ABSTRACT
Accountability has become a buzzword of our time. The term evokes passions because it inevitably enters discussions of personal, organizational, or societal crises. Headlines bemoan the lack of accountability by members of professions who the public perceives to be slacking off on the job, as in the case of demands for teachers to become more accountable for students’ learning (Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy, 1986). A lack of pride by workers in the products of their labors has been blamed for the decline of many industries. A pervasive concern about insuring minimal levels of accomplishment and public safety has led to the implementation of competency tests, mandatory drug testing, and calls for widespread testing for the AIDS virus. Of course, when crises do occur, there is usually a scramble to avoid accountability by those at the center of the storm; examples include the behavior of our leaders during the Watergate Scandal and the more recent Iran-Contra affair. It can be argued that a “Crisis of Accountability” imbues society, as people attempt to avoid, whenever possible, having to answer for their actions, at least when those actions might be viewed negatively. The result is the separation of the self from the consequences of one’s behavior.
