When a child makes a mistake or fails to accomplish a certain goal, we must avoid any word or action which indicates that we consider him a failure. 'Too bad that didn't work.' 'I'm sorry it didn't work out for you.' We need to separate the deed from the doer.
Interpretation
Children should be supported in their efforts, regardless of the outcome.
This quote emphasizes the importance of positive reinforcement in a child's development, suggesting that when children make mistakes or fail, adults should avoid labeling them as failures. Instead, we should focus on the actions and encourage children to learn from their experiences without feeling defeated or ashamed, fostering a growth mindset that separates their self-worth from their achievements.
In practice
A teacher using this quote in a classroom to encourage students to embrace their mistakes as learning opportunities.
We cannot protect our children from life. Therefore, it is essential to prepare them for it. Feeling sorry for children is one of the most seriously damaging attitudes we can have. It so greatly demonstrates to them and to ourselves that we lack faith in them and their ability to cope with adversities.
The biggest job we have is to teach a newly hired employee how to fail intelligently. We have to train him to experiment over and over and to keep on trying and failing until he learns what will work.
The reactionaries are in possession of force, in not only the army and police, but in the press and the schools
Education has for its object the formation of character.
Long before I wrote stories, I listened for stories. Listening for them is something more acute than listening to them. I suppose it’s an early form of participation in what goes on. Listening children know stories are there. When their elders sit and begin, children are just waiting and hoping for one to come out, like a mouse from its hole.
If you are in difficulties with a book, try the element of surprise: attack it at an hour when it isn't expecting it.
The child is endowed with unknown powers, which can guide us to a radiant future. If what we really want is a new world, then education must take as its aim the development of these hidden possibilities.
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