The quote: “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” is often found to be attributed to Confucius, however, as usually happens on the web this is yet another quote falsely attributed to him. Having said that, as a well-known and widely followed Chinese philosopher, one would expect him to say something similar. However, the aforementioned quote first surfaced long after the death of Confucius. Hence, we can deduce that Confucius couldn’t have been the one who said it.
Now the question arises if he never said this, why is this attributed to him?
The answer to this question, is, the person who said it was a Confucian philosopher, Xun Kuang (commonly known as Xunzi). He is considered one of the three great scholars of Confucianism of the early years. He provided cohesive revisions of the philosophy of Confucius causing it to flourish in East Asia. The above quotation is considered a rough translation of what Xunzi wrote in his book Confucian Devotional Writing.
He says:
If you don’t hear it, it’s not as good as hearing it, if you hear it, it’s not as good as seeing it. If you don’t see it, it’s not as good as knowing it.
the quote above comes from this statement of Xunzi, in the 1960s. The clear similarity in both statements is their emphasis on learning by doing. Both the sayings, in one way or another, speak in favor of active learning.
Most of us have been endowed with five main senses which help us navigate through life. When all these five are combined we can grasp the true reality of this world. Hearing can help you remember things only if they are repeated multiple times. Even then, the information can be retained only for a short amount of time. On the other hand, when we visualize things we tend to remember them for longer. However, when we use all our senses and take action, only then are we able to comprehend things on a deeper level. All these senses combine to become more than the sum of what they are.
Who was Confucius?
Confucius (551 – 479 BCE) was a Chinese philosopher, teacher, reformer and advisor. He is known for revolutionizing the Chinese and east Asian cultures. He is considered the first teacher in China who was a strong supporter of making education available to everybody. Confucius exemplified integrity and benevolence at times when people were fighting for power. With his literary work and teaching, he became one of China’s greatest philosophers.
Despite being born into a noble family he was raised in poverty due to the untimely death of his father. Because of this, he had great sympathy for the suffering of common people. By taking inspiration from ancient texts, Confucius developed the belief that human character is formed through learning and education. Such a person will be guided by moral inspiration rather than brute force. Confucius held fast to his philosophy till the time of his death.
What is the Meaning of the Quote
In order to comprehend things truly, you have to put your knowledge into action. You may already know from previous experiences that knowing the theory behind a subject may leave you feeling pretty confident. However, once you start applying this theory, all kind of issues start to arise, you start seeing loopholes in your knowledge, perhaps even some things that you learned turned out to be incorrect in practice.
But once you have made enough mistakes and learned multiple different ways of what not to do then you have edged towards the path of greater understanding.
From Xunzi`s quote, we can also deduce the process of learning to be threefold. It includes:
- I hear – implies the explanation of whatever is intended to be understood.
- I see – can be understood as a practical demonstration.
- I do – refers to the imitation of what has been shown in the demonstration.
Everyone learns in a different way
Even though the previously mentioned quote implies that active learning is the true learning method, this does not apply to everyone equally. When it comes to learning, there are different ways that people learn new things or skills.
Three types of learners are:
- Auditory – these learners retain information through hearing and speaking. Such individuals prefer to be given an explanation from which they extract main points that aid in memorization.
- Visual – these type of learners understand through visual objects such as graphs, pictures, or charts. They are able to memorize things by writing them down.
- Kinesthetic – lastly some people prefer a hands-on approach to learning new material. They prefer tinkering and trying things out on their own rather than a lengthy explanation.
Now we know that when it comes to learning there is no one right answer. It is possible that one method of learning can be beneficial to some individuals and make no sense to others. Therefore, when teaching a group of individuals, it is advisable to know beforehand their natural learning inclination.
Effective way of learning
When it comes to studying, book knowledge does not always suffice. Book knowledge lets you understand the concepts but you cannot benefit from these concepts unless and until you know how to put them into practice. For this reason, people prefer to learn from experience as it enables them to reflect upon and internalize the theory that they have learned. That being said, both theory and practical knowledge are important, one cannot work without the other.
The importance of an active learning process makes us realize how outdated our education system is. For many years it primarily forces students into memorizing various concepts without giving them any opportunity to implement what they learned. This promotes a culture of cramming, where individuals are concerned only about their grades instead of mastering important subjects which may be useful later in life. When they don’t get to have an active learning atmosphere, they don’t get the chance to make mistakes and learn from them. This is something that must be changed in our system if we want our future generation to be able to keep up with the ever-developing world.
As the newer generation is becoming more tech savvy, it is time we move our attention towards more modern ways of studying. The recent lockdown has provided a completely new yet effective way of schooling. Students all over the world can attend online classes from the comfort of their home, avoiding long commutes, cold weather and the constant worry of being late to class.
Some argue that this sort of learning deprives individuals from meaningful ways to socialize, this is a valid concern and something needs to be done to both accommodate both remote learning and the socializing aspect. However we must absolutely move past the old way of teaching. From lack of proper sleep, long commutes to bullying, we must realize that many issues are solved with remote learning.