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in terms of some praise being good praise.

i taught with an art program where we were not allowed to give any praise, in the fear that it would change what the students wanted to produce, based off of what we responded well to.  I think that this is a good example of praise-theories that have real meaning: dont tell the kid his painting is good, ask if he likes it!

However, in many situations I do think that praise is good.  I have yet to meet a child I thought to be unintelligent - so telling kids they are smart, as long as we are not pitting them against each other, seems like it could be productive.