Thursday, June 15, 2006

The Science of Learning


I like a Japanese Buddhism proverb which says:


"When the Student Is Ready,
The Teacher Appears".


I am sure many of you have encountered similar experience before - Sometimes friends blame us for not sharing and exchanging information.

Pancake: Hey, I found a new approach to solve that dilemma in my paper we discussed two days ago.

Friend: I don't think there is any other ways you could solve that dilemma, because the original tecnique doesn't allow any variation.

Pancake: Give me 5 minutes, I will explain the key elements and you make your judgement after my explanation, and see if it make sense.

Friend listened for less than 30 seconds and interrupted: Listen, listen, I tell you what, your suggestion is not going to work. It's not realistic from my point of view.

Pancake: OK, never mind. I still believe it will work.

Two months down the road I presented the paper and it was well received. The same friend phoned me: Hey, how come never mention of that new technique to me before?

Pancake: That IS THE SAME TECHNIQUE that you thought was not working.

1 comment:

Pancake Queen said...

Yes! Agreed with you.