The hidden asset

It is said that nature always sides with the hidden flaw. Teachers have the opposite role: to side with the hidden asset, to minimize a child's deficiencies, intensify his experience, and enlarge his life. In every classroom encounter a teacher asks himself: "How can I be helpful right now?" This approach avoids finding faults, establishing guilt, and meting out punishment. Teachers become experts in prevention of dissension, virtuosi in avoidance of crises, masters in de-escalation of conflict. Disciplinary problems become opportunities for conveying values, providing insights, and strengthening self-esteem.

—Haim Ginott