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Stop Expecting Your Best Engineer to Be a Good Mentor
Most of them can’t, and that’s not a character flaw.
Simon Wang5 min read·Just now--
My son didn’t understand how to convert a fraction to a decimal.
I explained it. He nodded. I could tell from the nod that he hadn’t got it.
I explained it again, differently. He nodded again. Same nod.
By the third time, something in my voice had changed. I wasn’t shouting. But I wasn’t not-shouting either. My face was doing something I couldn’t control. He could see it. He’s eight and he’s very good at reading my face.
So he stopped trying to understand and started trying to guess. If he got the right answer, the face would stop.
Is it 0.7?
No.
0.3?
No. We’re not — that’s not — look, you divide the top number by the bottom number. One divided by four. What’s one divided by four?
He didn’t know. He was too busy watching my face.
I know how to convert fractions to decimals. I’ve known for so many years yet I have no idea how to easily explain it so he gets it.
I learnt there’s a concept in education called the curse of knowledge: once you know something well enough, you lose reliable…
