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6.1 Realizing responsibility through class participation  (Page 3/4)

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    Responsibility as a virtue

  • Responsibility can be reconfigured as a virtue or excellence.
  • The table below describes the characteristics of a preventive stance where we begin by identifying potential wrongs and harms. Once we identify these then we take serious measures to prevent them from occurring.
  • Finally, responsibility as a virtue opens up the horizon of the exemplary. Pursuing excellence requires our identifying opportunities to go beyond preventing harm to realizing value.
  • In this context, class attendance becomes class participation. As was said in the introduction, missing a class creates a series of new tasks that arise out of your commitment to excellence in participation. These include the following:
  • 1. What was covered while you were absent? Or better, if you know in advance that you are going to miss a class, what will be covered? How can you cover this material on your own? What can you do, proactively, to stay with the class during your absence?
  • 2. How will your absence impact the rest of the class (especially those in your class group), and what can you do to minimize any harmful effects? Here you should notify your team members that you are going to miss class and develop plans for maintaining your equal participation in the group and class during and after your absence.
  • 3. In accordance with the Principle of Responsive Adjustment, what changes are you making to avoid absences in the future or--putting it as positively as possible--to achieve a level of excellence in class participation?
  • Note how all these items focus on improvement or betterment rather than "making up." As Dewey recognizes, the real function of moral responsibility is to take the lessons we learn from the past and use them to improve ourselves.
Responsibility as a Virtue or Proactive Responsibility
Characteristic Proactive Response
Diffuse blame avoidance strategies Avoid trying to diffuse the blame for missing class on some other person or situation. For example, “I couldn’t come to classbecause I had a project due in another class” is not a morally legitimate excuse because it places the blame on the other class.You have not taken responsibility for your absence.
Design responsibilities with overlapping domains If you fail to participate in a group activity, describe the group’s “Plan B,” i.e., how they worked around yourabsence.
Extend the scope and depth of knowledge. Describe how you found out what was covered in class and document how you have learned this material
Extend power and control Describe the measures you have taken to eliminate the “responsibility gap” between you and your work group. For example,how did you “make up” for not participating in the activity held in the class you missed.
Adopt a proactive problem solving/preventive approach for the future Describe what measures you have taken to avoid missing classes in the future.

    Guidelines for avoiding absences

  1. Build redundancy into your schedule. Many students develop schedules that are "tightly-coupled." This means that failures or breakdowns cannot be isolated; then tend to flow over into other areas producing a cascading disaster. A co-worker calls in sick, and your boss calls you in during the time you have a class. You miss one class and fail to study for another. (The time you set aside for study has been taken up by this unexpected job demand.) You have been working so hard to catch up that you catch a cold. Now everything becomes that much harder because you are not working to full capacity. The lesson here is to set up your schedule from the beginning with a certain amount of flexibility built in. This could be as simple as taking four instead of five classes or working 10 instead of 20 hours per week.
  2. Look for incentives or motives to come to class. One important incentive is that you may get a better grade. Teachers tend to know students who come to class better; they consider them more responsible and more committed.
  3. Get proactive when you return. Instead of asking the professor, "Did we do anything important while I was absent?" consult the syllabus and a classmate to find out what you missed. Then check your understanding with the professor. "My understanding is that you discussed moral responsibility with the class and applied the framework to a case. Is this correct?" Instead of asking the professor, "What should I do to make up for what I missed?" come with your own plan. Show that you have taken responsibility for your absence by getting proactive and planning the future around realizing value.
  4. Absences have an impact on your fellow students as much as on you or your instructor. If you are working in groups, find out from your peers what was covered. If your group is depending on your completing a task for the class you are missing, try to develop a "work-around." ("I won't be in class tomorrow but I am sending you my part of the group assignment via email attachment.") Let your team know what is happening with you and make sure that you keep up on all your commitment and responsibilities to the group.
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Source:  OpenStax, Corporate governance. OpenStax CNX. Aug 20, 2007 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col10396/1.10
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