missing honor code

[centurion]

I agree with Caracal. This seems very draconian. And the fact that so few students did it suggests to me that you put the instructions in some place that was not obvious to the students. If you wanted them to do it you should have arranged the exam something like this:

1. Below is the text of the Honor Code. Copy this out in the following blank and sign it to show that you will abide by it. Any exam that does not include this will receive an F.
"I agree to abide by..." [etc.]


2. Solve the following equation...

[And so on.]

In fact, this is precisely how the exam looks.

[Caracal]

I agree with Caracal. This seems very draconian. And the fact that so few students did it suggests to me that you put the instructions in some place that was not obvious to the students. If you wanted them to do it you should have arranged the exam something like this:

1. Below is the text of the Honor Code. Copy this out in the following blank and sign it to show that you will abide by it. Any exam that does not include this will receive an F.
"I agree to abide by..." [etc.]


2. Solve the following equation...

[And so on.]

In fact, this is precisely how the exam looks.

So, that certainly should be clear enough. However, students often fail to follow pretty clear instructions in exams. A student who wasn't reading carefully could easily think that they don't need to copy the statement since you already have it there, or something silly along those lines. Of course you can take points off because students don't follow instructions, but giving a zero seems pretty punitive.

I tend to think that consequences for not following instructions should be natural ones. For example, I often give students two essay questions and tell them to choose one to write on. Inevitably, some students always do both. I don't take off any points, I just grade the first one on its merits and don't even look at the second answer. The punishment for not following the instructions is that you wasted your time and didn't focus as much on the essay I actually graded.

The problem here is that I can't even really see the logic behind requiring this in the first place, so its all artificial.

[the_geneticist]

Just grade their exams and don't agonize over this.  Having students copy the honor code or sign their name is meant as a deterrent to academic dishonesty, it's not a magic spell.
I have my students read the honor code & type their name as the first question on an online exam, but it's for 0 points. 

[downer]

Centurion, did you decide what to do yet? Presumably you have to decide soon, if you have not already.

[Caracal]

Just grade their exams and don't agonize over this.  Having students copy the honor code or sign their name is meant as a deterrent to academic dishonesty, it's not a magic spell.
I have my students read the honor code & type their name as the first question on an online exam, but it's for 0 points.

Yeah, just from a practical standpoint you could
a. Just grade the thing and not worry about it. or
b. Give them all zeros, deal with complaints, general ill will, possibly complaints to your chair etc.

There's no important principle to defend here that justifies dealing with all of that.

[bopper]

I would imagine the reason that students may be more honest when signing an honor code are the same when "eyes" are placed in an area...people feel they are being watched.

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/magazine/10section1C.t-3.html

[polly_mer]

In the real world, adults do not have to sign statements indicating intention of obeying the law.

Every training here ends with a statement to the effect that the signer will follow all the rules, unless it is unsafe to do so.

If you think you you haven't signed paperwork asserting you will follow all applicable laws, then you should read your paperwork more carefully.

[spork]

In the real world, adults do not have to sign statements indicating intention of obeying the law.

Every training here ends with a statement to the effect that the signer will follow all the rules, unless it is unsafe to do so.

If you think you you haven't signed paperwork asserting you will follow all applicable laws, then you should read your paperwork more carefully.

Here are two other real-world examples:

When I worked for a federal law enforcement agency, there were signed commitments to not only follow the law, but to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. The signed contracts with my current employer include reference to abiding by all university policies, which include obeying the law and not engaging in behaviors that the university defines as moral turpitude.

So maybe your real-world is different from mine.

[Ruralguy]

We have a number of these statements embedded in bylaws, FHB, and EHB. If you sign your contract, you agree to abide by these documents, and the catalog, student rule book, etc.. Not every school has that precise stipulation, but most have something like that.

[Hegemony]

However usual it may be in general life (and if one is not aware of it, it's not that great an analogy with this situation) — however usual it may be in general life, on exams it's not usual to be required to copy over the Honor Code, so I'm not surprised that students somehow failed to understand or whatever. If I were a student, I'd be baffled too. And presumably the point of the exam is to show whether the material has been learned, not to get students to copy over the Honor Code. So failing them for not copying it defeats the purpose of having an exam in the class. If I were a student, I'd definitely complain if I were given an F for this one pickayune requirement. And if I were the department chair that the student complained to, first I'd try to explain to the prof why this is a faulty assessment tool, and then I'd tell the faculty member to stop putting this all-or-nothing requirement on exams and to grade these for content knowledge, not for success in copying a paragraph. There is no correlation between copying the paragraph and not cheating; cheaters could easily copy the paragraph, and honest student could fail to.

[Ruralguy]

I'd rather not get into my own experiences with this issue, but it's really highly school dependent.

In any case, I tend to agree that an F (worse, a 0) is really extreme just for not copying the Honor Code.
Plus, you really weren't clear that it would be a zero. I'd try to get a handle on the school norm and do that.

[kaysixteen]

Granted that some law-enforcement jobs have some things similar to this, and perhaps some other jobs-- that dawned on me when I was writing this last night, I ask again, and perhaps more bluntly, what exactly would be the point of requiring this affirmation on a test, and failing (or even substantively sanctioning) a student who disobeys, other than to buttress one's ego and rebuke a kid who defied, or even just forgot, to obey one's arbitrary stupid rule?

[Ruralguy]

It might be required or highly encouraged by the school, though perhaps with little enforcement (or maybe a ton of enforcement).

That doesn't explain the philosophical  "why" , just the practical.

[downer]

Granted that some law-enforcement jobs have some things similar to this, and perhaps some other jobs-- that dawned on me when I was writing this last night, I ask again, and perhaps more bluntly, what exactly would be the point of requiring this affirmation on a test, and failing (or even substantively sanctioning) a student who disobeys, other than to buttress one's ego and rebuke a kid who defied, or even just forgot, to obey one's arbitrary stupid rule?

Why should it be about ego? Rules are rules. This rule was a perfectly reasonable one.

A great deal of college is about filtering out students who are not good at following arbitrary rules, and rewarding those who are good with them.

I just did my taxes. If that isn't a bunch of arbitrary rules, I don't know what is.

[Langue_doc]

We're required to include the honor code in the syllabus and have someone read it aloud on the first day of class. We are also required to report all instances of academic dishonesty.

After a rash of "copying" this semester, I will be including the honor code for all assignments followed by a sentence stating that submitting the assignment indicates that the student has read and understood the honor code and is aware of the consequences.

This will certainly deter some instances of plagiarism. I had to include this sentence for some of the assignments in one of my courses last semester because one of the students had submitted a very polished essay that was clearly written by someone else. Although this didn't deter the student from submitting more of what I suspected were "bought" assignments, Stu lost points because the assignments didn't meet some of the requirements.

OP, talk to your colleagues and/or your chair to see how you should proceed.