Principle of Responsive Adjustment
- Responsibility for both good and bad things often emerges as a pattern exhibited by a series of action. If you miss one class after establishing a pattern of good attendance and active participation, then your teacher will look for something exceptional that prevented you from doing what you habitually do. But if one absence falls into a series with other absences, then this reveals a pattern and your teacher begins to classify you as someone who is chronically absent.
- So, it is not enough to offer a moral excuse to get "of the hook" for your absence. Expressing remorse, guilt, and regret do not substitute for taking active measures to avoid repeating the wrongful act. These changes or responsive adjustments clue others in to whether you have learned from your past mistakes. What happened in the past was bad and you regret it; but are you willing to make the necessary changes in your future conduct to avoid repetition of the bad act?
- This is expressed by the "Principle of Responsive Adjustment" (or PRA). Stated negatively, failure to take measures to prevent past excusable wrongs from reoccurring in the future leads to a reevaluation of these past actions. Failure to responsively adjust shows that the past action belongs to context of similar bad actions indicating a bad habit or bad character. This, in turn, leads to a reevaluation of the past act; what when taken in isolation was not blameworthy becomes blameworthy when inserted into this broader context. Showing an unwillingness to learn from the past betrays entrenched attitudes of negligence, carelessness, or recklessness. (See Peter A. French, Corporate and Collective Responsibility)
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.
|
Characteristic |
Proactive Response |
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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 class because 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 your absence. |
|
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. |
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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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Exercise 2: Getting Proactive about your absence
- Develop a plan for "getting back into the loop." What are you going to do to cover the material and activities you have missed?
- Get Preventive. Describe what you are going to do now to avoid absences in the future.
- Shoot for the ideal. What can you do above and beyond class attendance to realize exemplary participation in your ethics class.
Conclusion
Exercise #3: Getting and Staying Honest
- Below is a template that you need to duplicate, fill out, and place in the class attendance file that will be on the desk in front of class.
- Duplicate and sign the honesty pledge at the end of this module.
- Students often wish to provide evidence documenting their claims regarding their absences. You may do this, but remember that this is neither required nor in the spirit of prospective responsibility.
- Furthermore, be aware that you are not to provide confidential information such as personal health information or student id numbers or social security numbers. Health issues are to be referred to generically by saying something like, "I was unable to come to class Tuesday because of health reasons."
- Class Missed (Day of week and date):
- Material covered during class:
- Reason for missing class (please do not provide confidential information):
- Action Plan for Absence: How you intend to take responsibility for the material covered while you were absent; How you intend to make reparations to your group for not participating in group learning activities for the class you missed;
- How do you plan to avoid absences in the future:
Honesty Pledge
- To realize the value of honesty, you will make the following affirmation:
- The information I have provided above is truthful, the excuses I have ennumerated rigorously examined from a moral point of view, and the responsive commitments I have made above are serious, and I will take active and realistic efforts to carry them out.
Signature: ___________________________________
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