Dr. Kenton Wants to Say: The Geneva Paradox

Final Version, Read Out (Last Step)

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[Quick Commentary]

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[Essay Goes Here]

[I originally wrote this as a response to Eleanor Konik's *[Manuscriptions](https://www.eleanorkonik.com/p/the-fastest-way-to-learn-depends/comments#comment-127121637)*]

I’m a college professor who uses technology in an attempt to help people learn how to help other people learn [better

faster

more efficiently] using technology (My students are classroom teachers, preparing to use their classroom technology more effectively for their students) The meta- or fractal nature of that sentence is clear to me.

What “learning or teaching effectively” boils down to is (after 30+ years studying it): being motivated to learn fuels the desire to do the necessary work to learn.

The necessary work of learning is practicing. At first with a guide or guru or sherpa, then with less guidance, and finally without the need of external help. Any similarity to Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development is only partially coincidental.

The learner - importantly - needs to be primed to learn. Ready. Motivated. Hungry. Then, the guide’s job is to make the learner aware of what to look for in the way of “useful evidence” or how to parse out the “gold nuggets” among the fuzzy homogenous buzz of information. Next, the bystander’s job is to help improve their efficiency locating the nuggets on their own. Last, the emerging expert is allowed to run the whole show without help to prove their expertise. Any similarity to the “guild system” of artisans is only partially coincidental.

A learner needs to see the relevance of a lesson before they will invest more than minimal attention toward learning it. As an example of this, a person who memorizes only the math formulas to pass the test will likely not remember them a day or two later. A person who understands the reason why Pythagoras’ theorem is such an important tool for solving many different types of practical problems will likely have no trouble remembering it decades later.

Learning is hardly ever successful without learner motivation. Learning can hardly be prevented once motivation is complete, which is summarized in a construction called “The Geneva Paradox”: “A learner who is not ready cannot be taught. A learner who is ready does not need to be taught.” (or in Zen, “When the student is ready, the Master will appear”). I learned this in the context of Jean Piaget’s beliefs about the relationship between learner and teacher, thus Geneva.

Which is my typical long-winded way around to say… in all the examples you shared, it seemed clear to me that you were primed to pay attention to something, and you used your opportunity to rehearse and practice until you felt comfortable that you learned it.

As always, Eleanor… A wonderful summary.

(Sidebar… as is my habit, I like to double-check my references. This time, when checking the wording of the Geneva Paradox, I could not find any mention of it through Google… Which now leaves me in an unenviable position. I COULD take credit for it, but I won’t.)