Wellness and Wisdom: Is It All a Matter of Learning? 1

The placebo effect is an effect for which there is no mechanistic explanation. It’s well known in medicine but does it operate in education too? New teaching methods, new learning programs, all have their successes; but then so did the old programs. Where does it come from—this learning? Can we explain how and why these programs work? Can we fool people into thinking they’ve learned as a placebo fools people into thinking they’re well? Or are they not “fooled” but “really well” (whatever that means) or have they “really learned” (whatever that means) and are we the fools for thinking that they learn because we teach? There are always more questions than answers.