Empathy Quotient

My empathy quotient was 41, which is one below the average score for males.

This seems high for me if anything, but I think that the score is realistic. I have the capacity to feel empathy (see things from another perspective, respect differing points of view, pick up on subtle social or emotional cues) yet my mental processes are almost mechanically logical more than they are emotional. I can feel empathy for others, but only given the right circumstances. I can feel empathy for those who are wronged for no reason, or who by happenstance find themselves in sticky situations - but I have little empathy and no sympathy when it comes to people who suffer self-inflicted problems. This tends to become more intense when people who have "dug their own holes" go looking for me to comfort them.

I am not a cynical or pessimistic person - I am a realist. I feel that more often people are taken advantage of by having too much empathy, than suffer by not having enough. I feel empathy when it is merited.

As a teacher, I assume that the most important thing is finding a balance. While I must have little tolerance for those who try to take advantage of me, I must have compassion and empathy for those genuinely slighted. Even still, the discrepancy between how I treat the two different situations must be subtle enough that it doesn't appear I am showing favoritism. It is a thin tightrope a teacher must walk, balancing discipline with mercy. While it seems to me that an unbiased approach seems the most reasonable, a teacher is hardly better than a book or computer program without a touch of empathy and personality.