"R-E-S-P-O-N-S-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y! Find out what it means to me!"
Okay, so it's actually respect, not responsability, but my rant on respect is gonna have to wait for another day. Today's subject, is, as you've probably guessed, responsibility, and mainly those who shirk it off.
Let's start with teachers. Kids need to learn on there own. I'll agree with that. But they need teachers too. And if you're going to be paid (granted the good teachers deserve far more than they get) for being a teacher, then for God's sakes, actually teach. Don't just hand out worksheets and then go back to your computer and play solitaire for the period. When more than half of a class fails a test, and you have people skipping entire pages because they just don't understand the material, you need to re-evaluate what you're doing. You're they're teacher, it's not going to suddenly be in their heads without any work on your part.
More about teachers. If you're going to set strict dates for essays, and assign them with short periods of time to do them, then apply the same thing to yourself. You should not be returning essays that people took the time to write three months later. If you're not going to accept "I was busy that night" as an excuse, then get the papers graded with speed. You're no more busy than your students are.
And now on to a more personal example. My grandfather passsed away recently, and although I didn't know him very well, he was appparently, to be frank, a prick. My uncle, who was living with him, has down syndrome. My grandfather refused to make any plans for what would happen to my uncle after he died. A small amount of money was left for my uncle. The current home he is in is a piece of s***, and costs 7,000 dollars per month, or even week! But now, God forbid my grandfather give a damn about anyone other than himself. Yes, his wife did die of cancer, and I feel sorry for him about that. But it by no means gives him the right to shove his problems off on my father and my aunt. My grandfather would never have killed himself, it was more like he just stopped trying to live. As some people live far beyond their expected life spans due to optimism, it's like he tried to shorten it as much as possible by giving up. Hell, you can give up if you want. But sort your stuff out first. It's your problem. Assume responsiblity for your actions, both those where you did something, and those where you didn't do enough.
