School children were used for an experiment in education.
The children in three groups were equally average students. Controllers of the study made a significant change, though. They placed the three groups with three different teachers and told each teacher the status of the students.
One teacher was told her group consisted of exceptional students. Another teacher was given average students and the third acquired slow children.
Throughout the school year, each of the teachers subconsciously treated their students as they had been classified.
At the end of the year when the students were tested, the results were startling. Although they began as equals, at the end of the year each group scored as they had been classified and treated.
The exceptional students tested above average, the average scored in the middle, and the slow students ended up with below-average grades.
In essence, each student lived up to the expectations and treatment of the teachers.
What we receive from others and from life will generally be no more than what we expect or give. —Robert Logan, Seeking, Finding, and Developing Leaders
