Use appropriates solutions

A teacher once worked in a secondary school. In one of his

lessons, he noticed that some students were being negligent and

lagging behind in their revision, so he decided to teach them a

lesson. After a few days, when he entered the classroom, and as

soon as he sat down, he stunned the students by saying, “Everyone,

please put your books away and take out a paper and

pen!”

“Why?” asked the pupils.

“You have a surprise exam!” he said.

The pupils grumbled as they complied, but one not-so-bright,

large-bodied student who was a known troublemaker shouted,

“Teacher, we don’t want an exam now! I cannot even answer

exam questions after revising, so what about when we have not

revised at all?” The pupil said this in a very fierce tone and the

teacher was furious.

He said, “Things don’t happen here just as you please! You

must sit the exam! Do you understand? If you don’t like it, then

get out of the classroom!”

The pupil replied back in rage, “Rather, you get up and

leave!”

The teacher turned to the pupil, walked up to him and began

to curse him, “You have no manners! No etiquette!”

The pupil stood up and some things occurred which I would

rather not mention, but can be guessed. The matter reached the

school administration. The pupil was punished by having his final

marks decreased and was forced to pledge that he would never

again misbehave.

As for the teacher, everyone at that school began speaking

about him. He could not walk down a corridor without hearing

people whispering something about him, until he was compelled

to leave and join another school.

Now, another school teacher once faced the same dilemma,

but he dealt with it appropriately. One day, he entered his classroom

and surprised the pupils by saying, “Please, take out your

pen and paper. You have a surprise exam!”

One pupil, like the one mentioned previously, screamed,

“Teacher! You cannot give us an exam whenever you like!”

The teacher was like a mountain that could feel the insignificant

weight of the person trying to climb him. He knew that

a stubborn person should not be responded to with yet more

stubbornness. He smiled and looked at the pupil then said, “So,

 you do not want to sit the exam?”

The pupil screamed, ‘No!’

The teacher said very calmly, “OK. Whoever does not wish

to sit the exam will have to face the school’s disciplinary procedure.

So, write the questions down. Question number one: Solve

the following equation...”

The teacher began to list the questions, but the pupil could

not remain silent and said, “I told you, I don’t want to sit this

exam!”

The teacher looked at the pupil with a smile and said, “Am I

forcing you to sit an exam? You are an adult and responsible for

your own actions.”

The pupil found that he could not make this teacher angry,

so he calmed down, took out a pen and paper, and began to

write down the questions.

Afterwards, he was disciplined by the school administration

for misbehavior.

When u reflected upon this story, you will realised the difference in

people’s ability to deal with diverse situations, and their expertise

in either solving a problem or making it worse. Dealing with

a stubborn person by using stubbornness only results in fireworks.

Everyone would agree that fighting a fire with fire would

only increase the flames, and that responding to coldness with

coldness would not work either. Therefore, one’s relationship

with others should be like the hair strand of Mu’awiyah…

                            to be continued