不忍 | My Teaching Philosophy- "Sympathy"

來東華大學教書兩年了。喜歡騎腳踏車在校園內外遛達，常常遇到學生，不管識與不識，迎面相逢，總會抬起頭來相互微笑致意，感覺甚好。之前，在北部和南部兩大都市的大學任教，師生之間鮮少這種美妙的互動。如今，每回踩著單車奔馳在東華園大道上，看見那一張張迎面而來、神采飛颺、有時候卻帶著幾分焦慮和茫然的年輕臉龐（最近學生常告訴我：老師，怎麼辦，經濟不景氣，時機歹歹，畢業就是失業喔），心中總會興起一種莫名的感動和不忍。是的，不忍。不忍心欺騙學生；不忍心辜負學生的父母。於是我常在心中暗暗告誡自己：要盡力把書教好，讓這些孩子們在課堂上切切實實吸收到一些知識，將來在殘酷的社會上好跟別人競爭。不忍啊，不忍心讓東華的孩子們在社會上碰得頭破血流。

學的是文學，教的也是文學，主要是小說。文學作品是用理性的形式規範和節制感性的內涵（小說描寫的不外是人的七情六慾），形式和內涵、理性和感性之間因此產生莫大的張力和奇妙的平衡，而這就是人生，就是文學。上課時討論西方經典小說，譬如長篇作品《愛瑪姑娘》和《包法利夫人》，譬如回憶初戀的短篇小說〈阿拉伯商展〉（Araby）和描寫邂逅情緣的〈菊花〉（The Chrysanthemums），授課方式總是希望能夠兼顧理性和感性，涵蓋文學作品的形式與內涵，以嚴謹、客觀的學術立場分析小說中描寫的波濤起伏、悲歡離合的人生。這種教法，分寸雖然不易拿捏，有時會流於偏頗，但出入「理智與情感」（英國女小說家珍．奧斯汀小說名）之間，帶領學生徜徉其中，探索人性的兩面，卻也趣味無窮，但願同學們能從中學到一些東西，體認文學和人生的本質與價值；從中──也許──探索到做人的一些基本原則，對他們將來處世做事會有一點點幫助……。

年過半百，漂泊一生，精力大不如前，有時上課上到一半忽然發覺體力不支，五十肩隱隱作痛（這種老年病發作起來痛得簡直要人命），那時好想找個藉口，提早下課，但一仰臉，看到了講壇下那一張張稚嫩的臉龐和那一雙雙熱切的眼睛，心中暗暗嘆口氣，只好咬緊牙關，打起精神，拉高嗓門好好教完這堂課。這樣做，不為別的，只為心中那一點「不忍」。

只要心存不忍，每一位老師都可以成為問心無愧的好老師。

不忍，是人類的最高情操，可卻是我們做老師的人最基本的道德準則。

It’s been two years since I relocated myself to Dong Hwa. I love biking around the campus, lingering in and out. Often would I encounter old and new faces. We smile and greet to each other and it feels good. I had been teaching in Taipei and Kaohsiung before, but I rarely experienced such an intimate bond with students. Now, when biking on the campus, those youthful, shining faces I see are sometimes clouded by anxiety and confusion. (Students often tell me that they don’t know what to do after graduation in such an economic hardship.) Yes, sympathy. My sympathy wouldn’t allow me to lie to students and let their parents down. I’m always reminding myself: I’ll try my best. I’ll equip my students with practicable knowledge and enable them to compete against others when they are cast into this cruel society one day. Alas, sympathy. My sympathy wouldn’t allow me to witness my kids at Dong-Hwa suffer from bumps and bruises in the society.

I study and teach literature––more specifically, novels. Literary works restrain their sentimental core inside a rational frame––isn’t fiction all about human emotions and desires? ––and thus generate enormous tension and marvelous equilibrium between form and essence, rationality and sensibility. It is such dialectics that defines life and literature. When tackling western canons in class––say, novels like Emma and Madame Bovary or short stories like “Araby” (and its bitter epiphany of first love) and “The Chrysanthemum” (and its love encounter) ––I always aim at a perfect balance between rationality and emotion, as well as an aerial view over form and content. When analyzing literary works’ content and form, as well as their representation of life’s joy and sorrow, I always try to stay true to my role as an academic. Such approaches may risk in being overly opinionated, but it grants me great pleasure when I lead students to explore sense and sensibility (please allow me to plagiarize Jane Austen’s novel title here) and the two sides of humanity. I hope my students will not only learn something in the class, but value literature and life. Hopefully, what they have learned, that is, the basic virtues of a decent human being––will help them fit into the world in the future....

I have been wandering for more than half-century. My physical energy is not as good as before. Sometimes I feel weary in the midst of the class, and the pulsatile ache caused by frozen shoulder continues to bother me—it can kill me when this kind of geriatric problem attacks. At that moment, I wanted to find an excuse to dismiss the class earlier. However, when I saw the young faces of students and their sparkling eyes. Alas, What I can do is cheer myself and speak louder until I finish the lesson. Why am I doing this? It’s simply out of Sympathy.

If we cherish Sympathy in our heart, which makes every teacher to become a good mentor with a clear conscience.

The basic principle for teachers and the utmost virtue of humanity is sympathy. Sympathy, which is the utmost virtue of humanity, is the basic principle for we teachers.