Reflecting on the educational process, I recall my experience of the positive and negative events that shaped my educational philosophy. Initially education was not an effective or enjoyable process due to the environment created by the educator. Nurses and nurse educators have a history of “eating their young” through verbal abuse, bullying, hostility, and uncompromising expectations that discourage rather than encourage new nurses. I believe that nurse educators must guide and facilitate the educational process by setting the tone for a positive learning experience. The educator has tremendous power over the student which affects the students' ultimate success or failure. By incorporating my nursing background into the educational process, the nurse as educator must also be an advocate for the student and be able to customize the learning process to each student's needs. As a nurse educator, I recognize that nursing education presents a unique challenge to acquire new knowledge and at the same time apply this knowledge to various situations and events. I must be able to help the student recognize the important information that makes up the patient and put the pieces together into the patient as a whole human being. As we look for ways to prepare the next generation of nurses, I believe it is important to treat students with respect and dignity. Haim Ginott's (1972) statements come to mind: “I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the deciding factor in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess the enormous power to make a child's life miserable or joyful. I can be an instrument of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated