Gao Zi II · Passage 16 / 16 · 孟子 6B.16
Mencius 6B.16: there are many arts of teaching
Mencius argues that instruction does not consist only in direct explanation. Sometimes refusing to indulge a student's state is itself a form of teaching.
孟子曰：「教亦多術矣。予不屑之教誨也者，是亦教誨之而已矣。」
Mencius said, 'There are many arts in teaching. I refuse, as inconsistent with my character, to teach a man, but I am only thereby still teaching him.'
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Central question
Why does Mencius say that even a refusal to teach in the ordinary way can still be teaching?
Direct answer
Because teaching is not only the transfer of content. It also includes showing a person why, in his present condition, he cannot yet properly receive a certain lesson. Measured refusal can expose the problem more clearly than more speech.
First principle
Real teaching does not maximize information output. It finds the actual point at which the learner can be moved, and sometimes restraint is the truest form of guidance.
Why it matters
This passage serves searches around teaching methods, pedagogical restraint, and Mencius on instruction. It strengthens the site's method and self-cultivation cluster.
Further reading
What this passage is doing
This is passage 16 of 16 in Gao Zi II. The cleanest entry point is "There are many arts in teaching". In context, it works as part of Mencius's argument about nourishing the heart, judgment, and the formation of character and can be read alongside Flood-like qi, Human nature.
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Gao Zi II connects nourishing the heart, judgment, and character formation into one path of cultivation.
Related principles
Citation note
Do not use it as an excuse for teacherly coldness. For Mencius, refusal counts as teaching only when it still aims at the student's growth rather than abandoning him.