<p>Don’t take what I say as a stricture on the school so much as a censure of the honor system.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be any more worried about your son going to Caltech as I would with him going off to any other school. Academic dishonesty will rear its head wherever you go, whether it be Annapolis (see the 1994 scandal) or your local community college. Personal experience and a firm grounding in reality have made me of the opinion that the ‘honor system’ is fatally flawed and students would be much better off taking in-class exams proctored by the professor or TA. Caltech students would never have that though as they are quite obstinate with regards to the freedoms afforded them by the honor code.</p>
<p>In the end if you’re a good student you’ll get to where you want to be, irrespective of the actions of others. That said if you’re willing to sacrifice a bit of your own integrity you can get to where you want to be whilst putting forth a lot less effort - and Tech makes it easy to do so.</p>
<p>Cheating occurs at Tech probably no more or no less than at other top schools. I happen to simply find the system ridiculous however. Cheating is made easier simply so people have have a few frivolities that they tend to massively overvalue. It’s not an epidemic - but it’s an issue.</p>