I find it hard to get past first impressions. Every year when students enter the class you have a lot of short lived concepts of what they will be like. Often by the end of the first day those have been shattered and replaced by a new set of first impressions. It is amazing how many times that impression is proven to be accurate. It is amazing how often it can be totally wrong. I worked at starting every day fresh. When a student came into class I was willing to start a clean sheet but they prefered to get out the old one and keep adding entries.
Should we work to get past first impressions? I am not so sure. Part of the reason students, and adults for that matter, act like such jerks is because they think they will get another chance. Think of the guy who gives you the one finger salute in the parking lot. Would he be so generous in his evaluation of your driving skills if he knew you would be interviewing him for a job tomorrow?
I think we might have a better civilization if we put more emphasis on first impressions. I think we would live better if we stopped telling people they can’t judge a book by its cover. We just turned in our textbooks at school. From the condition of the covers you couldn’t tell much about the book but you could certainly tell something about the student turning it in.
homo unius libri
I try very hard to suspend forming an opinion about someone until I've observed them several times. That's not to say that I don't try to protect myself; I tend to sit back and watch how they treat others or me. Sometimes it's people who are considered more respectable are the meanest.
ReplyDeleteAnd I guess it goes both ways. Often our opinions of people are good when a little watching will show some real issues.
DeleteGrace and peace.