According to “Sunday’s Guest” Jacques Gibble in a column headed “Effort is key to achievement”: “This belief, that only some students have the intelligence to achieve academically, has operated in our schools for a long time. It colors teacher (and parent) expectations for their charges and anticipates that only the ‘smart’ ones will do well.” [On the contrary] “When teachers expect students to do well…, they do; if they expect students to do poorly,..students will meet that expectation as well.”
WATCHDOG: No truer words were ever written about educating children, and even adults. Instead of devoting time and effort to helping youngsters over come difficulties, parents and teachers may just assume they aren’t good at the subject.
Often just a little bit of extra help in school, from family, or by a tutor, will enable a student to catch up to and often to surpass classmates. As studies show, the academic achievement of children often reflect the expectations of parents and teachers.
