May 6, 2010Mentor Poison Phrase: That is for me to know and you to find out
Brent has a teacher for his gifted class who is intellectually stimulating, yet exasperating when it comes to students with questions. She seems to think it’s funny to answer a student’s questions with funny comments like,
- That’s for me to know and you to find out!
or,
- Wouldn’t you like to know?
These would be funny if, more often than not, these weren’t serious questions from serious students. Not slackers trying to have someone else do their work for them. As a result, lots of the kids don’t even bother to approach her with questions. It’s ironic that what she views as humor makes her unapproachable.
These phrases could work (at school or at home) if the teacher guided the student in a direction for the answer and explained why it was in the questioner’s interest to explore the question on their own. Or if the mentor explained that the student needed a knowledge base first before they could understand the answer. I have people fire questions at me early in a full day seminar that I put on hold until the end, because by then we have a broader context. I need to be very careful when I deflect the questions that they understand why and for how long.
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