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Originally Posted by Repotter
Yes I can and have told my students the proper way to choose a bonsai and that the tree they recieved as a gift just isn't going to amount to much as a bonsai, or their tree isn't worth the time spent.
Tempering remarks to the situation at hand of course.
But the way I tell them is what makes the difference. I speak constructively and with compassion but I tell them the truth, with a smile of course.
It's called salesmanship for lack of any other word.
This is much easier to convey in person while looking someone in the eyes rather than staring at a faceless monitor.
There will always be some dissappointment in hearing something other than praise for our efforts. But thats how we learn, how I learned.
Remarks of criticism should be tempered when put into print because it is far too easy to misunderstand and sound bad tempered or over critical.
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That's true, and of course we have not avoided the truth. This entire issue goes far deeper than bonsai. The educational system is infected with it. There are school systems that are more concerned about a students "Self Esteem" than they are about them learning something that is useful in the real world.
One last analogy I would like to offer. For those of you who were in Viet Nam you will understand this right off, for those of you who were not you might have to think about it. There is a way that seems easy to get from point A to point B, that is to follow the trail that goes that direction. One of the first lesson you learned in Viet Nam was to stay off the trails. You either learned it by listening to those who had been there before you, or you learned it by getting shot at or shot, or blown up by a land mine, or falling into a punji pit. They don't call them boobie-traps for nothing.