March Character Trait – Self-Reliance
March 5, 2009
During March Building Good Citizens for Texas emphasizes Self-Reliance.
We define this as “students believing in their own self-worth and learning to rely on their strengths. Students will also demonstrate knowledge of their skills, abilities, and impression on others.”
For the younger children we define it in simpler terms; “Others can depend on me, and I can depend on myself.”
In recent conversations with a high school staff I asked the question, “What does it mean for high school students to exhibit Self-Reliance? Their responses were consistent. Doing your own homework, not relying on friends for answers or homework assignments, depending on yourself to get help when needed are just a few of the responses I received. Others were quick to note that relying on excuses has become too common.
One former teacher described a scenario with three high school seniors. They were in different sections of the same course. When a project paper was collected, the teacher noted that three of the papers were exactly the same; “word-for-word” was his description. The teacher considered the paper worthy of a grade of 90 so he gave each student a 30! Of course the students were outraged. The teacher’s response was “Discuss it with the principal.” Of course that never happened. But the positive outcome was that at least two of these students realized Self-Reliance was now going to be their habit!
For the very young something as simple as tying one’s own shoes is an opportunity to praise Self-Reliance. Learning to write in cursive, mastering skills in soccer, basketball or other sports can be positive examples of becoming self-reliant. Our goal is encouraging students to “do the job” for themselves.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The basis of good manners is self-reliance.”
In other words depending on one’s self leads to not taking advantage of others, practicing common courtesy, and treating others with respect.
When we encourage, praise, or acknowledge students’ responsibility in doing what is expected of them, we build not only their self-reliance but their self-respect as well.
Again, Emerson, “No one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourself.” As educators, we must consistently encourage our students to rely on themselves for achieving the goals they want, whether those goals are short term or long term:
- Teach students the steps necessary to reach goals.
- Encourage students to accomplish difficult tasks by themselves.
- Praise students when they become increasingly independent.
- Assign students responsibilities in the classroom and hold them accountable.
- Work with students to set goals for becoming more self-reliant.
- Be aware of students ability to move to the “next step” in becoming self-reliant and commend that action.