John loved to race his bike competitively. Every Saturday he could, he entered a race on his bike.
When John was referred to his counselor for disrupting class and talking back to the teacher, he was asked, "Why do you hurry home on Thursday and Friday before a race?"
"I shine my bike up and get it all clean," John responded.
"Is that all?" asked the counselor.
"No," said John. "I grease the wheels and the chain."
When asked why, John said, "It makes the bike ride smoother. It goes faster and pumps easier with grease on the wheels and chain."
Matt, as a senior, loved to work on cars. He wanted to be a mechanic when he graduated. Indeed, he had a part-time job in a garage after school every day.
Matt was referred to the counselor for being argumentative with his teacher. His counselor asked him, "Do you put oil in your car's engine?"
Matt looked at the counselor as though looking at an idiot. "Of course," he shot back contemptuously, "the oil cuts down on the friction. Without oil, the friction would make the motor too hot. The cylinders would swell. The motor would burn up...you've GOT to have oil!"
When John was asked if a little "grease" would make his history class run smoother, and when Matt was asked if a little "oil" would cut down on the friction in his class, both boys understood immediately.
Friction between a teacher and a pupil causes heat. The heat causes anger, loss of temper, loss of control and loss of any chance of understanding.
Matt became interested in attention-getting techniques. He found that he could pay better attention if he observed the teacher. What did he wear? What mannerisms did he repeat? What section of the class did the teacher watch? With which faces did the teacher make eye contact most often?
After a month, Matt realized that the teacher wore one pair of slacks for a week at a time. He would wear a brown pair for a week, then a gray pair for a week.
One day, on a Monday, the teacher wore a pair of slacks Matt hadn't seen before.
"Hey, Mr. Scharfin, are those slacks new?" asked Matt on the way out of class. "They really look good on you."
The teacher wore the same slacks for two more days, and Matt said nothing, but he noticed that Mr. Scharfin caught his eye more often for those two days.
Each time the teacher looked at Matt, Matt would cast a glance at the slacks. On Thursday, the teacher changed slacks, wearing a checkered pair. After class, Matt pointed at the pants and said, "Sharp threads, Mr. Scharfin."
This time, the teacher said, "Thank you, Matt."
For two weeks, Matt complimented the teacher on any change of his attire. After two weeks, Matt realized a strange phenomenon...
Mr. Scharfin was wearing a different pair of slacks every day. In fact, his entire grooming habits began to improve. Moreover, Matt's face was one with which he made contact more often than before.
Also, Mr. Scharfin started to put forth more easily in his teaching. I wish to point out most definitely that all of his compliments were sincere. Matt had just placed a little more oil in the crankcase to the benefit of both the teacher and the student... Continue
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