{"id":1843,"date":"2014-08-13T17:53:26","date_gmt":"2014-08-14T00:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/boykonpiano.com\/?p=1843"},"modified":"2018-03-03T17:55:20","modified_gmt":"2018-03-04T01:55:20","slug":"needles-and-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/boykonpiano.com\/archives\/1843","title":{"rendered":"Needles and Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first time I went to Dr. A., an acupuncturist, she used the needles and said that she\u2019d then show me a useful exercise. Twenty minutes later I was off the table, sitting in a chair and wondering if she\u2019d forgotten about the exercise. When I asked, she surprised me by saying, \u201cYou\u2019re not ready yet.\u201d I was more surprised when I looked inside myself and realized she was right. So we were silent for a minute, me sitting and she with her quiet eye on me. Then I realized I was ready; and at that moment she began showing me the exercise.<\/p>\n

Thus I learned a kind of focused attention that we teachers can use to answer important questions, for instance, whether a new student trusts us yet. For if trust isn\u2019t there, it\u2019s a waste of time to push the pedagogical envelope. But if opening our mouth is greeted with an interested and open facial expression; if our words are taken in, perhaps with a request for elucidation; then trust is present, and we can introduce new work methods and new goals\u2014impossible while the slightest touch of the unfamiliar still elicits defensiveness, dullness or argument.<\/p>\n

Of course there are degrees of trust; and students vary in how long it takes to establish a given degree. Some students\u2014not necessarily the easiest to work with in the long term\u2014enter the first lesson ready to trust fully. Some need one lesson; some, half a dozen; and some need, not more lessons but the passage of more time.<\/p>\n

My old pal the Curmudgeon had a student who needed five years. At least, it was in their fifth year that this student, a computer scientist, indicated that his trust had solidified, when he volunteered, \u201cYou know, I used to think you were the biggest B.S.-er I ever met, with all the stuff you said that I never heard anybody else say. But then I did some research and found out that everything you said was correct!\u201d Curmudge said, \u201cThanks for taking the trouble!\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

In his excellent book, \u201cExperiencing Science,\u201d Jeremy Bernstein mentions this story as a favorite of the great physicist Niels Bohr: In an isolated village there was a small Jewish community. A famous rabbi once came to the neighboring city to speak, and because the people of the village were eager to learn what the great teacher would say, they sent a young man to listen. When he returned, he said, \u201cThe rabbi spoke three times. The first talk was brilliant, clear and simple. I understood every word. The second was even better: deep and subtle. I didn\u2019t understand much but the rabbi understood all of it. The third was by far he finest, a great and unforgettable experience. I understood nothing and the rabbi himself didn\u2019t understand much either.\u201d Maybe the Curmudeon\u2019s student had been exposed to too many \u201cthird lectures\u201d! <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first time I went to Dr. A., an acupuncturist, she used the needles and said that she\u2019d then show me a useful exercise. Twenty minutes later I was off the table, sitting in a chair and wondering if she\u2019d forgotten about the exercise. When I asked, she surprised me by saying, \u201cYou\u2019re not ready […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/boykonpiano.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/boykonpiano.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/boykonpiano.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/boykonpiano.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/boykonpiano.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/boykonpiano.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1844,"href":"http:\/\/boykonpiano.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1843\/revisions\/1844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/boykonpiano.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/boykonpiano.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/boykonpiano.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}