Responsibility vs. Self-Reliance
by Harvey Craft
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| The Self-Reliant Student is Typically an Avid Reader |
Teachers spend much time talking to students, parents, and
other teachers about responsibility. There is a dominating desire for
responsible students and an apparent shortage of them. Like many buzz words in
education, responsibility is not always the same thing to different people.
Most think of the word as meaning voluntarily
completing required tasks, following a moral, legal, or other accepted code,
and these actions must be done according to schedules and with an appropriate attitude.
The definition often gets distorted by adults to simply, “Do as I say!”
Teachers try a variety of methods
to “teach” responsibility. They assign various tasks to help take care of the
class – emptying trash cans, helping with bulletin boards, and homework! But much of what is
done to foster responsibility is really done to manage behavior and encourage
obedience. Of course, proper behavior and obedience are closely related to
responsibility and obedience – well-behaved students are more fun to teach, and
usually easier to manage.
The Self-Reliant Student
I defer to Ralph Waldo Emerson
for my ideas about self-reliance, and while it can be confused with
responsibility self-reliance emphasizes a stronger development of innate
awareness of the confusing topic of right and wrong. Responsibility is part of
self-reliance, but the self-reliant student often possesses a recognizable
independence which can possible create conflict.
Knowing Oneself
The self-reliant student trusts
himself and is comfortable with his decisions even when they conflict with
teachers’ instructions. The student will have a developing sense of his future,
and see a successful self. This may well involve making decisions that are not
socially popular. Self-reliance is not based on another person’s notion of what
he should do.
Still, responsibility is
important, but self-reliance involves an advanced understanding of responsibility
– these students will already know
what responsible behavior is, and it might not always agree with the accepted
examples.
Consider a teacher who believes
that homework helps develops responsibility. Suppose the teacher is checking
homework and encounters a student who says confidently, “I only answered two
questions. I already know the others really well.” The teacher may record a
poor grade, but those who truly know
what works for them may be willing to avoid what they consider busy work and
appear to be rude. Grades may be only marginally important to self-reliant
students.
Social and Global Knowledge
The world advances by the desires
of the self-reliant. They possess a keen knowledge of “what’s going on” that
comes from a prodigious awareness of good and bad ideas, right and wrong
behavior, and they collect and mentally file important facts about the world.
Consider the teacher who believes
in the old and unjust practice of punishing the entire class because one or two
people would not comply with instructions. The self-reliant student may politely
raise his hand and say, “Discipline like this turns us against the really
guilty people. What if your neighbor shot someone in his home and the whole
neighborhood had to go to jail for his action?” Once again he’s being rude.
Should students challenge what
teachers say? Why not, if they are right? Adults can and should learn from
students.
Reading books – not necessarily
assigned books – in class can be a sign of self reliance. The student reads
what he wants to because he likes to learn. He will engage adults in
discussions about what he knows or wants to understand. Teachers may see these
students as “showoffs” or disruptive because they may frequently take class
discussions in another direction or ask too many seemingly irrelevant
questions.
The Downside of Self-Reliant Behavior
Generally, self-reliant behavior
is positive, but must be understood and guided properly by (preferably)
self-reliant adults. There are numerous examples of highly successful people
who withdrew from school because they had pretty well figured out what they needed
and wanted to do to be successful, and didn’t put much value on a college
degree. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs both come to one’s mind, and it is easy to
imagine that friends and relatives may have viewed them as irresponsible for dropping
out of school.
Self-reliance develops as we
grow. Some never become self-reliant. Some are victims of imagined or misguided
self-reliance that leads them to reject the accepted ways of society only to
fail economically and socially. A healthy social life is generally helpful for
all. Developing friendships helps people remain attached to the normal world
which and that world provides benefits for everyone.
Teachers and the Self-Reliant
Responsibility is a good thing,
self-reliance is better, but can present challenges to teachers who don’t
recognize it. Allow the self-reliant student room to develop – if he doesn't need homework, why make him do it anyway. Let him choose an assignment that is
more related to his interests.
Before denouncing these students
as rude or disrespectful, try to understand where they are. They may well be
experiencing intense boredom or daydreaming in a positive way. That the teacher
understand respect their choice to learn but not always make A’s is important.
Unconventional behavior is OK as long as it is not disruptive.
Teachers might want to read “Self-Reliance” or
have certain students read it. Emerson is advanced in his writing, but has much
of value to offer. Perhaps the last line of the essay is most important:
“Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.”
.JPG)
