Yesterday, my friend messaged me while he was attending an external course. He said that the administrator came to check their attendance every now and then. Why? To make sure that they did not sign the attendance and leave half-way through the class. The “punishment” was to restart their course. -_-

I have to clarify, my friend is in the senior management. So are the rest of the participants.

“They treat you like you’re in a kindy.:)” I replied.

And I must say, they are not the only one doing that. It happens across different sectors, age groups and professionals.

So that’s all come down to one problem – Lack of trust. It seems that if there isn’t any “system” governing EVERY PROCESS, they think that some “idiots” along the line are just not “mature, responsible and accountable” enough to make their decisions on their own. OH NO! These people are going to screw us up! -_-

A simple “attendance checking” system like this actually reminded me of every other “checking systems” that we are being put on, to make sure that WE DON’T SCREW UP!

If the people are so used to “do because we’re asked to do”, then what is going to happen “inside” us?

I wonder if people still take the initiative to be accountable and responsible without being asked to be.

Take the “attendance system” as an example, if an adult does not take learning as his own responsibility, what’s the point for having those systems to tie him down. In another words, “die die” must have him sitting there, who cares if he spaces out or he learns nothing.

If these systems are to “discipline” people…OH BOY. Imagine, a company director being put under a monitoring system so that HE WILL NOT SKIP A CLASS. How classy.

I shared with my students in class one day, that we could hardly find rubbish bin on the street in Japan. And yet, the country is “squeaky clean”. One student asked:”Where do they throw the rubbish then?”

I said:“Handbag…and bring the rubbish home to throw.”

Is there a sign on the street that says “Bring your rubbish back“? NO.
A sign that says “Stand on the left of escalator“? NO.
Are they asked to do all these? NO.

So what has gone wrong?

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