Personal Responsibility

The orderly or chaotic lives that we live today are a direct result of the level of personal responsibility that we hold. The fact is that our actions are within our control. Though we are not responsible for everything that happens to us, we alone are responsible for our actions. “There is an emerging consensus that personal and social responsibility can no longer be viewed as a simplistic, one-dimensional, or discrete construct” (Swaner, 2005). With the intent to follow personal responsibility, you must first identify what it means to you, determine the relationship between personal responsibility and college success, and have a plan to follow it.

In order to get a dictionary definition of the term “personal responsibility,” I split the term into its two entities; personal and responsibility. The Collins English Dictionary defines personal as “of or relating to the private aspects of a person’s life” (“personal” n.d.), and responsibility as “the state or position of being responsible” and “the ability or authority to act or decide on one’s own, without supervision” (“responsibility” n.d.). To me, personal responsibility means developing the nerve to be accountable for your actions, or lack of, being able to determine the difference between right and wrong and know how to make decisions accordingly, and be capable of placing personal responsibility at the top of your list of values. Doherty (1998) has argued that there is an increasing trend in society to refuse accountability and to blame others for one’s situation.

Personal responsibility has a direct relationship to college success; if you have the discipline to perform responsibly in class discussions and with your assignments, you will likely succeed at achieving your higher education goals. Of course there are other things you must take into consideration when wanting to succeed, for example, making choices ethically and recognizing the successful skills needed. There are a certain set of guidelines,...