“Knowledge is incomplete without mentor”, an apothegm that clearly evinces the importance of a mentor in one’s life. A mentor may be an educator, a teacher, an employer or a parent who, by the dint of his experience and intellect can guide a person through his way to success. However, this guiding process is itself divided into two subclasses, of which, the first depends on positive encouragement and the second on criticisms. According to me, both the subclasses are momentous and somewhat dependent on each other.
Great inventions and achievements that we see today are a result of arduous hard-work of humans, who have continually worked and cogitated for the betterment of existing technologies and other sectors. The journey to success and the path of hard-work are quite tiring and frustrating, which betokens the need for positive encouragement. Apart from alleviating mental stress, positive encouragement exhorts one to perform better by raising his morale and self-confidence. Furthermore, a mentor should always extol the positive actions of his student or employee, so that he can continuously work with determination and a feeling of satisfaction and contentment. On the other hand, negative comments or criticisms are also necessary, as they help to ascertain out the areas that need improvement or the mistakes that one has committed while performing the concerned opus.
Consider a student who studies sincerely and performs well in his examinations. This particular student should necessarily be praised by his teachers and parents, as it will help him to aggrandize the amount of endeavour, so as to produce better results in the future. However, if this student after achieving success and accolades studies laxly, then there is an imperative need for criticism and he should be chided for his non-serious attitude towards studies. Chiding will not only teach him to remain humble and down to earth, but will also make him alert towards his studies. On the contrary, if such carelessness of the student is ignored by his mentor, then there are fewer chances of his improvement in the subsequent years of his study. Thus one can ascertain that, positive encouragement on the one hand acts as a motivator, while criticism on the other hand acts as sentinel to one’s careless behaviour.
In addition to the facts stated above, one fine point still needs clarification; positive encouragement should not go up to the level of cloying, as it may lead a person to take things for granted. Additionally, negative actions should not be ignored, rather they should be criticised but not to the extent of lambasting, which can jeopardise the composure and equanimity of a person.
Hence, in summary; the best way to teach is to praise the positive actions and criticize the negative ones, rather than ignoring them. However, both the subclasses defined above are quite dependent on each other, and should be limited, as excess of one may incur the need for the other.
TOEFL listening discussions: A conversation between a professor and a university student in the professor’s office
