Approach Determines Response

Approach determines response- you may have heard this saying used by Principal Roger Thomas. What is meant by this saying is, that the way you approach someone determines the response you are going to get in return. Let us put this into perspective by examining a common instance that happens around school, say you are walking down the hall and wearing a hat, and a teacher tells you to take it off. Now the way that this teacher tells or asks you to take your hat off is going to determine how you respond. If they raise their voice or take a disrespectful tone with you then you may reciprocate with disrespect in your response. We see that the teacher’s approach determines the student’s response. Now, this teacher is not going to like being disrespected nor will you like being disrespected by them, which will end up causing a reciprocal conflict. To avoid this conflict, Principal Thomas uses this term, approach determines response, to show both teachers and students that if you want a certain outcome of a conversation then you have to approach the situation in the way you want the other person to respond. 

Now the phrase “approach determines response” does not always have to deal with social situations. Your approach towards a situation will determine the response or outcome that you get. You may have an assignment that you need to complete, if you approach this assignment in a negative way, say you are reluctant and procrastinate to do it, your outcome of the assignment may not be that great or may cause you anxiety. You may get a bad grade on the assignment or you may just feel down altogether. Whereas, if you were to approach the assignment with a proactive and generally positive attitude; for example, you think about the good side of the assignment and what you can take away from it, you may end up learning something and actually be interested in what you are learning. 

Too many of us, students and teachers alike, have not thought about how our approach is going to determine the response we get. Students may go to talk to a teacher about their grade, they can go in with a number of different attitudes towards the situation.  However, going in with an open mind and a positive attitude are presumably  going to get a better response that does not upset us, then going in making demands or taking an accusing tone will. Things are a little more difficult for teachers, some students do not like to be confronted in front of their peers, so teachers have to be wary of this as well. They can not take a blanket approach to every situation and need to be able to read the different personalities of the students in order to get a good response from them.