The Honor System

The most important element of the Carlbrook philosophy is the school's adherence to the concept of Honor, which the school defines as follows:

If conscience is the repository of the core values that guide our lives and help us define ourselves, Honor is the reconciliation of our conduct with those values. Honor is the necessary precursor of positive perception of oneself; it is the foundation upon which we assemble character and construct our lives.

Honor can thus be seen as a single, overarching concept that incorporates all of the values fundamental to the school's mission. Through its emphasis on the importance of Honor, Carlbrook addresses motivational, personal and educational deficits and seeks to equip students with the fundamental skills required to meet rigorous academic and interpersonal demands. Honor thus acts as a recurring theme or motif through which the school's academic and personal development curricula are delivered, and its various contextual components, e.g. honesty, courage, integrity, persistence, provide the substantive basis for all student seminars and conferences. Because such attributes are considered by the school to be essential to the stability and continued growth of each individual, the Honor ideal constitutes the guiding principle of a Carlbrook education and impacts every aspect of life at the school.

Consistent with this philosophy, the school avoids reliance on rules to establish acceptable standards of student conduct and instead insists that all students adhere to the school's Honor Code. This Code is continually refined and monitored by the Honor Council - consisting of both students and faculty - which acts to encourage the incorporation of character and personal responsibility in the lives of all students.