A famous study was conducted in the Chicago school system some years ago. Educational researchers asked a group of school teachers for their help. The teachers were told that they were chosen for their superior teaching abilities. They were also told that only gifted children would be placed in their classrooms. The teachers were told that neither the children nor their parents would know of the experiment because they wanted to know how gifted children would perform if they did not know they were gifted.
As expected, the teachers reported that the children performed exceptionally well. The teachers reported that working with the children had been absolutely delightful, and they wished that they could work with such gifted children all the time.
There was a hidden agenda for the project. What the teachers did not know was that the teachers did not have exceptional teaching abilities. They were chosen at random. Also, the children were not chosen for their gifted abilities. They too were chosen at random. But because expectations were high, performance was high. Because the children and teachers were perceived as smart and exceptional, they performed exceptionally.
What does this mean? It means that your perceptions of your children and also of your own self can greatly affect the outcome of their and your own lives respectively. In other words, of you can see the genius in your child (or your own mind); you will help your child become richer and smarter. And if you teach your children to have those same perceptions they will stand a better chance of having the rest of the world see the same self-perceptions and treat them accordingly.
And this is where the real education begins. That is why most successful entrepreneurs say, “GIVE YOUR CHILDREN POWER, BEFORE YOU GIVE THEM MONEY.” Help them develop a strong self-perception, and you help them become prosperous, smart and powerful. If they don’t have that, then all the education or money in the world will not help them. If they have that, getting smarter and richer will only get easier.
CA Chandan Mundhra
India
