Praise and Correction

This morning, I read some advice on teaching, and one piece of advice that resonated with me is to offer praise more than correction. Correction is often necessary, but people don't like to be corrected, so it's helpful to temper any needed correction with some deserved praise. Additionally, it may be possible to offer correction without passing criticism. Instead of telling someone what they did wrong, one might show them an example of someone doing it right. Highlighting positive examples is much more pleasant than singling out negative examples, and I imagine that people would respond better to the former method anyhow. Most of us are not often in a position that requires us to judge others, but when we are, we might do well to remember that one catches more flies with honey than with vinegar. Correction is often essential, but when it is, some praise could be very helpful too.