My Interpretation of On the Teacher
爱在心底
《师说》解
◎ 廖沫沙
国产车销量排行榜Elderly people aged over fifty must have read Han Yu's On the Teacher. Quite a few remarks in this essay are worthy of contemplation by prent-day teachers and pupils. Take the following for example:
大眼睛美女年过五十的老先生，大概总读过韩愈的《师说》。这篇文章里很有几句话值得今天当老师和学生的想一想。例如他说：
Confucius says: 'Out of three men, there must be one who can teach me.' So pupils are not necessarily inferior to their teachers, nor teachers better than their pupils. Some learn the truth earlier than others, and some have special skills — that is all.
“孔子曰：三人行，则必有我师。是故弟子②不必不如师，师不必贤于弟子。闻道有先后，术业有专攻，如是而已。”
Han Yu wrote this essay to defend himlf against the attack of his time on his having accepted some disciples. In his opinion, having disciples was not something to be surprid at becau, as a teacher, he was not necessarily better than his disciples in every way, nor his disciples always inferior to him. As a matter of fact, one who has learned the truth earlier than you, no matter who he is, should be acknowledged as a teacher. You need not ask whether he was born before or after you becau what matters is the knowledge that he can impart to you. Nor should you presume him to be omniscient. So long as he excels you in one respect, you should learn from him and call him your teacher. This advice of mine is addresd to pupils, and teachers as well — teachers who duty it is "to pass on the truth, impart knowledge and dispel ignorance".
韩愈的原意，是因为自己接受了门徒，为了抵制当时舆论的非议，所以写这篇文章自解。他的意思是说，自己虽是作了先生，并不一定样样贤于弟子，从他学的人也不一定不如他，人们不必因此而大惊小怪。本来，只要是一个人闻道在先，不管他是什么人，都可以拜为老师。要学习的是知识，用不着问他“生乎我前”或“生乎吾后”；也用不着要求老师精通百般武艺，只要他有一门是比自己好的，就应该认他为师，向他学习。这是讲给求学的人
听的。但也可以反过来讲给“传道授业解惑”的老师们听。
拔草
Pupils are not necessarily inferior to their teachers, nor teachers better than their pupils — that is a truth, not a fallacy. There is no impassable demarcation line between teacher and pupil. While a teacher may be superior to his pupil in one branch of knowledge, the latter may be superior to the former in another. While the teacher may be superior to his pupil today, the latter may be superior to the former tomorrow. That demonstrates the law of dialectics and the unity of opposites. A kind of interplay exists between teacher and pupil. The pupil should learn from his teacher, but sometimes there may also be something the teacher has to learn from his pupil.
“弟子不必不如师，师不必贤于弟子”，这是一个真理，并不是瞎说。老师和学生并没有什么不可逾越的界限。在这门知识上老师高于学生，在另一门知识上，学生也可能高于老师；今天老师高于学生，明天学生可能高过老师。这也是辩证法，对立面的统一。老师和学生可以互相转换，学生要向老师学习，老师也有需要向学生学习之处。
A similar idea is expresd by the following well-known passage quoted from Xueji (The
Subject of Education), a chapter of the ancient book Liji (The Book of Rites): "However nice the food may be, if one does not eat it, he does not know its taste; however perfect the doctrine may be, if one does not learn it, he does not know its value. Therefore, when he learns, one knows his own deficiencies; when he teaches, one knows where the difficulty lies. After he knows his deficiencies, one is able to examine himlf; after he knows where the difficulty lies, one is able to improve himlf. Hence, 'teaching and learning help each other;' as it is said in Yue Ming, 'Teaching is the half of learning.'" The above quotation from Liji, which lays emphasis on lf-examination and lf-improvement, is less thoroughgoing than what Han Yu says about education. Nevertheless, its remarks such as "When he teaches one knows where the difficulty lies", "Teaching benefits teachers as well as pupils" and "Teaching is the half of learning" (a quotation meaning teaching and learning are opposite and complementary to each other) all remain irrefutable to this day.
《礼记》③道德经原文全文的《学记》④有一段著名的话，意思也和这相近：“虽有佳肴，弗食，不知其旨也。虽有至道，弗学，不知其善也。是故学然后知不足，教然后知困。知不足，然后能自
反也。知困，然后能自强也。故曰：教学相长也。‘说命’⑤曰：‘学半’⑥。其此之谓乎！”《礼记》的话着重在自反自强，不如韩愈说得更彻底。但是它所说的“教然后知困”，“教学相长”，所引的“学半”（就是说教学各居其半，相反而相成），就是在今天说来，也还是颠扑不破的。
兰亭序书法字帖To be a teacher, one must at the same time be a student, or be a student first, just as Carl Marx says, "Educators must themlves be educated first." Though this is plain truth, yet people in their practical life ldom recognize it. It is especially hard for teachers of long standing or tho with "special skills", as Han Yu says, to look at this matter dialectically.
做先生的必然同时做学生，或者首先做学生，像马克思所说的“教育者必先受教育”石评梅的简介，这个道理说来很浅显，但是人们在实际生活中却很不容易承认。特别是当老师当久了的人⑦，或者像韩愈所说的“术业有专攻”的人，就很不容易接受这个辩证法。
It is not without reason or cau that teachers fail to be readily receptive to the above-mentioned concept. The viewpoint "Pupils are not necessarily inferior to their teachers, n
or teachers better than their pupils", though put forward by Han Yu, himlf a feudal-minded scholar typical of his time, was by no means popular in the feudal age. On the contrary, as teachers were ranked high up along with "Heaven, Earth, Sovereign and Parents" as objects of worship in the feudal age, pupils could never be on an equal footing with their teachers to form a unity of opposites. After all, a teacher was a teacher. His teaching profession was dignified, sacred and inviolable. A pupil was a pupil. He was never expected to surpass his teacher. The practice has come down from the past and become customary.
