A Community with Honor Anonymous

"What's honor?" The student's voice was careless and lazy, punctuated with a shrug of his shoulder. He asked the question without expecting a response, dismissing the very idea. "That doesn't exist here anymore."

It hurt me to hear one of my classmates deride the system that I'd come to love and respect-the Honor System at my small, private school. The Honor system had, after all, made the suspicion and surveillance cameras of public school a distant, dreaded memory. After coming to Athens Academy in 9th grade on a scholarship, I quickly became accustomed to the trust and openness of my new community and took the Honor System for granted...until my junior year of high school.

After the winter break of my junior year, I learned that countless students had cheated during the previous term's exams. Although only a few students were convicted of Honor Offenses, the administration took away everyone's privileges. In just a few days, the Athens Academy I knew and loved for the high expectations it had of its students disappeared. I felt like I was walking into a different school, and I knew nothing would change unless students took charge.

Determined to restore a sense of dignity to the...