Knightly News

Honor Council President Carter McLean spoke recently at the Honor Code signing ceremony in the Chapel. Read the perspective he shared with classmates.

Hi everyone, I’m Carter McLean, your Honor Council President for this year. This is my first address to the student body and I hope to set the tone for the year. 

People who have been here for a while, and even our newer students and 9th graders, have heard so many descriptions and catchphrases about the Honor Code. You’ve all heard that the Honor Code is the core of our lives here and it is extremely important, but I feel that all the repetition actually devalues the Honor Code and makes it seem a bit superficial. Everyone knows not to cheat, sure, but I can’t honestly expect everyone to walk around even remotely worried about it on a daily basis. I’d argue that people often see this veneer but don't truly understand how deep its true principles run at Episcopal. 

Over the years, the Honor Council and the Code have created social norms that are now permanent and rooted in our school’s culture. It’s the standard here that everyone puts continuous effort into academics, sports, and the arts without taking the easy way out. Having gone here for all four years of high school, I also see that people are generally friendly and inviting towards each other, always helping each other out when someone is in a bad spot. I attribute most of this not towards chance but because the Honor Code allows us to better live together.

As a student body, we see each other a lot. We are at Episcopal for eight hours a day, and eleven or more for people in sports, meaning over 60% of our time awake is spent at Episcopal. That’s a great deal of togetherness to be with the same student body and teachers everyday: I did the math and I’m around Akshay, Sacha, and Alex more than my family some days because we have all the same classes and cross country together. This could get exhausting, but we continue to maintain a healthy school community. 

An example that illustrates this connection between rules like the Honor Code and their benefits comes from the book of Exodus when Moses liberated the Israelites from Egypt and gave them the Ten Commandments. Exodus 19 reads: 

Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, ”This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

In this verse, God explains to Moses how to maintain religion and a coherent, functioning society with people who have been in captivity their whole lives and are suddenly in complete freedom. This more so applies to the new 9th graders coming here out of middle school because moving up to high school is a significant transition. While not as extreme as the example from Exodus, you now have much more responsibility and have to be willing to follow a few rules to maintain our school’s culture. Like the Ten Commandments, the Honor Code does not micromanage every action you do with punishments for every scenario—the essence of it is that the act of upholding them is what creates a morally strong society.

I’ll admit to recognizing that this is something I should have focused on more last year with the Honor Council: not talking so much about punishments and the consequences for academic dishonesty, but what good will come out of being honest about your work.

I touched on this earlier, but one major example of the school already living together honorably is the backpacks we leave outside. Students always leave our bags outside, but there’s an unspoken rule that nobody messes with someone else’s stuff. Like, if they really wanted to, someone could steal my money, phone, spikes, calculator, laptop, and keys from my bag at any break during the day, but I have no fear of that happening. I feel that this underlying level of trust contributes to us getting along with each other regardless of grade or who our friends are. 

Also, the Honor Code gives a sense of accountability to the student body. When someone cheats, it’s a council of their peers that meet with them and decide the consequences. Also, when there’s occasional cases of disrespect to the school community (like vandalizing the bathrooms or disrespecting the cafeteria or school events), I’ve noticed that students are harder on each other than the administration—I heard people telling each other sternly to grow up, to stop being childish, and to show more respect to our cafeteria and cleaning staff who do a lot of work for our school. 

It’s important at the beginning of this year to keep in mind how much tradition Episcopal has of keeping a morally strong school culture, and how that allows us to have more freedoms because we can be trusted to do the right thing. Respecting each other and having character is the glue that keeps us together, so remember to stay honorable and accountable.

Carter McLean serves as the Honor Council and National Honor Society presidents as well as a Student Vestry member for Episcopal School of Baton Rouge. He is a senior who has attended Episcopal for all four years of high school, and enjoys participating in the Cross Country and Track and Field programs as well as Quiz Bowl. This year, he completed summer research at LSU as a member of the school’s ESTAAR (Episcopal Students Taking Advanced Action in Research) program. 

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