Conventional wisdom

Children go to school. At school they have one teacher when they are young and many when they get older. Obviously you need good teachers to motivate the students and help them learn their subjects. In general we could say that teachers are important even though it’s hard to say how important they can be.

What if

What if teachers had a much more important role that what you think? What if they had a terribly important role of which they are usually completely unaware of?

Indeed some people think that what the child perceives as approval (approval being global and not precisely related to marks) or non-approval by the teacher(s) is a strong factor to take into account when predicting this child’s success in the adult world.

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It goes like this. To the child’s mind the teacher is more or less the appointed judge of society (the adult world to the child). The perceived opinion from the teacher then becomes the appraisal of society toward your expected future. In other words if the teacher thinks well of you you are within your rights to expect a great future. If you perceive a negative opinion you may unconsciously have some misgivings about your future.

When you think about how predominant a role self confidence plays in children’s accomplishment you have to give some concern.

What to make of it

First it would seem, in that regard, that every teacher does not have the same importance. The early teachers seem to have more importance and expectedly, they lose importance as the child grows older. Charisma plays a role too as it magnifies the impact of a teacher.

Second do not think that, although an important one, teachers are the only factor influencing future success. The relationship with the parents along with socioeconomic backgrounds among others are also important factors.

In finishing this discussion we suggest that talking to a child about teachers approval might render the child better equipped to handle the often non-verbal teacher’s opinion. If teacher’s approval is as powerful as some might think it could deserve a few efforts.