When I was preparing lately for a presentation on how depressive mood and social maladjustments may ultimately affect academic achievement, I came up with the following thoughts:

Unfortunately, many teachers, attribute the failure of their students to "weak preparation" and perhaps to being "less intelligent" .

As long as the student is achieving, he is viewed by the teacher to be "the intelligent" and the one who "has prepared well".

Assume a teacher had two students who got a grade of 40 on a certain exam, what do you expect the interpretation of that teacher to be?

Do you think that this "40" is the same as the other "40" ?

Not to me! I don't believe that this "40" has the same meaning... not the same interpretation.

That student who took the 1st 40 is not the same as the other who also took a 40.

So how come the teacher would view them the same way?

How come she would jump to one of the limited two options: either being not intelligent, or haven't prepared well ?


Well to me, I may put at least a third possibility, which is, they both may have prepared, but their must have been some INHIBITORY FACTORS that have inhibited their performance, and ultimately lead to their under-achievement !!

The teacher should consider this possibility, and is responsible for identifying those inhibitory factors, in order to know how to overcome them, and ultimately facilitate learning for the student... and help him perform well under the conditions that would enhance his performance.. rather than inhibit it..


What has this to do with depressive mood and social maladjustments?

Well these are some of the inhibitory factors that may be affecting the student's performance, that's why I am mentioning them as an example and not as the only factors...