Ask Two Incisive Questions Everyday

By Shi Yigong

Ask Two Incisive Questions Everyday

By Shi Yigong

After winning an award in Israel,I was invited to the celebration party at the Israeli Embassy.At the party, the ambassador talked with me about how Israelis attach great importance to education,and I told him that Chinese people pay great attention to education as well.

He looked at me with a big grin and said,“Your way of education is different from ours.”He cited an example of former Israeli Premier Shimon Peres,elucidating that when he was in primary school,every day when he got back from school,his mother would ask him only two questions:The first was,“Did you ask your teacher a question today which he failed to answer?”The second was,“Did you do anything to make an impression on your teachers and fellow students today?”

Hearing that,I sighed.I had to admit that when my two kids came back from school,my first few words would be,“Did you obey your teacher today?”

There are about 14 million primary and middle school teachers in our country.Though we keep on saying that we hope our children will develop creative and independent thinking,do the teachers really expect the children to ask more incisive questions? This is incompatible with the part of our culture that likes to observe the absolute authority of the teachers. It seems to me that we are severely fettered by the old culture while pursuing to build the bastion of creativity and innovation.

(FromYouth Times,October 2015.Translation:Liu Jie.)

我获得以色列一个奖后，应邀去以色列大使馆参加庆祝酒会。大使先生跟我大谈以色列人如何重视教育，我也跟他谈中国人是如何重视教育的。

他笑眯眯地看着我说：你们的教育方式跟我们不一样。他给我举了以色列原总理西蒙·佩雷斯的例子，说他上小学的时候，每天回家他的母亲只问两个问题，第一个是，今天你在学校有没有问出一个问题老师回答不上来？第二个是，你今天有没有做一件事情让老师和同学们觉得印象深刻？我听了以后叹了口气说，我不得不承认，我的两个孩子每天回来，我的第一句话就是问：今天有没有听老师的话？

我们有1400万中小学教师，我们虽然口口声声希望孩子培养创新、独立思考的思维，但我们的老师真的希望孩子们多提一些比较尖锐的问题吗？这和我们的部分文化如师道尊严又是矛盾的，所以，我们在创新的路上背负了沉重的文化枷锁。（摘自《青年时代》2015年第10期译：刘洁）

每天提两个尖锐问题

施一公