It’s finals week and there’s something unusual I’ve noticed about the way Stanford does exams. Most schools have something called the “Honor Code” that tells students they shouldn’t cheat on their tests and papers. Here at Stanford, the teaching staff participates in the Honor Code by not being present for exams. Once an exam starts, the TAs and professors are forced to leave the rooms (kinda like what they do during evaluations) and have to hang out in the hall for a few hours until the test is over. It all seems kinda silly and counter-intuitive to me. I suppose they believe this practice makes the students say “Oh they trust me so much, I should do my best to make them proud and not cheat.” I wonder if this practice has actually lowered the number of violations.