Previously, our class had the most unpleasant experience of being forced to go through a one-hour lecture by a certain teacher from a certain school. It so happened that the particular teacher came to out class in a foul mood, and began to find faults with everyone, venting her fury anger at anyone unlucky enough. Fortunately, I had done everything to be asked without fail and thus escaped from the wrath of that teacher.
After nagging almost half the class for simple things ranging from not doing their homework well, to insignificant things like muttering as they speak to others. We all heaved a sigh of relief when that teacher finally finished "terrorising" us and briefly went out of the classroom. However, the damage had been done. The cherry mood that the class once had at the start of the day ceased to exist, replaced by feelings of anger and hatred. Some fellow classmates also could not take all those criticism in one swift blow and almost broke down.
As I tried to put away this dreadful memory, I cannot help but think - No matter what the situation is, should we use criticism as a means to tell other what to do (or in this case what not to do) ?
In fact, criticism should not be used as a way to "teach" others what to do. As I mentioned earlier, it only tells others what not to do, serving as a mere form of deterrence. It does not give other people the message on what they should do; we should tell them what they are supposed to do and at least set an example for them. Otherwise, that lecture would only leave a very small impression on other people and they will not heed it.
Additionally, people have their own sense of pride, their dignity. We should learn to respect others and tell them nicely what they should do - as if we were giving them a friendly advice. Look at the difference: If a teacher comes over to the student and starts ranting him for not paying attention in class, will it be more effective then when a teacher speaks gently to the student "Please listen. It is very important in your studies you know, so I appreciate it if you can pay more attention". In the second case, it is more effective.
When you tell other people nicely, you are giving them face, and giving them the impression you are doing it for their own good. If you repeatedly criticise them for what they are doing, it makes them lose their self-esteems and makes them lose face. It not only aggravates them and cause them much hurt and hatred for that particular person, but it is very ineffective in carrying out the message as well.
If someone came over to you and start giving you a lecture on the things you have done wrong and what you should do about them, they are not giving you respect. Which person in the world listens to someone else who does not respect them? As the saying goes "do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you". If you do not respect others, they would not respect you likewise and become a lose-lose situation.
It is foolish to do something so useless - that does not achieve its aim at the end of the day, but also gives you one new enemy! So, do not fall for the trap and avoid using criticism at all cost.
In teaching, it is very difficult to say whether one way is right or wrong. To be frank, how effective a method of teaching is depends mostly on the students themselves. Some students are motivated by criticism and under normal circumstance do not care. By "giving them face", the poor teacher gets thought of as a nice teacher who will not scold anyone. Thus, students take advantage of this to not do homework or talk in class. I'm sure you have noticed that we talk much less in Malay Studies than in Art, for example. However, there are some students who cannot take criticism. Too much criticism is not good for anyone, and as teenagers, we do have very strong emotions at times.
ReplyDeleteGoing off tangent a bit to talk about your example. Personally, as someone who got scolded that day, I can understand how that teacher felt and her reasoning. To begin with, I did deserve that scolding for not doing her work. I did have a competition and tests coming up, but I still feel that is no excuse and I probably could have made time. What I feel was wrong with that particular teacher's method of teaching was that she not only scolded those who had not done their work, but also those who had done it. I feel that some students were scolded unjustly. Not to name anybody, but the teacher had already stated that we were given a choice on whether to present or not. However, she picked on those who chose not to present. Later on, she also let her emotions control her, she took her anger out on the whole class and disrupted all our learning.