Academic Responsibility

I can't help but wonder where the line is on academic responsibility. When does that responsibility cross over to civic responsibility. If a student doesn't want to do his/her homework that shouldn't matter to the instructor, right? But then, what does the instructor do if the student's homework involves other students. This semester I'm teaching a service learning course, so if my students don't do their homework and serve, they are cheating others out of something. Other people are counting on their work.

I don't think people feel very responsible these days. People just want to do what they want to do-- they don't care about what other people think. I also don't think it's the place of a composition class to teach cultural ettiquette. I know that I put a heavy weight on my students grades if they don't behave responsibly, but I don't want to have to do that.

I guess maybe that's the difference between college and jobs-- you can get fired for a bad work ethic-- in college, it just means you don't get an A.