An extreme situation is envisaged in which the coupling among the inelastic channels is assumed to be the same as that between the elastic and the inelastic ones. The coupling potentials are surface peaked, of zero multipolarity and of the same sign. A set of six such coupled equations is solved for various strengths of the coupling potentials, in a simulation of 60 MeV neutron scattering from a nucleus like Fe or Ni. The effect of the coupling between the inelastic channels on the elastic phase shifts represents a nuclear polarization correction, and is of third or higher order in the coupling potential. For a strength of the inelastic interchannel coupling potential which is physically reasonable in this schematic model, in that it gives rise to the experimental inelastic cross section, the third order effects are found to be of the order of 80%, i.e., non-negligible. Even though this schematic calculation overemphasizes the role of interchannel coupling, it suggests nevertheless that calculations of nuclear polarization effects in realistic microscopic models should be carried out to an order higher than the second before they can be accepted as being reliable.