor Code, and then made a presentation to the full TAS Administration requesting that Courage be added schoolwide as a new TAS Value. As a result of this action, Courage has now become the official 5th Value at TAS at all divisional levels KA-12.
As a flexible and dynamic student body, the Honor Committee continually explores new ways to promote the Honor Code and TAS Values to the upper school student body. Indeed, I came away from the Honor Systems Conference and school visits with a range of new ideas for future activities that I have since passed on to the Honor Committee students for their consideration.
In addition to all of the information and ideas gathered on my trip, two main conclusions resonate: (1) we have much to celebrate at all divisions concerning our Character Education efforts here at TAS—we indeed have a phenomenal KA-12 program; and (2) in the Upper School, the Honor Committee is quite fortunate to have the freedom and time to focus exclusively on promoting character to the student body. And this indeed is what Character Education is really all about.