ABSTRACT
More than 40 years ago, the Israeli Educator Dr Haim Ginott wrote, ‘Praise, like penicillin, must not be administered haphazardly. There are rules and cautions that govern the handling of potent medicines … There are similar regulations about the administration of emotional medicine’ (Ginott 1965: 39). He advised parents and fellow educators to be cautious in the use of praise, saying that dependence fosters hostility and that children should be given as much autonomy as possible, within defined limits. In the same way that rules and timing determine medicinal doses, so there should be rules about the use of praise. This stemmed from Ginott’s belief that as a teacher, he was the ‘decisive element’ in his classroom and that he alone was responsible for creating the learning climate.
