honor system

     The universities that make up the "Ivy League" and its "Seven Sisters" all operate on the honor system.  That means that a lot of the work assigned to students is done outside of class--as in what were once called "take-home exams".  It is called the honor system because the only person who knows whether or not a student cheated on an exam is the student.  Students may be caught cheating if they plagiarize a term paper--but probably not if they cheat on an exam, as there is basically no such thing. The best-known military academies use the same academic system, I believe--I'm not sure about that, and there isn't any way to check short of enrolling in one of them.