Personal Responsibility

This is not going to be a rant about my stressful job. It's going to be a short commentary on the lack of personal responsibility.

What ever happened to people taking responsibility for their own actions? Watch any show where cops are arresting people. They all say the same thing. "It wasn't me!" "I didn't do it!" "Those aren't my drugs!" "I'm innocent, I swear!" Even when people witness the criminal committing the act, they'll STILL deny it!

I see the beginnings of these behaviors in my young students. During a quiet time, I saw and heard a particular student talking. I confronted the student and politely asked him to stop talking. This child looked me directly in the eye, without cracking a smile and said, "I wasn't talking". Remember I personally saw and heard him. I told him I saw and heard him talking and he once again firmly denied it. I was flabbergasted! Another student was observed by my teaching partner flashing an obscene hand gesture. When confronted, the student flatly denied any wrongdoing. My partner said she saw the whole thing and the student screamed, "I didn't do it you #$%@!" Unbelievable!

I always tell my students if they are honest and simply apologize, their consequence will be much less severe or the infraction may even be forgiven. But kids just don't get it! They lie through their teeth... every day! It's maddening!

It's obvious where these kids are learning these behaviors... their parents. A few weeks ago I saw some inappropriate images on a student's computer. Our school has a firewall, but it only blocks websites. For some reason the firewall can't block inappropriate pictures from Google Images without blocking ALL images. Anyway, this student had some horrible pictures on his computer (not pornography). The images were on his personal account and there was no way to deny downloading them. When the school attempted to give consequences, the student's mother sprang to his defense. She said it wasn't her son's fault the images were downloaded. She said it was the school's fault for not blocking them. Say what?????? This child is 11 years old and clearly knows right from wrong. When downloading the images, he KNEW they shouldn't be there. He clearly chose to do wrong. Where is the personal responsibility for this student? I think I'll try this method if I ever get pulled over for speeding. Can't you just hear me saying this to a cop? "You can't give me a speeding ticket officer. The government should have a speed regulator on my car. It's not my fault!". How do you think that's gonna fly? You're right... it's not.

I'm not sure what has happened to taking responsibility for one's own actions. Lack of personal responsibility is something that covers most facets of society today. It's not just kids and it's not just criminals. I see it everywhere I go. It's sad.