Who's To Blame

Most of us remember the hysteria about five years ago surrounding Toyota cars and a "glitch" that caused them to suddenly accelerate without warning. It was all over the nightly news reports, led to millions of recalled cars and a historic fine for the world's largest automaker. At the time, my wife owned a Camry, and I remember us discussing if we should trade it in or not.

Years later there has been a great deal of follow-up research on the event and the results would likely surprise you. There has never been ANY proof that there was EVER a software or mechanical defect in Toyota cars that led to sudden acceleration or accelerators sticking. There have even been contests that offered up to $1 million for anyone that could prove it. Most test believe that the casue of several incidents had nothing to do with the cars. In some incidents, all-weather mats were placed on top of the regular carpet mats. This led some to slide under the accelerator and possibly stick when pushed to the floor. In most cases, however, it is believed that people simply were pressing the accelerator when they thought that they were pressing the brake. It was also proven that even if the accelerator had been stuck wide open, simply pressing the brake would have stopped any Toyota vehicle.

So why is it that we never heard this? Why did countless news stories promote a a false story? Why did Toyota have to pay a fine? The answer lies in the fact that, as humans, we often find it much easier to blame something or someone rather than accept that our own actions cause our misfortune. In short, it is easier to blame. We are all guilty of it. As educators we've all acknowledged a change in the test or curriculum, a deficit in the students, a lack of parenting or a lack of supplies when things don't quite turn out like we had hoped. This time of year, I get to hear the blame from students on why they missed too many classes or why their grades are not passing.

Passing blame is often the opposite of growth. In fact, it is the resistance of growth. Despite what life throws at us, we often want to do what we have always done and we resist change. Metaphorically, we refuse to take our foot off the accelerator becasue we want to believe that it is the brake. So as we work with students and their last minute efforts to achieve and as we all look through Standard 5 of our Summative Evaluations, let's all try to look past the blame game. Reflection on what we each do and what we didn't do is the only thing that can lead to growth.