一個偉大的教師能做到簡潔而不扭曲AGreat Teacher Can Simplify without Distortion
作者: R.C. Sproul 譯者: Maria Marta
在一個學習環境裡，經常要求「儉樸原則」（K-I-S-S）
。這個首字母縮略字是「保持簡潔，傻瓜」（Keep
it simple, stupid）的意思。我們似乎是厭惡複雜學問的人。我們想要簡單的答案，我們想迅速獲得簡單的答案。然而，掌握一門學科需要數年辛勤的勞動與學習。但是，一旦老師掌握了他的材料，他如何把這些材料傳遞給他的學生？
在課堂上作某些假設。首先，老師比學生更了解一門學科。在一般情況下，這是一個安全的假設。第二個假設是，教師不能一下子傳授他所掌握的學科。要教導（如拉丁詞根所表明的），我們必須引導學生「走出」無知，進入知識。知識從最簡單到複雜，在不斷增長。
偉大的教師幫助他的學生理解明白。這可能是教學中最重要、最困難的任務。學生經常抱怨，老師的說話對他們來說「難以理解」。這意味著什麽？這意味著學生不明白老師的教導。這可能表示學生懶惰，不願意在脑力上竭盡全力。這也可能意味著老師不明白他所教導的。
就學習而論，我們的教育過程往往是失敗的。其典型表現大致是這樣：一個修大學課程的學生，作了大量的筆記，記住了這些筆記，並取得全A成績。大學畢業後，他讀研究生遵循相同的程序。現在他已是一名教師了，他掌握大量關於自己已通過考核，但卻甚少明白的信息。信息已被轉移了，但從來沒有被愛探索的頭腦處理或消化。現在這位老師走進教室，傳授他的筆記和課本。他很少把時間留給學生發問（他害怕那些可能無法回答的問題）。他將自己受到的教育的這種惡性綜合癥延續到他的學生身上，於是遊戲繼續進行。
一個偉大的教師能夠做到簡潔而不扭曲。這是理解的最高考驗。如果我真的明白某些真理，我應該能夠把這些真理傳遞給其他人。在簡潔與過於簡單化之間，有天壤之别。耶穌是有史以來最偉大的教師，祂用簡單的詞語來教導人。但祂從來不是一個過於簡化其教導的教師。過分簡單化就是對真理的扭曲。偉大的教師能夠簡潔地表達深奧的真理，而不扭曲真理。要做到這一點，需要對真理有更深層次的認識。偉大的教師傳授認識，而不只是信息而已。要做到這一點，教師必須明白他所教導的材料。
本文原刊于Tabletalk雜誌。
A Great Teacher Can Simplify without
Distortion
FROM
R.C. Sproul
The
K-I-S-S principle is frequently requested in a learning environment. The
acrostic stands for “Keep it simple, stupid.” It seems we are a people who
loathe difficult study. We want easy answers and we want them quickly. Mastery
of a subject, however, requires years of diligent labor and study. But once the
teacher has mastered his material, how does he transmit it to his students?
Certain
assumptions are made in the classroom. The first is that the teacher knows more
about the subject than the student. It is, in general, a safe assumption. The
second assumption is that the teacher cannot communicate his mastery of the
subject all at once. To educate (as the Latin root suggests), we must lead
students “out of” ignorance into knowledge. That knowledge moves in increments,
from the simple to complex.
The
great teacher helps his students gain understanding. This may be the most vital
and most difficult task of teaching. Students often complain that the teacher
speaks “over-the-heads” of the students. What does this mean? It means that the
student does not understand what is being taught. It may indicate that the
student is lazy and is unwilling to be stretched intellectually. It could also
mean that the teacher doesn’t understand what he is teaching.
Often
times our educational process is a failure with respect to learning. The
syndrome goes something like this: A student attends college classes, takes
copious notes, memorizes the notes, and makes an A in the course. Then he
graduates from college and follows the same procedure in graduate school. Now
he becomes a teacher and he has a great store of information about which he has
been tested yet has little understanding. Information has been transferred but
never processed or digested by the inquiring mind. This teacher now goes in the
classroom where he gives lectures from his notes and text books. He allows
little time for questions (he fears questions he may not be able to answer). He
continues the vicious syndrome of his own education with his students and the
game goes on.
A
great teacher can simplify without distortion. This is the supreme test of
understanding. If I truly understand something, I ought to be able to
communicate it to others. There is a vast chasm that separates the simple from
the simplistic. Jesus, the greatest teacher ever, taught in simple terms. But
He was never simplistic. To oversimplify is to distort the truth. The great
teacher can express the profound by the simple, without distortion. To do that
requires a deep level of understanding. The great teacher imparts
understanding, not merely information. To do that the teacher must understand
the material being taught.
This
post was originally published in Tabletalk magazine.
