Empathy is an important part of being a good person. We should all be able to understand how others feel and be sensitive to their problems.

However, as the expression goes, too much is never a good thing, especially when it comes to children. But most people think of this in terms of sugar, not empathy.

Professor Sha Collier has a different point of view – a bit controversial. In a TikTok video, she claimed that teachers must give courage to their students to succeed, and said that was a major factor in why teachers are leaving the profession in droves.

A current teacher has backed up a former teacher’s claims that “too much empathy” is to blame for student failures and teacher resignations.

Collier sewed a video of former professor Mike Bonitatibus agree that the reason so many students fail and teachers give up is due to too much empathy. She shared her experience teaching chemistry to eighth graders.

She asked students to bring a pencil, their tablet (charged, of course), and a copy of the periodic table for a test. She stressed that without these elements, they would fail.

Collier said she also provided several reminders to students, as well as their parents and other teachers.

Only 60 of its 110 students came prepared on exam day, and of course, those who didn’t pass failed.

Although she was tempted to offer them another opportunity, she decided against it. There was no excuse for not bringing the required materials. Remember, these were students about to enter high school.

Collier gave them every chance to succeed and they didn’t take them. “There are consequences for your actionsand children need to know that,” she said.

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Schools must act in the best interests of children, but what exactly is best for them?

In the video Collier made, former teacher Mike Bonitatibus argued that the problem with too much empathy comes from wanting what’s best for them. What is best for them is not a black and white question, however. There is no right or wrong answer.

Some believe that children who fail will embarrass them and make them feel ashamed and, therefore, should be avoided.

Others think it’s good for children to experience these negative emotions in order to be motivated to perform better in the future.

Unfortunately, many teachers claim that in reality educating children about the curriculum and life has been put on the back burner and replaced by the satisfaction of parents’ requests that their children’s emotions take center stage.

Ironically, striving not to hurt students may actually harm them in the long run.

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Too much empathy has resulted in “learned helplessness” among students as a direct result of not being held accountable for their actions.

According to Psychology Todaychildren develop learned helplessness in school when “they cannot do well and so stop trying to improve.”

When children fail in class and are still allowed to move on to the next grade levelthey don’t understand (or choose not to understand) the control they have over their grades. They believe that since they are going to fail anyway and will still be allowed to move on to the next level, why bother trying?

This is detrimental to children because one day they will enter the real world and this learned helplessness will follow them into other aspects of their lives.

Not only students but also teachers are negatively affected. Teachers become child care providers rather than educational mentors. This creates a perfect storm of unprepared students and disgruntled teachers.

Good teachers give up because the school system does not and cannot support them.

It’s easy to give students endless opportunities to do the right thing, but the reality is that if children don’t learn that their actions have consequences and that they will succeed no matter how hard they try deploy, teachers will continue to drop out. of frustration and children will not be prepared for adulthood.

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Sahlah Syeda is a writer for YourTango covering entertainment, current affairs and human interest topics.