Some of the most well known “social intelligence” classes were held by Dale Carnegie in 1912, and many business schools still make students read his book. Nowadays social training exists in many forms, and there are programs aimed specifically at kids as well, although maybe nothing aimed at making future computer scientists less awkward. Studies show positive results, but mainly treatments for more serious behavior problems are studied.
Is there reason to believe that social skills are more difficult to teach than math, or rationality?
Some of the most well known “social intelligence” classes were held by Dale Carnegie in 1912, and many business schools still make students read his book. Nowadays social training exists in many forms, and there are programs aimed specifically at kids as well, although maybe nothing aimed at making future computer scientists less awkward. Studies show positive results, but mainly treatments for more serious behavior problems are studied.
Is there reason to believe that social skills are more difficult to teach than math, or rationality?
Yes. They’re very hard to understand. It’s hard to teach something you don’t understand.
Auxiliarily, I’d expect that common sense would kick in and people would feel confident in contradicting teachers.
(That said, it seems likely to me that they can be taught.)