"Is the best way to teach: to praise positive actions and ignore negative ones?"

 

Ever since ancient times, the relation between a teacher and his disciple has been a very pure and motivating one, inspiring the teachers of new age and young students to reach new heights together by diving into the world of knowledge and skill. There have been many examples of great Gurus(teachers) and students; where a great learned teacher trained and made his disciple the very best among others; or a highly obidient and hard-working student who achieved great heights and made his teacher proud.

Mythologies of different cultures throughout the world depict such examples. But we also have many in real world- like that of Alexander the great and his teacher Aristotle, like guru Chaanakya and his disciple Chandragupt Maurya, who rose to be a king from being an orphan boy.

It is undeniable that a good teacher always enlightens his disciple about both his the positive and negative actions and their impact. Yes it is important to aknowledge and praise the positive actions, but those who ignore the negative actions of their students cannot be called as true teachers. To bring out and harness the potential of a student and erase his negative thinking or habits, it is also very important to point out the negative actions and showing the right way to improve oneself. Because, no matter how much a person hones his skills, if he does not work in his drawbacks, he cant win in the longer term.

Thus, we can very well see that, the best way to teach is to find out and consider both the positive as well as negative actions of students, and then guide them accordingly. That is; praising them on an achievement and correcting them on a mistake or fault. This balance is indeed crucial and quintessential in the process of learning and the art of life itself.

-palash pandit