Are You a Thermometer or a Thermostat?

Are You a Thermometer or a Thermostat?

In any event you undertake, you either have a passive role or an active one. It can be equated as the role of a thermometer and a thermostat. The role of a thermometer is simply to record the temperature. You may walk outside in July, and the thermometer indicates that the temperature is 98 degrees. At that point, the thermometer has done its job. You can ask no more from the thermometer. Its role is passive. However, when you go into your house, the temperature may be set at 72 degrees. The role of the thermostat then is to set the temperature. You can either set the temperature, or climate very high or low.

Equate that to teachers. There are some teachers who will simply talk about a particular issue, and nothing more. These are the thermometers, who take a passive role in educators. Then you have the individuals who will not only talk about an issue, but will do something about it. These are the thermostats—they set the climate or tone of whatever environment they come into. The thermostats are those people who never seem to have issues because they have found ways to resolve them on their own. The thermostats are those people who often think outside the box, they are the ones who hold the power to make changes that have an effect on everyone as a whole.

The question remains, are you a thermometer or a thermostat?