On Thu, 02 Nov 2000 16:37:21 -0500, L.D. Best wrote:
> I still believe that such corrections are inappropriate in this forum.
> If someone truly intended to kindly educate the person making an error,
> to help said person gain a better control over the elusive English
> language, wouldn't that be best done in private?
> "Help" given publicly is most often an embarassment, particularly when
> the person didn't ask for that help in the first place.
> I'm not likely to change my mind on that. I was taught that a boss
> should never publicly chastise an employee, and I agree with that. As a
> teacher I learned that correcting a student "in front of the class" very
> often led to withdrawal from class participation, anger, pain, or a
> combination thereof.
> To reduce the OT traffic flow here, it seems that we will simply have to
> agree to disagree.
Well said, L.D.
I should like to add that the psychological effect on the person being
publicly criticized can be either good or bad. It depends on the person
and the attitude of his peers. It depends on the severity of the criticism,
the person's personality, and the person's ability to respond to public
criticism. If the person knows how to take it, then it's OK to dish it out.
If a person doesn't know how to take public criticism, then the person
should learn. The teaching should be given in private whenever this
method is more helpful and positive and appropriate.
All the best,
Sam Heywood
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