Quote:
Originally Posted by Utah Bob
Good tactic, but for some of us, a very difficult thing to do.
Very difficult.
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I understand. If I may, I will preface with a joke (a rather old one):
A guy goes into a clothing store to buy a new suit, but he doesn't want to spend too much money. The tailor shows him a really nice suit for $400, but
the guy says it's too much. He shows him another suit for $200, and the guy says it's still too much. After showing him several others, he finally shows
him one for $10.
"That's more like it!", the guy says, and he goes to try it on. He comes back and looks in the mirror and one sleeve is about two inches shorter than the
other.
"No problem," says the tailor, "Just hunch up your right shoulder."
So the guy hunches his right shoulder way up, and the sleeves look OK, but the lapels are crooked.
"No problem," says the tailor, "Just stick out your left arm and cock it like a bird's wing."
So the guy sticks out his left arm and the lapels look OK. But then he notices that one pant leg is shorter than the other.
"Well, just keep that leg stiff," says the tailor, "and no one will notice."
"I'll take it!", the guy says.
So the guy leaves the tailor shop wearing the suit, walking with his left leg stiffened, one arm stuck out like a bird's wing, and one shoulder hunched
way up.
As he's walking down the street he passes two orthopedic surgeons. One of the doctors says to the other, "I have never seen anyone in such bad
shape in my twenty-five years of practice!"
"Me neither," the other doctor says. "But he sure has a nice suit!"
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If a tactic really doesn't fit, one shouldn't use it, just as with the suit. On the other hand, within the classroom, the instructor can regard themselves as "in charge", while at the same time being somewhat insecure. It's the insecurity that creates the problem, because they do not know what to do when challenged.
Add in a few psychological nuances. Perhaps the student is of similar age, or older. The student may be physically larger. And - the student may well be more familiar with exercising authority than is the instructor.
Back years ago, a fellow named John Molloy wrote a book titled "Live for Success". He videotaped various human interactions and analyzed them. One such scenario involved a large ex-football paper who was in sales, and contacted small people who worked as purchasing agents. In the tape, according to the book, the purchasing agents looked almost as if they were attacking - because they were intimidated by the
size of the salesman.
The solution? The salesman had found that if he fumbled his papers a little - displaying a weakness - that it created sympathy and defused the purchasing agent's fear.
Perhaps a similar pattern applies here.