 |
| (Flickr) |
I read the articles How to Craft Constructive Feedback and The Difference Between Praise and Feedback. The two articles had a different focus, but both promoted the idea that sometimes it's a good idea to withhold praise, although the contexts were very different.
The article on constructive feedback said that sometimes your feedback isn't necessary. Not everything that someone does, particularly in the realm of art and other creative pursuits, requires outside opinion or interjection. It can be enough to just see it. Perhaps you will like all or some of it, perhaps you will not, but that's not its purpose. Its purpose is to express something from the heart and mind of the creator. In the situations where feedback is desired, it shouldn't constructive, not mean. Simply telling someone that you didn't like something does nothing to help them improve it, and if you're unkind in your criticism, it's unlikely that they'll take your advice anyway.
The article on praise and feedback was interesting in that I wasn't quite sure how I felt about labeling praise as a bad thing. After reading the article, I understood better that it's not so much about withhold praise per se, but about being more involved in the thought processes that children are using, and allowing them to develop their own thoughts and opinions. I do think that our culture tends to overpraise, but I see some value in it when its deserved and focused on the correct thing. I find Carol Dweck's ideas about process praise to be a good middle ground.
No comments:
Post a Comment