From the Professor's point of view

I was reading the weekly email from Medscape MedStudent, that arrived with an appealing title "Making Students Cry". I simply wanted to quote the last paragraph:

... (medical) students seem to be robust—frequently asking for feedback on their weaknesses and errors. However, I have come to realize that such robustness cannot be assumed and that when addressing a point of error, I need to remember that the person is always more important than the point.

The whole story goes on the fact that lecturers and teachers often don't consider the feelings of the student, dehumanizing the whole process of teaching and learning. I think that each individual has been through at least one unpleasant moment at school and/or university. Oral examinations for example. I still remember once a professor telling me "you don't have yet the maturity to be an engineer" and sending me obviously to second session. I had to spend all my holidays studying for that specific subject, that I've never used afterwards. Anyway, the experience in itself helped indeed in my own personal development and in the understanding of how relative things are. I could tell many other stories.

Church issues are often solved in similar ways. I guess that pastors create the same kind of "fear" in the congregation as professors create in the classroom. As the articles author said "actually I don't feel myself as threatening" but it does not mean that others actually do. Interestingly, addressing the other's feelings, as normally pastors should do, appeared to be the solution. I wonder if in Churches we could also think of some paradigm changes when addressing problems or pointing out mistakes.

May God show grace through His people.