Re: Pay for Learning LO1486

Jim Michmerhuizen (jamzen@world.std.com)
Thu, 1 Jun 1995 20:29:32 +0059 (EDT)

Replying to LO1445 --

On Wed, 31 May 1995, Tauno Kekale wrote:

> Replying to LO1441 --
[...what I wrote, that Tauno is responding to...]
> >I have a bad feeling about where this is going. It looks to me like this:
> >any activity that I don't, or won't, engage in without being paid (more or
> >less literally) to do so by another person, can't possibly be called
> >"learning".
>
[ ...some of Tauno's response snipped, down to what caught my attention...]
> If we have a Pavlovian
> look at learning, then learning happens only when action is reinforced -
> we have to pay. If we think that some learning happens all the time, be it
> conscious or unconscious, personal or organizational, of immediate use or
> to be of use later, then we are getting really big problems in defining
> what learning is to be paid for and how much (the payment should bear some
> relation to the thing learned ??)

Thanks. This helped me understand a part of the issue that I didn't see
clearly: the deep logical _disparity_ between the pay and the learning.
What's bothersome in this is really a logical incoherence, not a moral one.
It's like offering to pay somebody for being joyful: regardless of anybody's
_intentions_, it just can't come out right.

A says to B, "Be joyful. I'll make it worth your while: say, a hundred
dollars."

B: "How long do I have to keep it up?"
A: "Oh, two days."
B: "Not worth the effort."
A: "Well, two hours then."
B: "Done deal. Shake hands on it, I'll get to work right away."

No good can come of this. _Necessarily_, I believe, either A is going to
surrender his judgement ("Gee, he _says_ he's joyful -- I guess I better
pay up"), or B is going to become a hypocrite ("The old SOB wants me to
give him a dog-and-pony show about joy -- well, here goes").

--
Regards
     Jim Michmerhuizen
     jamzen@world.std.com
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