"The Master said, To learn and at due times to repeat what one has learned, is that not after all a pleasure?"
I have also heard it translated:
"To learn and to regularly review what one has learned, isn't that after all a great pleasure?"
When I heard this translation of his first Analect, I knew I liked Confucius. His teaching is grounded in inquiry, reflection, and joy. He recognizes the value and the privilege to learn and reflect upon what we have learned. How do we invite this type of wonder and joy in the learning process into our classrooms? How do we maintain this love of learning within ourselves? Why do so many people fall into periods of ennui when there is so much to learn in this world? These questions remind me of Thoreau's famous line, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." The world is too amazing for this to happen, and yet it does.
