The number of disciplinary actions has soared over the last few years and more students are getting in trouble for a variety of issues. Whether it’s cheating, vaping, or lying, students seem to be repeating the same mistakes despite administrative announcements and consequently harsh disciplinary actions. This rising trend in punishments and disciplinary actions shows that our current disciplinary system may not be the most effective way to eradicate these issues. This, perhaps, is most evident in cases involving academic dishonesty.
Often times after a student is punished for cheating they just find a better way to cheat. Grace Smith ‘19 echoes this, saying: “All cheating disciplinary cases have occurred after the fact, so students and their friends just analyze why they got caught and figure out a better way to cheat next time.” Smith continues: “Disciplinary actions don’t eliminate cheaters. They just make them better at it.”
A lot of infractions also are committed by younger students, who do not always have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes when given a harsh punishment. Additionally, while there are some mentorship programs available for students there is nothing that explicitly helps students who have been punished for a disciplinary infraction. Disciplinary member Harry Pusey ‘19 states, “= are a few cases where kids are just being silly and make a small mistakes where there is not much you can do. But for many cases, students do not have explicit resources to go to for help in order to prevent future problems.”
In order to avert more disciplinary scandals, it would be in Episcopal’s best interest to have a mentorship program, where students who go to disciplinary would have a character building program to help them better understand the mistake they made, as well as learn how to prevent any future instances. This type of program is currently issued at the Haverford School, where it is known by the Character Mentorship Program (CMP). Haverford School student Nick Chimicles ‘19, Vice-Chairman of the Honor Council, explains, “The CMP matches one mentor who guides and advices the person who broke the honor code. This mentor then meets with the him weekly to try and mend his character back to Haverford mood.” Additionally, as seen on Haverford’s website, the CMP works with the freshman class to discuss “topics of character decision-making, problem-solving, and healthy community lifestyles to help ensure a positive transition to the Upper School”
If we have our own mentorship program at Episcopal, they would be able to work with the freshman on character expectations, especially since these expectations differ from what these students were used to in middle school. Additionally, by having this kind of mentorship program, students will be able to better understand and learn from their past mistakes. Harry Pusey ‘19 mentioned the potential benefit he sees in such a program, “I can definitely think of certain cases where I felt that this kid could significantly benefit from some help. I feel like a program like CMP would be really beneficial for these kinds of students.” Eventually, this system would be beneficial for both the students and administrators. Students will be able to learn from their mistakes and, at the same time, administrators would be lowering the amount of disciplinary issues floating around on campus.