[From Kenny Kitzke (991209.1200EDT)]
<Bill Powers (991209.0622 MDT)>
I have taken the liberty to change the name of the thread to focus on PCT
explanations of these real life phenomena.
Teaching describes our perceptions of the actions teachers choose to do when
interacting with students.
Learning describes our perceptions of the actions students choose to do when
interacting with teachers.
My PCT perception is that teachers in a typical public school cannot control
what students learn anymore than students can control what teachers teach.
However, during these human interactions, when the teacher is willing to
teach something a student wants to learn and the student is willing to learn
what the teacher wants to teach, there is a spirit of cooperation and
respectful feedback which can contribute to maximizing the teacher's
perception that they taught well and maximizing the student's perception that
they learned well.
What the teacher and student do during the interaction can also minimize
these same respective perceptions resulting in error signals in either. What
would be the variables that the teacher and the student could control to
maximize how well their perceptions match their references for desired
teaching and learning?
Could there be any shared interaction goals or variables agreed upon that
would help both parties act in a way where both can get more of what they
want?
What does PCT teach us? 
Kenny