Misjudgments about Students

There are several misjudgments about students or student’s community at large. A new student, who enters the college for the first time, makes an impression of himself on the minds of his friends, teachers and others, with whom he interacts. (For convenience of writing this essay the male gender has been chosen) This impression is made consciously. Most students try to project a positive impression, yet the image created invariably varies with each person .The image the student tries to project may not be the image the receiver is getting.

This creates various misjudgments. Very few students are able to overcome it. Misjudgments may occur on both the sides. A student may not be able to grasp what his teacher wants to say in a given situation. May be the underlining meaning of the words are more important to teacher. But the student may respond to the superficial meaning of the words. For example, when a teacher announces “I want the attendance to be 100%”, he may be conveying that, not only is the presence of the student wanted, he also wants the student to come prepared with the lesson.

Whereas, the student gets the message that the teacher wants him to be present in every class, oblivious of the message that the teacher also wants his full attention in the class.Misjudgment may also arise out of prejudice. When a teacher meets the students for the first time, he may be biased or nonbiased about the class. It is easy to create an impression with a non-biased teacher.

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But a biased teacher has already some information about the student, or a group of students. He forms his idea of the student based on the information he already has. Yet there is possibility that the information passed on to the teacher is inadequate and incorrect. It may have come from another individual, who is already biased about the student. For example a teacher may know his student as an aggressive person. But the fact may be that the student is a shy, introvert person. It is possible that he was aggressive with someone, who had some behavioral problem, or might have acted, in a rude fashion with him. It is therefore not fair that a student be judged from any other person’s perspective and reported. It requires that a teacher has his own judgments of a student, which is based on the teacher’s personal assessment. A student may be labeled as non-responsive in class. Yet the fact may be that the student has been rebuked or has faced an insult while responding in an earlier session. Such incidents often discourage a student to come up with response in an open discussion or debate.There are occasions when language is a limitation, and the student cannot communicate properly and effectively in a classroom situation. He may not be confident about the language spoken in a class and feels inhibited to express himself. In such situations, the image of the student is very likely to be misjudged. The student may be very good in expressing in written language, but may feel shy to speak. He may not be able to express himself with confidence, making him non-responsive in a classroom situation. Often, in a college campus, the students who cannot speak fluent English are shunned .A student who is new with a language will always hesitate to speak it. He will be guided by the underlying fear of mispronunciation, wrong usage or incorrect grammar. Naturally, he will be apprehensive about the usage of the language in public. This normal reaction of the student may not be judged correctly and he may be labeled as a snob and choosy by his friends and teachers. Yet the student may have all the intrinsic values that go on to build the character of a person and should be respected for it.Ego of a student often plays an important role in his expressions. A competent student will be confident and have a higher opinion of the self. It is likely that he will project himself accordingly in a class. It may be taken inappropriately by teachers and fellow students .An opinion about him is likely to be haughty, obstinate and over confident. In reality, he may be a vibrant, expressive and supportive student oozing with confidence. It takes time, situation and patience to judge a person. It may be grossly wrong to label him as a typecast.It is not uncommon to find students from various communities, colors and races labeled. It creates misjudgments about them, without giving them an opportunity to express and prove themselves. Such misjudgments may occur regarding the educational background of the race, economic condition of the student’s country of origin and religion followed. Yet the student, a citizen of the modern world with modern education might have left behind all stigma and differentiation. He may have very open and positive idea of world and its affairs. It is solely misappropriate to label him to a group’s behavior pattern. For example, a student from Southeast Asia following Buddhism may be labeled a mild and subdued person. But in reality, the person may be vivacious, articulate and knowledgeable with a competitive edge. Thus, labeling does not help.It only paves the way whereby misconceptions are formed and misjudgments are made. Miscasting any student or a group of student to a belief declines the confidence on him or the group’s ability to perform. It is therefore important that before a judgment is made, enough thought be given on the issue. Enquires need to be made to know the individual or the group, so that assessment is made on observation only. Misinformation received and misjudgments made on an individual can mar the individual’s academic ascension as well as career advancement. It is, therefore, imperative that due consideration to various facets of a students life be given before generalizing on him or labeling them.