Hal v. Stice, continued: learning to see instead of be seen
These kids, the best of them are here to learn to see. Schtitt’s thing is self-transcendence through pain. [...] To forget themselves as objects of attention for a few years and see what they can do when the eyes are off them.
Context
The best kids "are here to learn to see" — Schtitt's "self-transcendence through pain" — which means to "forget themselves as objects of attention for a few years and see what they can do when the eyes are off them." E.T.A. is a deliberately walled-off interval carved out so a talented body can develop unwatched, before the Show turns it permanently back into a thing looked at. The whole regimen is aimed at a way of seeing, not at being seen.