Teachers that antagonize their students by belittling them, showing favoritism or criticizing their contributions can damage their learning potential, warns a new West Virginia University study of 472 undergraduates. Split into two groups, the students watched either a class taught by a teacher with antagonism or a standard lesson taught without antagonism, and then took a multiple-choice quiz.

Test scores were up to 5 percent lower for those that watched the antagonistic teacher because they disliked what they were being taught. They were also less likely to put forth as much effort and were unwilling to attend that teacher’s future courses.

This article appears in the November 2018 issue of Natural Awakenings.