Pygmalion+Essay

In Greek mythology there is a story of a man who built a sculpture of a woman. This sculpture was beautiful and perfect in the eyes of the sculptor. This sculptor prayed to the gods to make this beauty real. They answered his prayers and created this woman. The Pygmalion effect implies that one’s expectation can shape the outcome of a situation. The greater the expectation placed upon one’s students, the better they perform. For example if a teacher has high hopes for their students and believes they can succeed they will. On the flip side if a teacher has no faith in their students, these students are more likely to fail. At one point in Pygmalion Mrs. Higgins asks Eliza Doolittle how she was able to learn manners around her son, Henry Higgins. Doolittle replies that she owes her good manners to Colonel Pickering. She said that since Pickering treated her like a lady she was able to become one as opposed to Higgins who would always treat Doolittle like a common flower girl. Although views of Henry Higgins vary he truly was a great teacher. His strict, arrogant, and all-knowing methods seem at first over confident. Higgins degrades Eliza Doolittle repeatedly throughout Pygmalion insinuating that she is trash. When Higgins decides to make Doolittle his own person project he is extremely strict making her resent him. Countless hours of working with Doolittle shows his true passion for language and his determination to have her succeed. Passion is a key component when teaching. If a teacher doesn’t show passion for what they are teaching why should their pupils learn the subject matter? At one point Higgins and Doolittle stay up until four o’clock in the morning reciting the titles of individuals that would be at the event. Doolittle even began to breakdown because of being over worked. Higgins cared more about his passion of the subject matter he was teaching then about Doolittle. Luckily for Doolittle, Colonel Pickering believed in her and according to the Pygmalion effect this was the key to her success. Henry Higgins resembles Miss Jean Brodie in several ways. Both of these teachers are passionate about the subject content that they teach. Brodie and Higgins also take a special interest in molding their students for their own personal enjoyment. These teachers both use manipulation to attempt to achieve their goals. Higgins molds Eliza Doolittle into what society would see as a “lady” by changing the way she spoke, acted, and dressed. This was all to benefit him in a bet he had with Colonel Pickering about passing Doolittle off as a duchess at a formal event. Miss Jean Brodie has a less formal goal for her students. She wants to mold them into everything she cannot be giving them her knowledge of life. The major difference between Higgins and Brodie is that Higgins is successful in achieving his goal and Brodie was not. Brodie assumed that her students want the same as what she wants for them, she was mistaken. The curriculum Higgins used was also more structured then that of Brodie, this also could have affected the outcome of the situation. Both teachers were resented by their students which could have fueled the need their students had to succeed. The Pygmalion effect can be justified by reading the play by George Bernard Shaw “Pygmalion”. Even though Henry Higgins did treat Eliza Doolittle like a lady his coworker Colonel Pickering did. Without Colonel Pickering’s support Doolittle would have never been able to push herself to become a lady. This showed that even one persons belief in a student can help lead to their success. Yet this effect is not true to all individuals. Miss Jean Brodie had high expectations of her students yet none of them came true. For the Pygmalion affect to be accurate the student must also have the urge to learn. Doolittle wanted to be a “lady” in the eyes of society so along with the help of Pickering and Higgins she was able to meet the goal that has been set out for her. In retrospect some members of the Brodie set such as Sandy did not want to achieve the goals Brodie had set out for her. In addition to a supportive teacher who believes in their students, in order to the Pygmalion affect to be effective the students must want to reach the goals set out for them.