Too Strict?

The Wall Street Journal featured an article about tough teachers and how they achieve results: a traditional educator with strict discipline and unyielding demands has successful students. I wonder if some of these concepts should be introduced to the physician-patient encounter.

Strict is better than nice. Rather than leading students through discussions and collaborative learning, teachers who provide explicit instructions and lectures achieve the best results.

Optimism can be taught. Teachers who believed that their students would improve had better academic gains, since the students came to believe that they would improve.

Praise makes you weak. Don’t applaud the outcome, encourage the process. Things worth achieving are hard work.

Failure is an option. Trying again is part of the learning process. Get up, dust yourself off and take another shot.

Stress makes you strong. Dealing with negative events builds resilience. Things are tough and always will be – so move on.

The bottom line: the belief in the student’s ability to do better.