ADVISING, OFFERING SOLUTIONS OR SUGGESTIONS

SALOME Q. PANGILINAN

Such messages are heard by students as evidence that teaches don’t have confidence in students’ability to solve their own problems.

They sometimes influence tudents to become dependent on teachers, to stop thinking for themselves, to turn to outside “authorities” for answers in every stressful situation.

Advice communicates an attitude of superiority( I know what’s best for you), which is especially irritating to adolescents struggling to assert independence. Since advising implies superiority on the part of the advisor, students sometimes spend excessive time ractin to this attitude instead of developing ideas of their own.

These messages frequently leave students feeling that they have been misunderstood; that if the teacher had understood, he wouldn’t have suggested the solution he came up with. The feeling is, “If you really understood how I feel, you wouldn’t make such dum suggestion.” — oOo— The author is SST III at GD Mendoza High School