Talent vs Effort?
By Ade
@adelynnn (66)
May 21, 2016 12:05pm CST
I have been giving tuition for quite some time and there are a couple of categories of kids who I've came across - slow but hardworking, slow and not hardworking, as well as talented but not hardworking ( I think I personally belong to the third type! :p)
It's now the period when I question and evaluate the effectiveness of my teaching, and I begin to question how success come about. If my students belong in any of the three categories above, will what I do matter, and even contribute to their improvement in results at the end of the day?
Am I supposed to be the one putting in the effort, or do they have to help themselves first before I can help them?
Any views?
3 people like this
5 responses
@41CombedaleRoad (5954)
• Greece
21 May 16
If you can teach in a way that arouses their curiosity to learn more, if you do it in such a way that learning is fun and if you know your subject well then that is all the energy you need to put in. It is a two way process and motivation also plays its part.
1 person likes this
@adelynnn (66)
•
21 May 16
Yes that was what I thought initially! I thought that making it fun is the way to go because that was what my teachers did for me and until this day I remember all that they taught! But apparently kids nowadays don't want long background stories (albeit interesting) - they just are interested in knowing the fastest and shortest and most convenient way to score!
@Curlybobby (370)
•
21 May 16
It is a two way process. How a particular student benefits from your technique depends on the nature of the problem or the concept in question. Intelligent students may grasp quickly while hardworking students may need more time and patience to get a hang of it. Sometimes one needs to work hard to truly benefit from the teaching. While sometimes, you may need to be inherently smart. It's pretty subjective that way. But to look at the larger picture, neither your effort nor your students' would go waste. The students need you to channelize their efforts or their intelligence in any case!!
1 person likes this
@adelynnn (66)
•
21 May 16
Most of the times I just find it a little hard to motivate them because they think that they're not that smart! (in Singapore, students are streamed according to their academic abilities and most of my students are in the slower category). It just seem like a vicious cycle to me ...
@trivia79 (7828)
• El Segundo, California
21 May 16
both. you do the effort. make them to effort. and let those efforts work together for good results.
by the way, is there no talented but hardworking in your class?
@siddrokr (163)
• India
21 May 16
You can't clap with one hand..
Similarly to be successful, talent and effort both are required. Talent is the car and effort is the road,if you have better talent ,i.e better car you can cover the road fast and easily. But a tortoise can also cover the entire road with efforts.
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