I am not going to start this off with some anecdote about how it was when I was a kid. Instead, I want to focus on how teachers treat their students. I read that there was a computer malfunction (some sort of programing error) in Great Britain that incorrectly switched many of the above, and below, IQ students. This resulted in two classes of students:

1. The “Above Average” class which was actually below average for all intents and purpose.
2. The “Below Average” class which was really above average for all intents and purpose.

By the time the error was found, the schools, scared to say anything, simply watched and recorded information. They found that the normally above average students had shown a decrease in scores while the normally below average students had shown an increase.

Barring the potential psychological factors, it was said, and widely agreed that the reason the normally below average students did better is because the teachers believed in them based on their test scores given before classes and that when their methods were not working, they redesigned their methods.

The Potential

The potential for learning here is fantastic. Can you think of what kind of world we would live in if the teachers actually took responsibility for the students‘ ability to learn? Teachers are there to teach. If the methods they are using are not working, it is time to find some new ones. This same premise works for leadership and parenting. If your methods are not working – change them. The best leaders work on themselves more than anything else.

If you are a professional educator or in a leadership position, I urge you to consider this paradigm. Everyone else, I urge you to share this using the little buttons below!