Becoming great

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them become what they are capable of being. - Goethe

Once again, a bit of synchronicity pops up as I've seen this quote appear twice since I copied it from an email that a colleague sent during American Education Week. And a good quote it is. It certaily leads to a discussion of having high expectations for our students. Often, I believe we tend to stereotype people based on past actions or an experience we had with a member of a particular group. (I'll be writing on helping our students escape some of that in a later post.) When we do that, we may not be giving the other person a chance to show their true capabilities.

We also tend to see things through distorted lenses when we label or view a person or a group of persons in a generalized manner. What tends to happen is that those things that support our view get noticed and our perception is strengthened. We don't see the positive things that this person or group is doing and continue to see the negative.

By having high expectations and helping our students understand those expectations and that fact we are there to help them reach their full potential, we do help each person "become what they are capable of being." Let's all have positive expectations and see if we can't find the good that exists and build on that.