Dr. Haim Ginott (1922-1973) was a teacher, child psychologist, and author.
The following were taken from the book Teacher and Child by Dr. Ginott:
#1
I’ve come to a frightening conclusion.
I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.
#2
Dear Teacher:
I am the survivor of a concentration camp.
My eyes saw what no man should witness.
Gas chambers built by learned engineers.
Children poisoned by educated physicians.
Infants killed by trained nurses.
Woman and babies shot and burned by high school and college graduates.
So I am suspicious of education.
My request is that teachers help students become human.
Your efforts much never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmans.
