Criticism, failure, and raising above
Recently, this article was shared with me. From the perspective of learning and being challenged to learn and grow, it makes sense. What any educator (faculty and academic advisor) desires is a learner willing to listen and to learn from the comments and wisdom of someone who has already walked the path of the learner.
The problem is, comments written on papers are often called, and/or interpreted as criticism.
Criticism is defined as
WRONG.
BAD.
YOU FAILED.
YOU ARE NOT CAPABLE.
Actually, that’s not how it’s defined at all.
If you look up the definition of of criticism, a common theme is evaluation and judgment.
Many of us are taught to abhor criticism. After all, we have all been criticized by family, grade school peers, or friends. That criticism, whether intended as helpful or hurtful, HURT.
Now, any comment about our performance is interpreted as hurtful or judgmental and is taken personally.
How does this apply to the learner? When the learner’s work is criticized as part of the feedback process, the learner feels like he/she is a failure.
When a learner calls upset about the criticism and feedback, faculty and/or advisors need to help the learner shift perspective from one of being attacked or being a failure to the perspective of growth or learning from the experience.
To learn, one must be challenged.
To be challenged, one must present their work to an evaluator.
That evaluator will comment, based on her knowledge and experience and viewpoint.
Educators do not intend hurt when evaluating/criticizing. They are focused on the content, the writing style and pointing out places to change, grow and learn.
A different evaluator may comment on other components of the work.
Different evaluator equals different knowledge, experience and viewpoints.
As you read, your mind interprets and implies tone and meaning. No matter the intent of the evaluator, the words/criticism are intended to for encouragement, for improvement.
It is the challenge of any learner who seeks to learn: read into the comments/criticism/evaluation of your instructor the intent of helping you learn and grow.
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August 29th, 2009 at 7:52 am
As the minister of education for our church, this article rings loud and true for the vision of our children. If there is no constructive criticism then the individual will not reach their potential and move further. We are teaching them the difference between vindictive comments and those that mean you well. Our church familt has issued a challenge to all students, those in college too, strive to present your best and at the same time listen.
August 31st, 2009 at 5:15 am
Sheila:
Thanks for sharing. And thanks for your work in striving to help all your church family to improve through listening to constructive criticism.
Lynn