Truth of the Teacher's Way -- Educational Musings from the Da Xia Series

Author: Chen Guisheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: This book is a collection of essays by the author specifically for teachers. It is divided into sections such as "Teacher's Profession," "Teacher's Role," "Teacher's Self-Cultivation," "Alternative Interpretations of the Teacher's Way," and "Afterthoughts," discussing teacher-related issues with insights that strike the mark and provoke reflection. Chen Guisheng is a professor at East China Normal University and has written works such as Distinguishing Perspectives on Education, Principles of Education, Truths About Education, Truths About the Teacher's Way, and Researching Education in Primary and Secondary Schools.
Review of Chen Guisheng's Truths About the Teacher's Way: In today's educational media, we often encounter many articles that are highly "theoretical." These educational discourses may seem entirely correct and widely accepted, yet they offer little practical help for reality. Professor Chen Guisheng of East China Normal University refers to them as "superficial writings." It was precisely due to the abundance of such "superficial writings" that Professor Chen resolved to speak "truths." He has shared many "truths," and Truths About the Teacher's Way is one of his series of truthful treatises.
These "truths," Professor Chen modestly describes as "not fit for the grand stage," with each essay often emerging from "conversations that build upon one another." The author draws topics from "high-flown sermons, official documents, trendy doctrines, or the myriad manifestations of teachers," then weaves in his own words, "attempting to give a theoretical hue to the candid truths and small principles that teachers whisper behind closed doors, and simply speaking them as they are." Reading through the entire book, it indeed is "truths." These are all topics we are all too familiar with—such as "scholarly teachers, expert teachers, and wise teachers," "master teachers and teaching artisans," "returning teaching to teachers and two perspectives on lesson preparation," "continuing education, teacher titles, and educational experience summaries," "classroom teachers, teacher-student relationships, and teacher collectives," "democracy and equality, teacher authority, and teacher self-reflection," "teachers' catchphrases and teacher personalities," and so on.
These topics are such that any teacher can list a series of personal thoughts, yet in Truths About Education, these topics not only make readers feel deeply connected but also often lead them into profound contemplation. For example, in the essay A Chat on "Returning Teaching to Teachers," the author mentions that to free students from "the constraints of teachers," teachers must first be liberated from "the constraints of traditional curriculum mechanisms." In the essay A Chat on "Two Perspectives on Lesson Preparation," the author references Mao Zedong's "perspective on lesson preparation": teachers should "first learn seven parts from students and then teach them the remaining three." In other words, teachers must first understand students' history, personality, and needs before teaching them. In the essay A Chat on the Renewal of the Concept of "Teacher Continuing Education," the author sharply points out that traditional teacher training primarily adopts the "teacher lectures, students listen" model, applying the methods of teaching primary and secondary school students back to primary and secondary school teachers. This approach, which was already limited in effectiveness for primary and secondary school students, becomes even more problematic when applied to experienced or even well-informed teachers. In the essay A Chat on "Classroom Teachers," the author states that according to Makarenko's vision, student collectives cannot be cultivated solely by individual teachers but should be nurtured by a "teacher collective" to form a "student collective." The teacher collective and the student collective are not two separate groups but one group, and specifically an educational group.
These "truths" are the result of deep reflection after thoroughly studying education and refining one's thoughts. The richness of their content is beyond words. The most striking impression from Truths About the Teacher's Way is the author's profound knowledge base and rigorous, pragmatic academic style. The author is well-read, and the book covers a vast range of topics, spanning the ancient and modern, the East and the West. In his discussions, he is never ambiguous, always delving deep into the subject. For instance, regarding the metaphor of teachers as "engineers," which was once mistakenly attributed to Stalin, the author corrects it to the words of Kalinin and provides detailed evidence. Regarding the term "wise teachers," the author raises questions about what constitutes a "wise teacher" and cites relevant discussions from The Cihai and John Locke to elaborate. In Chen Guisheng's view, a judgment must be backed by "sufficient factual evidence" and supported by "rigorous logical arguments" before it can be evaluated. This serious attitude toward scholarship is evident throughout the book, composed of short essays that build upon one another, and is deeply respected.