INTRODUCTION
Honor societies represent a rich tradition
in the history of higher education. True honor societies exist to
recognize and promote excellence in academic accomplishment. Whether
individual societies service a broad spectrum of academic disciplines or
only a single, specific academic major, their overall purpose is to
encourage and recognize students who have achieved a high level of
academic competence
and to promote excellence in the academic community. The
following entries give a varied perspective of the nature and purpose of
honor societies.
Association
OF
COLLEGE HONOR SOCIETIES
The Founding
The growth of the honor society movement since 1900 has been rapid and varied. Many
groups were of local campus significance only, while a number expanded to other colleges
and universities and sought to be recognized as national in scope. Their multiplicity, and
in many cases their duplication, low standards, and competition presented a burdensome
problem to students, faculty members, and administrators, as well as to college life
generally.
The association was founded in October 1925 by six charter member societies: Alpha
Omega Alpha (medicine), Order of the Coif (law), Phi Beta Kappa (liberal arts), Phi Kappa
Phi (all academic fields), Sigma Xi (science) and Tau Beta Pi (engineering).
The Association
The objective of the Association of College Honor Societies
(ACHS) is to encourage all
general and specialized honor societies to join forces for the establishment and
maintenance of desirable standards and useful functions in higher education, and for the
achievement of appropriate recognition of member societies of the Council of
ACHS.
The association acts as the coordinating agency for collegiate honor societies,
provides facilities for the consideration of maters of mutual interest, defines
honor societies of the several types, cooperates with college and university
officers in developing and maintaining high standards and useful functions, and
collect, publish and distribute information and data. To this
end, the ACHS invites qualified societies to affiliate with it.
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THE
HONOR SOCIETY IN AMERICAN
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
Excerpts from the Association of College Honor
Societies, 1995
The idea which underlies the honor societies in American colleges and universities is
threefold. They exist primarily to recognize the attainment of scholarship of a superior
quality. In the second place, a few societies recognize the development of leadership
qualities, character, and good campus citizenship in addition to a strong secondary
scholastic record. Thirdly, and to the degree that they make this recognition coveted,
they encourage the production of superior scholarship and leadership.
To accomplish these objectives, it is clear that an honor society must define and
maintain a truly high standard of eligibility for membership and achieve sufficient status
by so doing that membership becomes something to be highly valued. The second point is
greatly advanced if the significance of membership is appreciated over a wide area; thus,
the society with a number of chapters at accredited institutions is stronger than one
which is purely local, and societies known and admired outside the college may be regarded
as having achieved maturity and success.
The honor society has followed the expansion and specialization of higher education in
America. When Phi Beta Kappa was organized in 1776, there was no thought given to its
field, since all colleges then in existence were for the training of men for the service
of the church and the state. With the expansion of education into new fields a choice had
to be made, and Phi Beta Kappa elected to operate in the field of liberal arts and
sciences.
Early in the 20th century, other honor societies came into being. One of these, Phi
Kappa Phi, was started by the presidents of three state universities, with the thought
that these institutions should have their honor society; later its field was wisely
extended to include any institution of university scope, accepting into membership
superior students of all schools of which they are apart.
With the exceptions of Phi Kappa Phi and Alpha Chi, founded later in 1925, scholarship
honor societies have followed the earlier tradition of selecting a specific field of
coverage. Three interesting and important variations have developed since 1900. One of
these recognizes the value of extracurricular activities and the development of general
campus citizenship. Prime requisite for election is meritorious attainments in all-around
leadership in college life with a strong secondary requirement for scholarship. Prime
examples in this field are Omicron Delta Kappa and Mortar Board which have achieved
excellent reputations.
A second variation is represented by the numerous societies which draw their membership
from the various departments of study, recognizing good work in the field of the
student’s special field of study. These societies are generally known as
departmental, or specialized honor societies.
The third variation recognizes scholastic achievement during the freshman year and
encourages its members toward higher goals. This field of freshman honor societies is
represented by Phi Eta Sigma and Alpha Lambda Delta.
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THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF
HONOR SOCIETIES
A.E. DOUGLASs
Presented in the Phi Kappa Phi journal: NATIONAL FORUM
, October 1926
Election into this honor society is a "contemporary reward," a very clumsy
expression which I am using to bring out a certain thought. It is a reward given at this
moment for doing something whose real benefit will come a long time in the future. It is
payment to a man for digging a hole and putting in a tree which is going to benefit the
next generation. It makes the laborer feel that digging the hole is worth his while, even
though he gets no benefit from the tree. If we come to think of it, life is full of these
contemporary rewards that keep the race moving so that benefits in the future will come
about. When we praise children they are pleased and bend to more effort, and our
recognition of their effort is a contemporary reward. It has no relationship to the great
and real reward which they themselves will get from that effort later in their own lives.
It is only a part of the machinery by which they overcome momentary difficulties, in order
to reach future results, of which they themselves can in no way see the importance.
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THE PLACE AND PRICE OF
EXCELLENCE (Excerpts)
JACQUES BARZUM
Presented in the Phi Kappa Phi journal: NATIONAL FORUM ,
Spring 1960
Now if we step from this little utopia to the training quarters of a successful
athletic team, we find a very different state of affairs. The boys being trained are
indeed the same that we encounter in any of a thousand classrooms in the country, but on
the field their view of life is suddenly and radically altered. To begin with, a special
seriousness pervades the atmosphere; the boys are not contented but visibly anxious. One
feels the concentration of many strong wills on one object. There is little aimless
action. Everyone takes advantage of the intervals of free time to jump, swing, flex the
muscles, to practice throwing, catching, running. The coach and his assistants are as much
interested as the classroom instructor in individual development, and they are keen
watchers of diverse aptitudes. But they clearly have in mind for each individual a fixed
idea of what constitutes performance. Far from letting each set of his own pace, they hold
him to a standard of their own choosing. If he does not meet it, he fails. Let me make the
point clear: if he fails, he fails. There may be reasons for the failure, but no excuse,
and certainly no consolation prizes and no verbalized psycho-apologies to the parents. On
the contrary, I am told that the verbalizing of football coaches in moments of stress is
far from apologetic.
The reason for this atmosphere of the training quarters is quite simple: the game is
serious business. It engages the minds, hearts, and passions of all concerned, from coach
to player to spectator. Training is therefore serious too. And when people are serious, no
confusion is tolerated between performance and failure. No amount of desire to make up for
the accidents of birth would induce anyone to give a slow-footed or slow/witted youth a
place on a team. Our philanthropic, remedial impulses do not stretch quite so far. Indeed,
we would consider any such tempering of the wind either corrupt or stupid, and we would
sack the coach. When, on the contrary, one of his athletes is named to the All-American
team, after the most solemn screening by the best official and unofficial judges in the
country, all those interested are confident that they have witnessed from first to last
the true way of discerning, developing, and rewarding excellence.
What the lesson tells us in familiar, unmistakable steps is what the definition of
excellence implies: excellence means excelling, which means exerting the will to improve
on nature according to rule. To squeeze high performance out of native ability, stern
demands must be made by the talented on themselves, but these demands must come ultimately
from the world that desires and rewards the performance.
Excellence cannot be bought or even asked for. You cannot without absurdity tell the
waiter to bring you "an excellent cup of coffee." You can only ask him for a cup
and hope that when tasted it will prove to be excellent. Similarly, the desire for
intellectual excellence must begin soberly with the simple desire to establish and
maintain the conditions of good work.
Once established, that atmosphere is not difficult to sustain. What is hard is to
begin.
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