The two institutions are inseparably linked, a reality we must acknowledge to improve the Honor System.

The ongoing debate over what the Honor System is and should be, particularly as regards the Single Sanction, is an extension of broader discourse regarding the nature of society itself.

The progressive view frames society as a collective that should be organized to promote shared goals to engineer progression towards an improved social state. In this framework, individuals are judged only with reference to the collective and have no responsibility beyond that of the collective interest.

The conservative view holds that the individual is society’s basic unit, and that, as an organization of individuals, the structure of society should maximize individual freedom by promoting personal responsibility. It is upon this principle that the Honor System was founded.