SIR: Last Sunday I listened to the Philo-sponsored panel discussion about the DC system. One of the most-discussed issues was whether honesty should be rewarded in the disciplinary system. I feel that truth is an ideal so deeply engrained in the human spirit that to question its value by implying that it should be anything less than expected is unfathomable. Seemingly, the most powerful argument for a positive incentive is that of practicality. The opinion among the students seems to be that a significant number of people manage to avoid disciplinary action by simply lying their way through a DC. Whether or not this is true, those that do avoid the truth have to live with that decision for the rest of their lives knowing that any future success was built on a lie. That should be the incentive. I was shocked and ashamed when the students in the room applauded the notion that we not be expected to tell the truth because we are young and it is “difficult.” The most valuable lessons of life are difficult. We are here because we strive to distinguish ourselves, but how can one do that without difficulty? We strive for excellence academically, athletically, and artistically, but what about ethically? Part of the education that we get here at Andover is how to enter the real world as morally upstanding members of society. To treat truth, perhaps the most important value in any academic institution, as something that should be rewarded and not expected defies what is arguably the central purpose of this Academy. I fervently hope that we are not the generation that abandons the inherent value of truth. Sincerely, Max Parsons ’06
