Needless to say, the teachers' paradigm of the students were determined based on the data shown. At the end of the day, the class of "bright" kids suffered a drop in IQ whereas the class of "dumb" kids became more diligent and smarter.
The above scenario must have been familiar to you. I'm sure you can remember how the teachers perceive the bright students as the future leaders and the dumb ones as the future subordinates. When faced with "dumb" students, most of the teachers have already set a limit for them, a limit which says that they can never be better than the "bright" students. They see them as uncooperative kids and people who have a low learning capacity.
However, when they meet up with the "bright" students, they immediately raised the bar high. They were determined to unleash their potential and bring them to the next level. They trust that they will succeed in life eventually.
Does this means that the "dumb" students have no potential? Are they truly lazy? Or is it because the teachers feel that they have no potential and they can only move so far in life. Unconsciously, the vulnerable students, who are chronically exposed to these criticisms, tell themselves that maybe the teachers are right. I am really not cut out for this subject and like what the teachers said, the results justify my incapability.
After a while, the teachers' paradigm is imposed upon the student. Unconsciously, the student is beguiled by the teacher's assessment of him and slowly he sinks. As the prophecy is fufilled, the students gave up. More teachers come along with similar paradigms and further reinforced that he is truly dumb.
The above scenario is also very common in the business world. Many are chasing after paper qualifications to pursue an executive position in top institutions. Those who failed are deemed less capable and that they should work like a bull for those who succeeded. However, in actual fact, the employees could easily surpass the manager's capability. How many of the top executive managers actually bother to interview those with lower qualifications for top positions? In fact, they will not hesitate to siphon them out. They would choose to interview people with PHD for the respective roles because they are affirmed by the fact that all PHD holders possess an incandescent wit. However, did they realize that they might have forgotten the criteria that truly mark a great leader? Have they considered the emotional, mental, and social capabilities of the candidate? Or did they assume that all PHD holders are sociable, understanding and great visualizers?
Goethe taught,"Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is." This applies to how he will remain as he is in your perspective. Let me share with you an experience of mine.
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A few years ago, I met a guy named Christ. He was newly posted into my campus from New Zealand. Desperate to find out more about him, I went to consult some of my friends to enquire about him. They told me that Christ is sagacious but deceitful. At that point in time, I immediately developed a new paradigm I have of him. I thought he is really smart as seen from his astute analysis of every presentations. However, I felt that he was insincere in nature based on my prior knowledge of him from my friends who barely knew him.
One day, he approached me and asked me about my family and future goals in life. Immediately, I thought he wanted to recruit me into his network. In the end, I put him off with a couple of sentences and went ahead on myself. On several other occasions, I saw him helping out a few of the juniors with their work after school, but once again, I told myself that he was just trynig to gain popularity. Paradigm shift are indeed hard to manipulate. As hard as I have tried to, I trusted my friends' assessment more than my own eyes. I judged him based on a mere critique of my friends'. Finally, I could resist no more. I went ahead and spoke to him one on one in an attempt to discern for myself what sort person he actually is. After a long conversation, I came to a new conclusion that he is the most sincere and helpful person I've ever met. He was in fact the one who initiated a programme to further help the weaker juniors. In addition, he wanted to build up his social network so that he could organise an outing for everyone to come together to broaden their own social network. He did all these to influence, not to be recognised. It was flagrant that he truly possesses a remarkably compassionate heart that put all above himself.
From that experience, I felt extremely remorseful for judging him right from the start. In retrospect, it was a wake-up call for me too, that I should never judge a person based on gossips or external sources. It takes time to really understand a person, you can't possibly understand him based on a few critiques or impressions of him. I understand that we often have the propensity to judge based on external sources and first impressions, however, we have to tell ourselves that we should never judge a book by its cover. As much as what I have said above sounds fanatical and ideal, we do mistakingly judged alot of people in our life, unconsciously and imperceptibly. Many were victims of our viscious judgemental character. Therefore, in order to prevent ourselves from discriminating more people, we should open our mind and look at people with a broader perspective rather than a parochial view that most of us now possess.
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