ABSTRACT
What is teaching for? In what way can teaching transform both teachers and students to become good thinkers? In what way can teaching enrich their lives? Teaching is a profound engagement of all parties involved in cultivating humanness or full personhood. In East Asian languages (Chinese/Japanese), teaching comprises two complementary characters, developing values (教, jiao/ kyo, piety) and nurturing the person (育, yu/iku). Teaching is a commitment to the inquiry of the good (善, san/zen) or human flourishing (eudoimonia). It is a collaborative and a creative experience between the teacher and the learner. Teaching facilitates cultural development. Children experience culture, form habits and forms of cultural behavior, and develop cultural methods of reasoning (Vygotsky, 1929). A person’s (Japanese, 人間, ningen, human and space) actions are embedded in the environment (Kreppner, 1992). S/he strives to achieve a real, goal-oriented self-activity. Social values and norms guide realization of his/her development (Stern, 1916/2010). Humanness (Chinese, renwen, 人文, the person and literature) emerges from collective, good and higher order thinking such as collaborative problem finding, creative problem solving and critical reflection on the purpose of life. Our compassion to live in harmony (Chinese/Japanese, he/wa, 和) with nature and with all living beings guides development of humanness, and thus creates conditions and possibilities to attain full personhood (Tan, 2014).
