Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-01-18
PRINCETON IS
PREPARING FOR
HONOR EXAMS
Today Marks Seventeenth An.
niversary of System Started
to Prevent "Cribbing."
Especial to the Newark star.l

Especial to the Newark Star.l
PRINCETON, Jan. 1S.-Today Is the
seventeenth anniversary of the instr
tuition of the honor system of holding
examipations at Princeton University.
and the midyear examinations begin
ming on the twenty-seventh of his
month will be the eighteenth held with
out faculty espionage of any sort.
During these years there has been no
question of the unqualified success OF
the practise, and it is believed that the
very few cases of cheating detected and
punished have been practically all that
ever took place.
81 pledge my honor as a gentleman
tina during this examination, / have
neither given nor received assistance"
That pledge, with the signature of the
student taking the examination, has
taken the place of the old system of
having professors keep watch during
tests. 1t applies to every examination
taken by a student after his matricu-
lation, but, of course, not to entrance
examinations, taken before matricula-
ton.
Princeton men consider themselves
under the obligation to report any
cheating hat might come under their
observation in an examination. trial
of the accused is held by an under
graduat committee, and a verdict OF
guilty results in the offenders having
the privilege of withdrawing from the
university within t~wenty-four hours
or appealing to the faculty for a review
of the decision.
system Changed in 1898.
In 1898, when the system was inau-
gurated, there was a strong sentiment
among the students against the mode
Of conducting examinations then pre-
vailing. Not only was the practise OF
watching to prevent and detect cheat
ing keenly felt, but the hame of the
existing state of affairs was considered
highly derogatory to the moral stand
ards Of the students themselves.
Thu students suggested to the faculty
that examinations be conducted along
lines imilar to those in the University
of Virginia, and on January Is. 1893. the
faculty adopted a resolution which rec
ognized the ~repugnance of the students
for cheating and their desire to have
the examinations so conducted that
they would be put on their honor as
gentlemen not to cheat. The resolution
a .lished the pledge.
~ w. Il a ptolC0oOt IL III Lie IOOIll |
during a test 1t is only to answer ques-
tions that students may want to ask.
The men may leave the room, n even
the building, il they wish; their pledge |
gives them the utmost freedom. For in.
stance, two years ago there was a
student who could not be examined at
the stated time with his class. SO the
professor allowed him to leave town
during the day, come in at night and
take the examination all by himself in
the library. The student remained
away from his club, where the exami-
nation was a topic of conversation, and
took other precautions that no knowl-
edge of the questions or the nature of
the test might reach him in advance.
An Instant Success.
The system was put into effect at the
midyear examination in 1893, and it
met with instant success. The under
graduates held an enthusiastic mass
meeting that night, indorsing the action
of the faculty and accepting the re-
sponsibility.
The development of the system was
Immediate and strong. The president
of each class and two additional upper
classmen We're elected by the under
graduate body to constitute a commit
tee which was to receive reports of
detected cheating and to try the &C.
cused. The broadcast Interpretation of
the letter of the pledge is made at these
trials, so that no name OF subterfuge
or equivocation can acquit a man who
violates the spirit of his promise. The
stigma of the tale-bearer Is not put
upon the man who reports even his
best friend for a violation OF the honor
system, because cheating is looked upon
as an assault upon the honor of the
undergraduate body and a deliberate
and distinct injury to the universIty9
The result has been that cheating Is
far from the mind of the man taking
an examination. Some violations have
been detected, probably 80 per cent. of
all those that took place. but they have
, been very few and confined largely to
freshmen who did not realize the full
import of their responsibility and the
Nervousness of their offense The honor
system is an ideal lear to each indi-
vidual student, and 1t is a living ideal
held to with a zeal that brings it as
near to absolute perfection as any
human institution can come.