Essay about Eric Hoovers Honor for Honors Sake - 933 Words

Eric Hoovers Honor for Honors Sake The idea of being judged by your peers has long been accepted as the best way of regulating a population. Even the Constitution uses a peer based judicial system when laying down the framework for the United States government. There are, however, some limits to when and where this system can be effectively implemented. Eric Hoover challenges the use of peer review in universities by telling the testimonials of several students who have been hurt by a system that has overstepped their bounds. The majority of the arguments made by Hoover in â€Å"Honor for Honor’s Sake† are pathos based arguments but they are closely entwined with fact. It is this combination of both logos and pathos that creates a†¦show more content†¦Some of the students accused quit the university before the trial; others were prosecuted and found guilty. There were some â€Å"insanity† pleas that caused those trials to run longer, and untimely allowed the students to go without p unishment. The students that were accused were not the only people that suffered because of the charges. The honor committee that was trying the cases had to juggle both an academic schedule and run a ridiculous amount of trials at the same time. Hoover points to different mass accusation that occurred at another university with an honor code. The only difference is that at the other school there were other options than just expulsion. The ability to have a lesser charge made some of the cases easier to prosecute, however there was still trouble prosecuting the large number of cases. Hoover’s use of testimonials convinces the reader on an emotional level. When ideals that are commonly held as true are put into question, it creates an emotion that can be used as a pathos argument. Hoover uses this technique to show how the honor code at some universities goes against commonly held ideals. Hoover says, â€Å"Some students have charged that the honor system is racially biased and excessively harsh. And lawyers have argued that accused students have no guarantee of due process in the secret trials, run by students who, though they may not even be old enough to drink, have the power to