'Don't label students stupid'

NEW DELHI: Educators should abstain from labelling students who struggle as ‘stupid’ or ‘lazy’ and help them grow on their strengths, while working on their weaknesses. This was the central theme at the Times NIE Knowledge Meet, organised by the Times of India Group in Delhi.

The meet, centred on the theme ‘An Overview of the Pathways of Learning’, saw Learning Matters India Foundation president Sonya Philip and Claire Wurtzel of US-based All Kinds of Minds hold forth on how educators need to identify learning problems, including whether these originated from attention, memory or language disabilities.

“Slow and smart are considered to be opposite of each other. We have to realise that one can be slow and smart at the same time. Students who are exceptionally bright can be slow learners as well. It helps if the parents, teachers and the student himself are aware of the student’s learning profile, including his learning differences,” said Ms Wurtzel. — Our Bureau