誨人不倦:享譽世界的五位名師
Confucius was a Chinese teacher and philosopher who preached the values of formal learning. He taught thousands of students during his lifetime, focusing on what he termed the Six Arts; these include music, archery, mathematics, ritual, chariot-riding and calligraphy. Additionally, Confucius placed a strong emphasis on morals and integrity. His influence as a teacher shaped Chinese education for several millennia and has impacted education and philosophy throughout the world.
Socrates is considered one of Western Civilization's most significant teachers and philosophers. He led discussions with the people of Athens in which he posed challenging and profound questions. One of his students, Plato, would go on to become another major figure in the history of Western philosophy. His style of stimulating thought through question asking has been adopted by many modern teachers and is known as the Socratic method.
A native of England, Roger Bacon was a friar and scholar in many academic areas, including mathematics, early chemistry and optics. He conducted experiments that greatly advanced the understanding of philosophy and science in his day. His outspoken teaching and writing style led to an imprisonment of nearly 15 years.
Nathan Hale is best known as an American soldier in the Revolutionary War who was captured by the British while acting as a spy. He was hanged at the age of 21, famously saying as his final words, 'I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.'
Prior to his death, however, he had been a teacher in Connecticut since age 18. Though his career was brief, he made advances in the cause of providing higher education to women. Hale devoted early morning hours to a class of young women. He taught them the same material he would teach their brothers later in the day.
By the age of four, Annie Sullivan was legally blind due to a disease called trachoma. At age nine, upon the death of her mother and abandonment by her father, she was sent to an orphanage that lacked formal education opportunities. However, she pleaded with an administrator to be allowed to learn and eventually graduated as valedictorian of the Perkins School for the Blind in 1886.
After several operations resulted in a return of her partial eyesight, she used her gifts and uncommon perspective to begin teaching a young deaf and mute girl named Helen Keller. Sullivan was the first teacher to find success with a deaf and mute child.