Mi'sen

I think this raises an interesting point. Going back to Chāgmé's opening question - I wonder whether you have a specific example in mind, re: Subject X (which sounds like a secret CIA mind-control project).

in days past, students were tutored. this is an expensive proposition at scale, so a teacher was assigned multiple students. now, a professor can teach thousands of students in an online university.

in each transition: 1:1 tutoring -> 1:X -> 1:[infinite] it is possible to ascertain whether students are absorbing the material. there also exist mechanisms via which student may ask questions. the instructor is able to assert that the student has learned.

imagine now a very complex subject area requiring many years' study and practice. consider that in the past it was taught by a single master to one (or at most a few) selected disciples.

further, evaluation of a student's progress requires familiarity with the student's patterns, forms of expression, etc. clearly, unlike teaching calculus, teaching subjects of this kind does not scale.

I wonder if it is a case of moral hazzard? Putting aside the technical problem of teaching a complex subject; if there exist systemic factors which would justify a particular behaviour - eg: maximising students - then it should be no surprise that the behaviour will proliferate.

moral hazard is certainly in play. if you haven't vetted your altered pedagogy, you should not inform new students that you can teach them a subject. and yet, lamas do this all of the time. this is immoral, even abusive.

promising students that you can (and will!) teach them Dzogchen or Mahamudra in the course of a weekend, when those students are unfamiliar to the lama, and with whom he not follow up, is disgusting