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Oscar_Cunningham comments on [SEQ RERUN] Two Cult Koans - Less Wrong Discussion

4 Post author: MinibearRex 30 November 2011 04:19AM

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Comment author: Oscar_Cunningham 30 November 2011 01:19:34PM 1 point [-]

Is there anything that the teacher can say that will get through to the pupil?

No, but there may be something the teacher can do.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 30 November 2011 04:03:03PM 0 points [-]

In particular, the teacher could tell the student to take on various tasks or do experiments which might lead to a breakthrough, or possibly work to lower the student's level of background anxiety-- the latter is plausible to me because there might be a reason the student has no trust in his or her own perceptions and thoughts, and that reason might be locked in place by fear. Of course, I'm just guessing about a hypothetical student-- the teacher (if competent) should be able to form hypotheses about why the student is so stuck and what might help.