The best way to teach is to praise positive action and ignore negative ones.Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and sup

When it comes to teaching, society seems to be split into two didactic schools: some prefer to harshly criticize students and point out the flaws in their work, while others are convinced that negative feedback can do no good. As so often, the answer is found by reconciling the two sides of the debate and allowing teachers to adapt to the situation at hand. To help illustrate this, we will examine a sample situation in which negative feedback will leave a discouraging effect on students; and we will then counter that with an example of when praise alone is not sufficient. Hence, I will conclude that the recommended rule is far too inflexible to be pragmatic and thus should be shunned.

To begin with, let us consider Anahid, son of two immigrants who only recently moved to the United States from Turkey. This is relevant because it means that, while he has the same inherent capability as others, his inferior knowledge of the language of instruction will inevitably cost him some marks. It may be the case that an average student consistently attaining the kind of marks that Anahid's work attracts should be subject to a diatribe from the head of school. But this does not mean that Anahid should be treated similarly: his failure to obtain good marks is not due to an absence of committment, it is the result of an outside factor not under his control. Thus, a scolding will not have the same positive motivational impact on Anahid as it would have on the other pupil - instead, it would ensure that he connects negative emotions to learning. By harming his self-esteem without giving him a chance to remedy his shortcomings, the teachers set him up for failure.

On the other hand, consider the case of Marie, the only child of two rich parents protecting her from all outside influences they consider potentially harmful. Marie has been told from the moment of her conception that she is something special, and she has been told so often enough to believe it. While there is nothing wrong with her having some self-esteem, there is a danger brought on by this kind of unjustly inflated belief in one's abilities. This danger is that, as soon as she has to compete with other pupils, e.g. once it comes to university or job applications, she will learn the truth about her abilities. This might work out if she is indeed as special and intelligent as she believed - but how likely is this? If she is not quite the best at everything in the US, she will be - and should be - angry at her parents and everyone else for misleading her for such a long time. If she had known earlier, she could have worked on her deficiences, improved her skills and would have stood a much better chance at getting into her favoured university. In this case, it would have been essential for the teacher to also pass on negative feedback.

In conclusion, we can thus see that both praise and criticism are important elements of teaching - removing either one of them leads to a dangerous imbalance in the pupils' psyche. IT is important, however, to judge whether a specific pupil needs one or the other - and no hard-and-fast rule will be able to replace the nuanced judgement of an experienced teacher who has dealt with these issues for all of his life.