You may have heard that 73 West Point cadets violated the academy’s honor code by cheating on a calculus test. It’s the worst cheating scandal at the U.S. Military Academy in 44 years. 

Oddly, I find that encouraging. Not the cheating, but the enforcement of the honor code.

U.S. taxpayers are providing a free education to the next generation of military leaders. And every student pledges: “A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”

“The honor process is working as expected and cadets will be held accountable for breaking the code,” Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy said in a statement.

What will happen to them? Most are first-year cadets – plebes – and have been enrolled in the academy’s “willful admissions” process, a moral rehab program that involves after-hours classes, ethics discussions, and an assigned mentor.

What’s encouraging is the deep commitment to developing leaders with integrity. That’s a bedrock value for an institution charged with making life and death decisions in the pursuit of defending America.

Imagine if we held all of our institutions – and leaders – to the same standard?