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Synonyms for responsibility authority, control, power, management, duty, influence.
Linking articles: Becoming a Caring Citizen; Responsibility: Rules
Definition of Social Responsibility
Being good means doing things that help others and make the world a better place! The theory of social responsibility says that everyone should do their part to be a good citizen and help out their community. This means being kind to people, taking care of the environment, and helping the economy grow. Remember, our actions can hurt other people or the world around us, so let’s all work together to be responsible and make the world a happier, healthier place!
So, there’s this thing called social responsibility. It means that we should do things that aren’t just good for us, but for everyone around us too! But some people only care about making money, even if it means hurting the environment. Like, there’s this company that sells stuff and makes tons of money, but the stuff they sell makes the air dirty and the water yucky. Not cool!
If you’re good and do good things, everyone will want to help you! Companies can do good things by making employees happy and customers happy, using resources smartly, and saving money. People can do good things by getting support to do what they want to do and succeed!
Personal Choice
Hey there friend! It’s super cool that you care about your community and country. But, you know what’s even cooler? Being able to choose what you want to do in life! That’s called free will and it’s really important because it means we get to pick what we do and how we act. But, with great power comes great responsibility (like Spiderman says!) and we have to be accountable for our choices and actions. So, what’s the deal? What do YOU want to do with your free will?
Read the poem below aloud and discuss why the writer is asking the reader to remember.
Poem- REMEMBER
1. Remember, child, remember,
That God is in the sky;
That He looks down on all we do,
With an ever-wakeful eye.
2. Remember, oh remember,
That, all the day and night,
He sees our thoughts and actions
With an ever-watchful sight.
3. Remember, child, remember,
That God is good and true;
That He wishes us to always be
Like Him in all we do.
4. Remember that He ever hates
A falsehood or a lie;
Remember He will punish, too,
The wicked, by and by.
5. Remember, oh remember,
That He is like a friend,
And wishes us to holy be,
And happy, in the end.
6. Remember, child, remember,
To pray to Him in heaven;
And if you have been doing wrong,
Oh, ask to be forgiven.
7. Be sorry, in your little prayer,
And whisper in his ear;
Ask his forgiveness and his love.
And He will surely hear.
8. Remember, child, remember,
That you love, with all your might,
The God who watches o’er us,
And gives us each delight;
Who guards us ever through the day,
And saves us in the night.
Usually, we want good things to come from our choices. But, like the silly poem says, sometimes we get something bad instead. That’s called consequences, and it happens when we make choices that are mean or selfish. It’s not very fun, but we gotta learn from our mistakes!
Worksheets for Personal Choice
Worksheet: Personal Choice (Action and Consequence)
Worksheet: Personal Choice (Good or Bad)
Checklist – How to develop social responsibility
First ask yourself:
- Have you been using all the cool stuff that’s been given to you?
- Are you putting in all your effort to be super smart at school?
- Did you tidy up your room all by yourself?
Start doing this:
- Don’t do the bad stuff you know you shouldn’t do!
- Be sure to get to school on time, okay?
- Don’t cut people off when they’re talking, it’s not polite!
- Try to be friends with your mom and dad and brothers and sisters, even if they bug you sometimes.
- Use whatever you’ve got around you to make things happen!
To Do List to help you get started.
Video: Fix Yourself
Story: Charlie and Rob
Do not avoid your responsibility. Read the story below aloud then discuss the question below.
CHARLIE AND ROB
“Don’t you hate splitting wood?” asked Charlie, as he sat down on a log to hinder Rob for a while.
“No, I rather like it. When I get hold of a tough old fellow, I say, ‘See here, now, you think you’re the stronger, and are going to beat me; so I’ll split you up into kindling wood.”
“Pshaw!” said Charlie, laughing; “and it’s only a stick of wood.”
“Yes; but you see I pretend it’s a lesson, or a tough job of any kind, and it’s nice to conquer it.”
“I don’t want to conquer such things; I don’t care what becomes of them. I wish I were a man, and a rich one.”
“Well, Charlie, if you live long enough you’ll be a man, without wishing for it; and as for the rich part, I mean to be that myself.”
“You do. How do you expect to get your money? By sawing wood?”
“May be—some of it; that’s as good a way as any, so long as it lasts. I don’t care how I get rich, you know, so that it’s in an honest and useful way.”
“I’d like to sleep over the next ten years, and wake up to find myself a young man with a splendid education and plenty of money.”
“Humph! I am not sleepy—a night at a time is enough for me. I mean to work the next ten years. You see there are things that you’ve got to work out—you can’t sleep them out.”
“I hate work,” said Charlie, “that is, such work as sawing and splitting wood, and doing chores. I’d like to do some big work, like being a clerk in a bank or something of that sort.”
“Wood has to be sawed and split before it can be burned,” said Rob. “I don’t know but I’ll be a clerk in a bank some time; I’m working towards it. I’m keeping father’s accounts for him.”
How Charlie laughed! “I should think that was a long way from being a bank clerk. I suppose your father sells two tables and six chairs, some days, doesn’t he?”
“Sometimes more than that, and sometimes not so much,” said Rob, in perfect good humor. “I didn’t say I was a bank clerk now. I said I was working towards it. Am I not nearer it by keeping a little bit of a book than I should be if I didn’t keep any book at all?”
“Not a whit—such things happen,” said Charlie, as he started to go.
Now, which of these boys, do you think, grew up to be a rich and useful man, and which of them joined a party of tramps before he was thirty years old?
Corporate Responsibility
Big companies need to be super nice and do good things for people and the world around them. They need to make sure they help out in their community and make it a better place to live. And guess what? People really like it when businesses do nice things for others!
Business ethics is when grown-ups follow rules to be good people and do fair things. This helps make sure businesses are nice to their friends and the world. Good businesses try to do what’s right and make everyone happy. When they do that, people like them more. But everyone needs to make good choices so that the grown-up business can be good too.
Discussion Questions
- List three business practices that can be considered unethical.
- How does individuals encourage companies to act responsibly?
- Distinguish between group and individual responsibility.
- How does rules encourage individuals to act responsibly?
- List four tasks for which you are responsible at home, school and in the community.
- Observe the video below then discuss the following questions in your class.
- Name and discuss two acts on the film above that is unethical or socially irresponsible.
- How has Nestle acted unethical? How has Walmart acted unethical?
- What is forced labour? How does it affect families and poor people?
- Why should a government be concerned about child labour?
- How can you, as an individual, act socially responsible to force companies to act responsibly?
- How has the fashion industry acted unethically?
