Teacher Power

Parents are often amazed at the degree of influence some teachers have over their children's minds; especially those children of primary school age. This recognition is most profound when the parent is assisting the child with his or her home work. The parents may suggest that the child take a particular approach to the task assigned by the teacher, but the child insists on taking another approach because "Teacher says so".
 It is possible for teacher to be incorrect; teachers are not perfect, and the parent might succeed in taking the child along the path via a method he or she ( the parent) has been suggesting to the child, but it will be at the expense of some frayed nerves until the parent and teacher communicate on the matter, and  perhaps bring the child to an understanding that there are often several paths to achieving the same goal. But a teacher does not gain that kind of influence over a child's mind by simply teaching lessons. Children are not impressed by the teacher's methods of passing on the information. Enabling a child to understand a concept is not the key to a child's confidence. What matters to the child is the teacher's patience, attitude, tenderness, diplomacy, his or her ability to not only hold the attention of the child, but  to make the child feel that he or she is receiving a compensatory degree of attention in exchange for the attention he or she ( the child) is giving to the teacher. It is possible, for example, for a child to approach a teacher while she is busy with another matter. Does the teacher, let's say, rest a hand gently on the child's shoulder as he waits for her listening ear, although she is clearly still attending to the matter on which her attention was focused before the child arrived at her desk?
When a child says to a parent, "Teacher says so", it is not because the teacher knows how to take the child from point A to point B in the acquisition of numeracy skills. It is because the teacher has shown the child some teacher care.