Oakton High Rolls Out New Honor Pledge

The Oakton High PTSA is asking its students, "Got Honor?"

The school rolled out its new Honor Pledge along with a new promotional campaign aimed at ending cheating during the student-run Cougar News on Thursday morning.

The focus on revamping the pledge came from a mixture of complaints from faculty about cheating and a concern from parents after viewing the documentary "Race to Nowhere," which highlights the pressure students nowadays feel to receive good grades and earn admission to top-notch colleges — and the lengths some will go to achieve them.

"We're looking to make a cultural shift, and that doesn't happen overnight," PTSA President Kirsten Rucker said. "It's in the best interest of the kids to understand how to work hard and what they're capable of. I think many kids who have taken the easy way out may surprise themselves if they really apply themselves."

Oakton High's PTSA formed a subcommittee, comprising faculty, parents and students, to take on the task of finding ways to clamp down on cheating. They first decided to rewrite the Honor Code, which they distributed to the school community last fall. Students and their parents had to sign it. 

An Oakton High graphics student designed a new Oakton Honor logo to be put on as many documents and posters around the school as possible, and graphics students are creating designs around famous quotations about honor and integrity, Rucker said.

Teachers conducted a survey among students which returned results that showed they acknowledged cheating as a problem at the school. 

The PTSA subcommittee then decided to work on a new Honor Pledge and promotional campaign. 

Teachers developed a lesson on honor, which they presented to their classes, then asked students to write a new pledge, offering a pizza party for the group who writes the chosen submission. 

The PTSA chose the one submitted by Brandon McCulla's seventh-period students, which reads, "Integrity far outweighs any grade I could receive because it is a true representation of my character. In order to respect myself, I pledge to only put forth work that is my own and will encourage my peers to do the same."

In a video during Cougar News on Thursday morning, students saw a behind-the-scenes footage of the photo shoot for the poster campaign that features standout students from various fields — academics, athletics, arts, etc. — with the slogan "Got Honor?" 

The PTSA contacted the California Milk Processor Board for permission to twist their popular slogan for their honor campaign. 

"We have a large portion of students who don't cheat and they get overshadowed by those who do cheat," said Margaret Sharkoffmadrid, an art teacher at the school who has helped the PTSA in the process. "So the posters help put a spotlight on just a few of the students who are doing the right thing."

The goal is to reshoot the posters with new students each year so that their fellow students will see faces they recognize on the posters.

"We want to have new faces and give kids the opportunity through their behavior to be on one of these," said Rucker, who hopes students will aspire to be a face of the campaign.

Oakton High will measure the success of the campaign by comparing the number of cheating incidents reported over the next few years. The PTSA and administrators will also rely on the teachers to report whether policing the classroom has become less of a problem.

"We want honor to be talked about as much as possible," Rucker said. "We're encouraging teachers to talk about honor in the classrooms, whether it's behavior on tests or just put some element of it in lessons, so that it's constant."