Compassion

An essential trait in teachers is compassion. When a teacher can identify how a student is feeling, he or she can adjust his or her methods to maximize the potential of the student. For example, my senior year was extremely stressful. I was in three sports, five musical ensembles, advanced classes, and I had a job to go along with all that. All of my friends were the same way, and we also had college applications and auditions and interviews going on. One teacher in particular understood our situation. She had gone through the same thing, and she gave us tips here and there to help us through an incredibly stressful time. Her understanding wasn't the same thing as pushing back deadlines and reducing assignments. She still expected us to complete our workload on time. However, she motivated us and encouraged us to do the best we could. I believe that even though compassion is an asset to teachers, they should not take it too far and move due dates or reduce workload, because that defeats the purpose of learning responsibility. I think compassion can affect the maximum potential of students.