What cannot be taught

It seems that lately I've come upon several different instances of people saying something like the following:

"____________ cannot be taught. It must be experienced."

where the __________ is filled in with whatever topic, content, knowledge, skill, or outcome is under discussion. This always seems to me to include some sense that the speaker is trying to impart a special status on ________, to establish that it is a unique sort of topic, content, knowledge, skill or outcome, because (unlike other things) it can't be taught, but must be experienced.

This drives me a little nuts, because it suggests, tacitly buried in the sentiment, a very problematic definition of teaching: That when we teach, we're expected NOT to engaging students in any sort of experience. And yet we know that, in order to be effective, meaningful, and lasting, in order to actually result in *learning*, teaching MUST rely upon students' prior experiences, and must BE an experience, itself. As John Dewey said, "education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living."

Otherwise, I might just as easily fill in the blank with absolutely any topic, content, knowledge, skill or outcome. "Math cannot be taught. It must be experienced." Yeah, even that.