Have You Ever Been Wrong?

Have you ever been wrong? We all have. Teachers, however, would be wise to exercise caution when evaluating their pupils, lest their words of judgement come back to haunt them.

When British scientist, Sir John Gurdon, 'the godfather of cloning', won the Nobel Prize for Medicine earlier this month, he proved just how wrong his school teacher had been. Back in 1949, Sir John's school report described his grasp of biology as 'disastrous'. It added: 'I believe he has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous.'

Most likely, Sir John's learning style wasn't what schools expected in the 1940s. Chances are, he was kinesthetic, needed variety in his learning process and didn't enjoy externally imposed structures. If only his teacher had access to our Learning Style Analysis instruments (LSA)!