(好文分享 附英文原文)儒家式的被动吸收还是苏格拉底式的主动发声？

去年，我非常荣幸及愉快地在大阪监督了一些教师培训研讨会，对象是我的日本同事，以及一些母语为英语的外籍教师。

作为一名教师，我向来都很乐意向同事传授自己的知识和经验。参加这些研讨会也像是个适时的闹钟，提醒着我学习新事物从来都不会太迟。

当然，我肯定不会100%同意自己所有参加过的研讨会里别人提出的观点，但这些思想的盛宴给我的头脑提供了足够的食物。

我想一个与世界各地的教师都息息相关的问题是教学时选择儒家式的课堂还是苏格拉底式的课堂。

诚然，作为中国的哲学之父，孔子对整个亚洲地区的教学态度产生了深远的影响，特别是今天中国、日本和韩国的现代课堂，都受到了孔子教诲的感染。

而在地球的另一边，当代许多欧洲和美国课堂的教学法都要归功于古希腊哲学家苏格拉底。

大家也许不知道，孔夫子和苏格拉底被公认为两位人类历史上最伟大的思想家。不仅是这样，他们的思想还分别持续影响着千百年来的东西方教育方法。孔子于公元前551年出生在中国，他的哲学思想体系，即儒家思想，被中国传统的私塾所奠基并流传至今。

孔子认为一个家族的荣誉和尊重是构成一个强大社区的基础，最后形成一个强大、稳固的社会。并且，他也坚决拥护一个观点，即教导我们的老师都是完美并且比我们经验丰富的，我们应该听从老师的教诲并且向他们学习。

这个说法听起来是不是很熟悉？

今天大部分中国公立学校的课堂都依旧遵循这些儒学的原则。教师知道的是最好的，学生被鼓励去听、看和模仿。质疑老师思考的逻辑或者理由是素来都不被鼓励的，并且，提问越少越好。而在英语课堂中，作为老师，我们会发现老师的讲授时间被最大化，学生的发言时间被最小化了。

这在一些科目如数学、科学和历史等是非常有效的，尤其是一些需要死记硬背并且要用讲课的形式输入到记忆的课程。这对一些技能型的科目，比如语言类的就不能算是一个有效的方法——因为练习和互动是提高技能的核心方法。

苏格拉底，提出了另一个想法。

比其对应的中国学者孔子几乎迟了一个世纪出生，苏格拉底生于公元前469年，他今天被奉为西方哲学之父。

他的学生里面，和他最像的是同样受到赞誉的柏拉图。苏格拉底是伟大的演说家、辩论家和政治评论家。对于他的诋毁者来说，他是一个好辩的傻瓜，他的不妥协最终导致了他的死亡。

苏格拉底一生从未写过任何流传至今的只言片语，这让我们很难知道他的一些真实意图。像大多数高智商的人一样，把他称作“有缺陷的天才”应该是最中肯的。

无论如何，作为雅典当时直言不讳的政治评论家，苏格拉底常常向他的追随者布道提问的重要性。

提问是苏格拉底思想体系当中深入学习的关键，一个人从来都不应害怕说出或者挑战他们不认同的观点。很不幸地他这种对他人提问和挑战的固执导致了他被判处为对抗雅典政权的异端邪说。

“未经审视的生活是毫无价值的。”可能是苏格拉底被引用的最著名的名言，它再次强调了提问以及探究，以增加一个人的知识面的重要性。

在许多方面当我们比较亚洲和欧美的课堂时我们发现教学方法的不同来源于苏格拉底和孔子。

所以，当我们要让学生更有效率地学英语或者其他外语时，我相信我们的课堂应该要少一些儒家的听和说，而要多一些苏格拉底式的讨论。

有了这种方法，学生和教师的对话便始于他们的辩论。辩论是建立你的学生探究能力、语言流畅度以及自信的最佳方法。无论如何，确保每个人都有机会说出他们的想法是最重要的。给辩论审核评分也需要很谨慎，要确保不让更有能力的学生支配整个进程。每个人都需给予同等的表达机会。

苏格拉底作为老师的其中一个最大贡献是（尽管他本人从来都没有声明这是他独创的方式），不像一个儒家的老师凌驾于问题之上。就像是我现在遇到的日本学生，他们在传统上是不被鼓励提问的，但是我会主动鼓励我的学生大声说出他们的想法。有时候我也会故意拼写错或者故意念错一个字，以鼓励我的学生说出来纠正我。

我这样做不仅是要鼓励一个更加苏格拉底式的工作环境，也是想让学生知道老师并无异于其他人。我们也会犯错，我们也会有幽默感。

毕竟，如果一个人像我一样在亚洲做了一样长时间的英语教师（我已经待到第十个年头了），那么他会发现幽默感对于老师也是至关重要的！

原英文版

Confucian Cooperation or Socratic Speaking-Out?

Last year, I had the distinct honor and pleasure to oversee a few teacher training seminars for my Japanese colleagues and my fellow native English speaking teachers here in Osaka.

As a teacher, I always enjoy helping my colleagues by imparting some of my own personal knowledge and experience on to them. Taking part in such seminars also serves as a timely reminder that one is never too old to learn new things.

Of course, as in all academic seminars, I certainly didn’t agree with 100% of the ideas being put forward, but I was given plenty of food for thought.

One issue which I think is pertinent to teachers everywhere was the concept of the Confucian Classroom vs the Socratic Classroom.

Of course as one would expect, as the founding father of Chinese philosophy and indeed a major influence on teaching attitudes throughout the entire East Asian region, today’s modern classroom in China, Japan or Korea owes a great deal to the teachings of Confucius.

On the other hand, much of modern teaching methodology in Europe and the US is in tribute to the works of the Greek scholar Socrates.

For those who may not know, Confucius and Socrates are widely regarded as two of the greatest minds in human history.  Not only this, but they made lasting and radically differing impressions in determining the way education for the masses would take shape  in the centuries and millennia to come.

Confucius was born in China in 551BC, his philosophical belief system, known as Confucianism, forms the basis by which conventional Chinese classrooms are managed and set up to this day.

Confucius believed that honor and respect for family was the ideal basis for building strong communities and therefore, ultimately strong, stable societies. As such, he was a major proponent of the ideas of adherence to the teachings and ideals of those older and more experienced than you and also the concept of listening to your elders and learning from them.

Does this sound familiar?

Today most public school classrooms in China still follow these basic principles of Confucianism. Teacher knows best, students are expected to listen, look and learn. Questioning the logic or the reasoning of your elders is never encouraged, and inquiry is kept to a minimum. In the context of an English class, this means that, as teachers, we will often find our TTT (teaching talking time) maximized, and STT (student talking time) is minimized.

This works very well for subjects like math, science and history, which rely heavily on rote memorization and input delivered in a lecture format. It is not such an effective methodology for skill-based subjects, such as languages, where practice and interaction are crucial to increasing competence.

Socrates, on the other hand, had other ideas.

Born almost a century or so after his Chinese counterpart Confucius, in 469 BC, Socrates is today credited as one of the founding fathers of western philosophy.

To his disciples, such as the similarly lauded Plato, Socrates was a great orator, debater and critic of contemporary politics and ideals. To his detractors he was an argumentative fool, whose own intransigence ultimately led to his demise.

Since Socrates himself never actually wrote any surviving texts in his lifetime, it’s difficult to truly know which side he falls on. Like most people of elevated intellect, the term “flawed genius” is perhaps most pertinent.

Anyway, as an outspoken critic of the politics of his native Athens at the time, Socrates always preached to his followers the importance of inquiry. Questions are the key to further learning in the Socratic system, and as such one should never been afraid to speak out or to challenge an idea they may disagree with. Unfortunately this constant need to question and challenge others led to his eventual execution on charges of heresy against the Athenian state.

“The unexamined life is not worth living” is possibly the most famous quote attributed to Socrates, and it emphasizes again the importance of asking questions and inquiry to enhance one’s knowledge base.

In many ways the cultural differences we notice in Asian classrooms when compared to classes we may see back in Europe or the US can be directly attributed to the difference in teaching styles between Socrates and Confucius.

So, in order to make our students more effective learners of English, or indeed any foreign language, I believe we need to try and make our classrooms less Confucian and more Socratic.

With this approach greater communication between students and teachers takes place as debates start to take shape. Debates are a great way to build your students inquiry skills as well as their fluency and confidence. However, it’s important that you ensure everyone has a chance to speak their mind. Moderating the debate also takes a careful hand, to ensure that the more capable students don’t dominate the proceedings. Everyone needs to be given the opportunity to contribute.

One of Socrates’ greatest attributes as a teacher (something which he himself never professed to be, by the way) was his realization that unlike a conventional Confucian teacher he himself was not above question. Whereas it is traditionally frowned upon here in my current base of Japan for students to question their teacher, I actively encourage my students to speak out. Sometimes I will occasionally make a conscious mistake, like a spelling error or a mispronunciation of a word, to encourage my students to speak out and correct me.

Not only does this encourage a more Socratic working environment, it also shows the students that teachers are no different from any other humans. We make mistakes and we have a sense of humor.

And after all, if one is to endure as an English teacher in Asia for as long as I have (I’m about to enter my tenth year here) then a sense of humor is absolutely essential!