Choice and Accountability “Use wisely your power of choice.” Og Mandino

Learning Target:  Show knowledge of the characteristics of : choices, accountability and consequences.  Identify characteristics of responsible behavior.

In your journal:  Define ownership: taking responsibility for your words and actions. A person lives above the line or below the line. What do you think this means? Living “above the line” ____________Responsibility_____________ Living “below the line”

Looking at the following words. Would they apply to ‘living above the line’ or living ‘below the line’ behavior? What is the definition and an example of each?  accountability, responsibility, solutions, problem solving, choosing wisely, willingness, independence, being positive, laying blame, giving up, justifying, denying, lying, breaking rules, avoiding, being negative, rudeness, argumentative.

“Between stimulus and response, there is space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.” --Stephen Covey, First Things, First  There are always consequences, good and bad.  Even if you don’t choose or decide, that is a choice and a consequence.  You may think you have the right to choose many things: what you wear to school, what you eat, who your friends are.  You can choose between right and wrong, to do your homework or not, to stay in class or leave, to tell the truth or lie.  You can not control the consequences of your choices, and sometimes those consequences can and will limit you.

You can choose what you want to eat.  What if your parents don’t agree with you that potato chips and onion rings belong to the vegetable food group?  What would the eventual harm to your health be?  Do you buy your own food?  Even if you do buy your own food, and you choose to eat nothing but junk food, eventually your consequences will have a negative impact on you in many different ways.  It may be YOUR CHOICE to choose to nothing but junk food, but you CAN NOT CHOOSE that you’ll have failing health in the end, be sick, be over/under weight, have higher medical costs…..etc…..

You can choose your friends.  What if the friends you choose DON’T CHOOSE you?  What if the ones you choose are kids who get into trouble all the time?  What if they don’t have the same goals and desires as you?  Are you willing to go along with them when they are making poor choices?  Are you willing to do or be involved in things that would keep you from reaching what you want to do and be in life?  Are you willing to suffer the consequences?

You can choose what to wear to school.  But what if what you choose to wear to school is a loincloth and a scuba mask?  Will you be allowed to stay in school?  What would your peers think of this choice?  Would you want to be invited to spend a session or two with the school psychologist?  Would you really be willing to accept the consequences of this choice?

You can choose to not do school work or homework.  Are you willing to accept that you will not get credit for the class if you don’t do the work to pass it?  Are you willing to be re classified and be a Freshman, Sophomore, Junior or Senior for another year?  Will you be ok with not graduating on time?  If you don’t graduate on time are you fine with being 18, 19, maybe even 20 years old and still have to be taking classes with 14 year olds?  How will your parents handle you not passing classes or not graduating on time?

You can choose to tell a lie.  What will be the consequences of your lie?  Are you ok with losing your parents trust?  How will it be if you lose your friends’ trust?  If the fact that you tell lies gets ‘out and about’ are you going to be ok with the fact that it will ruin your reputation?  What about people losing respect for you and your credibility?

THE FACT IS…..  You have lots of choice at any given time and any given day. BUT  Consequences of those choices are OUT OF YOUR CONTROL.

Ideally, any choice you make should be both CONSCIOUS and INFORMED.  A conscious choice is one you’re aware of. You think it through ahead of time. You’re mindful and alert when you make your decision. You realize that it might have both positive and negative consequences.  An informed choice is based on information and facts you’ve gathered in advance. You find out as much about your choice as you can. You look at it from all sides. You try to predict the consequences.

There are steps for making conscious and informed choices….  Example: Your teacher has just assigned you a paper due tomorrow. The problem is, today is your grandmother’s birthday, and your whole family is taking her out to dinner tonight. You have to choose between writing your paper or celebrating your grandmother’s birthday.  The choice is up to you. What will you do?

1. THINK IT THROUGH. If you choose to stay home and write your paper, your paper will get done but your grandmother may be disappointed. If you choose to go out to dinner, your grandmother will be happy but you’ll get a zero grad on your paper. Neither choice is perfect.

2. GATHER INFORMATION: Before you leave school, talk to your teacher about your dilemma. Can you turn in your paper a day late? If not, how much will one zero hurt your final grade? Talk to your parents about your dilemma. Ask what they think you should do. Can you call your grandmother and explain the problem? Can you arrange to see her later in the week and celebrate her birthday at that time?

3. WEIGH YOUR CHOICES AND THE POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES, THEN MAKE YOUR DECISION. It might not be perfect, but it will be the best it can be under the circumstances. It will be a choice that is both conscious and informed.

Sometimes we make choices that aren’t really choices at all. THEY’RE HABITS  Example: You walk to school the same way every day. This may be the fastest and most efficient route, but it’s not a conscious choice. (A habit)  What if you decided to walk another way instead? Maybe you wouldn’t have to cross so many busy streets, or maybe you'd pass a friend’s house on the way and could walk with him or her.

The worst choices are the ones you make by default. Instead of making a conscious, informed choice, you simply allow something to happen.  Example: You want school lunches to be better. On the day your school votes for a new menu, you forget to vote. So do a lot of other students, so the vote doesn’t pass and the school lunches stay the same. By not choosing, you have made a choice, and the results weren’t what you wanted.

“ Use wisely your power of choice.” Og Mandino