Accountability

Michael W. Graves

According to the great author Robert Fulghum, anything we need to know is taught to us in kindergarten. As much as I love the man’s work and despite the tremendous respect I hold for him; I have to disagree.

One of the primary lessons all humans need to learn eventually is no longer taught at any level in our school systems. Not only do we not learn this lesson in kindergarten, we are no longer exposed to this necessary wisdom in grade school, high school or even college.

And what is this profound lesson to which I refer. I’m talking about simple accountability. Not only are we no longer taught to be accountable for our own actions or behavior; we’re actually seeing our children taught quite overtly how to avoid having to deal with the consequences of bad behavior.

Misbehavior is no longer the child’s fault. They are that way “because of the environment they live in”, or because “they come from a dysfunctional family unit.” To be certain, these are both reasons to sympathize with the child. They are not, however, reasons for overlooking their behavior and making to effort to correct them.

An incident that occurred recently at the local school where I live is a perfect example. Two children--let’s call them Jimmy and Johnny for lack of better names--were fishing in the river that runs through town when one of the local bullies--we'll call him Biff--happened across them. Biff struck Johnny across the face, took both boys’ rods and threw them in the river. When Jimmy protested, he was rewarded by a sound beating. Biff had both of his hands around the Jimmy’s throat and was strangling him when the Johnny hit him over the head with a rock. Johnny’s actions may well have saved Jimmy’s life, yet Biff was escorted to the hospital and Johnny was given a stern warning by the local sheriff.

If there had been any semblance of justice in the events that transpired that day, Johnny would have been congratulated for his courageous stand and Biff would be standing charges for criminal assault. As a result of the way it was handling, this kid now knows he can not only get away with pummeling anyone his heart desires, it’s possible he’ll even be rewarded for it.

This type of behavior--and lack of accountability--has made its way into the current generation of adults more so than at any other time in history. Hot-shot athletes and big named singers make the headlines on a weekly basis, raping women, molesting children, and even murdering people. Their wealth provides the high-caliber lawyers and their fame contributes the public sympathy to allow them to walk away without consequence.

Women don’t worry about engaging in responsible sex because they know they can simply get an abortion if they get pregnant. Gay men and drug addicts continue to indulge in lifestyles that they know is dangerous because they can count on society to pick up the tab for their expensive AIDS treatments. On a more common level, you see this lack of accountability every day in the way people treat one another on the streets, on the highways and just about every aspect of life around us.

I would truly love it if Robert Fulghum’s theory of learning were a hundred percent accurate. And indeed, one of these days it may be possible. But for that to happen, one thing we must start teaching in kindergarten, and we must continue to emphasize throughout our lives, is simple accountability for one’s own behavior.

Accountability first appeared in the January 2005 issue of Opinion Magazine.