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Lessons Taught, Lessons Learned
Apr. 18th, 2004 11:52 pmAt HSSP on Saturday, I was all set to teach a particular lesson to my students. Unfortunately, I stuck the materials I wished to use into the wrong bag - and therefore did not have them with me when I arrived at MIT. *sigh* Cleaned office does not compensate for disconnect between mind and eye.
Part way through class, when I realized that I did not have the lesson I wanted to have with me, I took a few minutes to reassess what I wanted to do.
Are you familiar with the Prisoner's Dilemma? In essence, it revolves around a willingness to trust - and to be trusted.
We used a variant of it in this class, with the students divided into two groups. The two groups went towards the competition model - with the caveat that in the first round, one of the groups decided to go by chance.
In the ensuing conversation, we talked about trust, about understanding, about fear... I shared the two things that I feel all humans fear:
1) Not being understood.
Being alone is awful for most of us. The notion that we are isolated in our heads and possibly our hearts leaves a lot of folks gibbering.
2) Being understood.
To be understood is to be vulnerable. We may crave it, but we are terrified at the notion, as well.
How we balance those and deal with them determines our relationships to a huge extent.
There are some other pieces that came up in and around class. Neither of these is new, but it is always useful for me to relearn them - to be reintroduced to them.
3) If you do not ask for what you want, you are far less likely to get it.
4) Be careful what you ask for, for someday, you surely may get it.
The last of these is particularly featured in the book I am reading, The Adolescence of P-1, by THomas J. Ryan. Our hero's boss, upon discovering our hero's secret, demands $10,000,000. He agrees to have it delivered over the next 30 days.
It is. He gets arrested on the third day. The account gets frozen and then closed. Oops!
More on The Adoloscence of P-1 in a little bit.
Edit: http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/pd.html has an interactive version of the Prisoner's Dilemma.
Part way through class, when I realized that I did not have the lesson I wanted to have with me, I took a few minutes to reassess what I wanted to do.
Are you familiar with the Prisoner's Dilemma? In essence, it revolves around a willingness to trust - and to be trusted.
We used a variant of it in this class, with the students divided into two groups. The two groups went towards the competition model - with the caveat that in the first round, one of the groups decided to go by chance.
In the ensuing conversation, we talked about trust, about understanding, about fear... I shared the two things that I feel all humans fear:
1) Not being understood.
Being alone is awful for most of us. The notion that we are isolated in our heads and possibly our hearts leaves a lot of folks gibbering.
2) Being understood.
To be understood is to be vulnerable. We may crave it, but we are terrified at the notion, as well.
How we balance those and deal with them determines our relationships to a huge extent.
There are some other pieces that came up in and around class. Neither of these is new, but it is always useful for me to relearn them - to be reintroduced to them.
3) If you do not ask for what you want, you are far less likely to get it.
4) Be careful what you ask for, for someday, you surely may get it.
The last of these is particularly featured in the book I am reading, The Adolescence of P-1, by THomas J. Ryan. Our hero's boss, upon discovering our hero's secret, demands $10,000,000. He agrees to have it delivered over the next 30 days.
It is. He gets arrested on the third day. The account gets frozen and then closed. Oops!
More on The Adoloscence of P-1 in a little bit.
Edit: http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/pd.html has an interactive version of the Prisoner's Dilemma.
