Pygmalion Project- What is that?!

Pygmalion is a play written by George Bernard Shaw. It is based off of a Greek myth about a character by the same name. On wikipedia the summary is:

"Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of gentility, the most important element of which, he believes, is impeccable speech. The play is a sharp lampoon of the rigid British class system of the day and a commentary on women's independence."

In this play he changes Eliza from who she was, her speech, dress, what she was worried about, basically what she thought about. He was making her into a version of himself at the same level or class and clothing. At the end she is angry and says he took her independence.

The Pygmalion Project is similar to this story. In reference to personality, it is us thinking everyone should be like our type. Because to us, it is the best. So with our children or students we may want to change them and make them more like ourselves like Dr. Higgins. But the truth is, all children have their own personalities and that is what and who they should be.

There is goodness and greatness in each one of them. We as educators and parents are her to help and encourage in any way we can. They have their own strengths and ways of learning. As we watch and discover what those strengths and ways of learning are, we can then better help them.

It might be hard to go against something in us that we feel is a better way of learning or something that we feel would be a better thing to strengthen. But as we truly look outside of ourselves for the best of the child, they will blossom and find confidence. We want them to be the best versions of themselves with good self esteem and confidence to become and surpass their goals.