There are a lot of things that make Davidson unique and special, but the honor code is one of the most amazing parts of that. I could list the reasons forever probably but here are some of the top ones:
Study time
Raise your hand if you spent many a high school lunch period cramming for an afternoon test. Raise your hand if you spent many a high school lunch period after a test in your morning class cursing your friends in the afternoon section who had more time to study. While admittedly I have started plenty of Davidson tests wishing I had more time to study, the ability to close the book and start the test when you feel ready—or as close to ready as you reasonably can—is a huge help.
Convenience
Every single time I fly to or from school, my love of the honor code is renewed. Why? Because I’m trying to cram my overstuffed backpack full of the homework that I promise myself I will do and then don’t do and my overstuffed duffel full of things that I definitely don’t need into the teeny tiny bathroom stall with me because if the thieves don’t get my stuff, TSA will since they make that PA announcement about the unattended bags every 10 minutes and there’s only one hook on the door and everything is cramped and terrible. Seriously, the ability to leave your laptop charging, your wallet out, your phone on the table is such a luxury.
Your pace, your space
I happen to be a homebody. I do better in my bed or on my couch where anything I might need is at my fingertips. I am also really really not a morning person. Being able to do things in the time and space that’s best for me is huge.
What it means for professors
So many Davidson professors love it here because of us—the bright-eyed bushy-tailed (read: bleary-eyed, caffeine guzzling) students they get to teach. And I think a huge part of that is the honor code. Professors know that we are signing up to actually learn their material to the best of our ability, not receive an A by whatever means necessary, and I really believe that trust creates a special rapport and respect. It’s also good for the professors. They don’t want to have to spend hours of their lives staring at us all in a silent room to make sure we aren’t cheating on exams and lets them do fun things like grade our exams in a better mood.
Self-scheduled finals
First of all, you can structure things the way you like: some people like to get the easiest stuff out of the way so they can focus on the hard stuff, some people like to get the hard stuff off their plate as fast as possible so that they can devote attention to the easy stuff. The ability to do you is a luxury. Second of all: you can pace yourself. At some schools you can end up with four finals in two days and that’s just tough luck because that is when the exam is being given. The ability to build some breathing room into our schedule if we need it, or just power through and finish our exams early, is huge. Third of all, study buddies: One of my very favorite things about the self-scheduled finals system is that your friends have the same flexibility you do. You can decide together that you’re going to spend certain nights studying in a group—less productive in terms of knowledge gained, more productive in terms of sanity preserved. Or you can take two hours off and watch a movie. Definitely not the move the night before a test, but since everyone gets to decide when the night before a test is for them, you can actually maintain your sanity and, dare I say it, even find an hour or two of fun during finals.