.jpg)
In my first year of teaching, a colleague quoted a well-worn saying to me: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink”. Something clicked when I heard that saying.
Up until that point, I had found myself wanting very hard to have all my students reach the same standard. I inwardly thought I could get the best out of everyone and have everyone excel – whether that meant all the class writing a perfectly-structured paper or completing a basic assignment correctly.But pretty soon, I found the expectation unrealistic. And I realized it came with a real burden - the burden of being responsible for everyone's success in the course. But as the saying posits, people, (like horses!), will often only do what they have a mind to do.
Those words from my colleague proved to be very freeing. Mulling the proverb and coming face to face with the reality of the classroom, I realized that it was unrealistic of me to expect everyone to succeed, for the simple reason that not every student wanted to, or could, perform at a high level in a particular situation for a whole host of reasons.
Of course, the saying might be interpreted as an excuse for bad teaching, or an exculpation of sorts. I'm also aware that, at different points, I have to be a motivational teacher or a compassionate one. However, shedding the pressure of unanimous high performance is necessary. For me, the effect is mostly relief, which carries over into the classroom (in the way I engage with students) and outside of it (as I prepare for lectures, for instance).
