In February 1992, I spoke at the University’s annual Seminar on Teaching Methodology on “Minding Your P’s and Q’s”. I mentioned three sets of P’s and Q’s relevant to teaching and learning: Personality and Quality, Philosophy and Quest, and Pedagogy and Questions.¹ In this article, I would like to elaborate on Pedagogy and Questions.

‘Pedagogy’—the science of teaching, or training—comes from a Greek word paidagogos, a slave who led a boy to school. I am sure that there is hardly an academic pedagogue today who regards himself as a slave to his students (and more likely as a scholar with authority over them!), but the Greek word enshrines the important principle that education involves discipline and guidance. Indeed, ‘education’ comes from the Latin educare, which meant to raise or to lead, with a view to instruction and training.

Along these classical lines of thought, we recall how the great philosophers and teachers of the ancient world often taught by means of questions. I think it was Aristotle who said that “in order to succeed, one must ask the right questions,” and questions were part of the Socratic method. Similarly, the Analects of Confucius are replete with questions from both the Master and his disciples as a means of establishing principles.² In the Christian Gospels, Jesus of Nazareth taught by means of parables³ and frequently by searching questions.⁴

In our own pedagogic context, we would do well to identify key questions and issues—whether in research or teaching—before moving on to present generalisations, hypotheses, theories and paradigms. It is a common observation that there is a gap between the school and pre-university curricula, on the one hand, and university courses, on the other. And it is a common complaint that university teachers sometimes fail to appreciate where their students are coming from, in their eagerness to introduce them to fresh academic subjects. I would recommend that we devote part of our introductory tutorial or lab sessions to finding out more about our students’ backgrounds, interests and expectations. We need to proceed by questions, to lend a listening ear to these new students, and to suggest possible handles and keys to academic doors. Certainly in education, one size doesn’t fit all.

As I have observed elsewhere, each of us is born and grows with questions:

“First, after birth every individual awakens to the quest for personal identity, which is expressed in the question, ‘Who am I?’ Secondly, with growing self-awareness and maturity, he embarks on the quest for group integration, expressed in the question, ‘Where do I belong?’ Thirdly, in this Age of Nationalism, people also engage in the collective quest for national independence and integrity, expressed in the questions, ‘Who are we?’ and ‘How can we be free and united as a distinct people?’”⁵

Children are born with innate curiosity, and we can either encourage or discourage this curiosity. In a recent interview, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the Acting Minister for Education, was asked, “How can parents discipline and encourage their children to explore and venture into new grounds?” His reply:

“I think the most basic point is to encourage children to ask questions from very young. Once they get through secondary school and become young adults, they should have developed a certain scepticism towards established wisdom, and I don’t mean cynicism. Having a questioning attitude towards established knowledge, and even established ways of doing things, is not a bad habit-it leads to wanting to find a better way or alternative solution. We also need discipline to succeed in creative endeavour...”⁶

For some time, I have tried to phrase some of the key points in my lecture presentations in the form of questions. I have sometimes taken my cue from Rudyard Kipling’s poem in Just So Stories, first published in 1902:

“I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.”⁷

In one lecture outline, I linked these ‘honest serving-men’ to questions related to the making of the Singapore national identity, and they provided fertile ground for further exploration and discussion.

Of course, it is essential not merely to ask questions, but to mind or think through the questions that might be helpful for particular subjects, sessions and situations. There are different kinds of questions-interrogative (sometimes threatening), provocative (challenging), rhetorical (not requiring an answer), stimulating, supplementary, and even nonsensical. The attitude and manner of the questioner may well affect the outcome of the dialogue. We may not wish to adopt the format of Larry King Live or Hard Talk in our tutorials!

Finally, for most subjects, there is an examination paper at the end of the course, and we need to formulate questions that fairly reflect the syllabus and its highlights. One of the pitfalls to avoid is to ask a question that can be answered with a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, which a cheeky student may then claim to have fully answered! It is sometimes useful to start with a stimulating quotation, and to base our questions upon it, bearing in mind the time constraints for a fitting response.

The constant challenge is to update our course materials, and to find and formulate fresh questions, for lectures, tutorials and exams. The more we mind our pedagogy and questions, the more will we, along with our students, find our teaching and learning experiences rewarding and refreshing.

Endnotes

1. Dean’s Message: Minding Our P’s and Q’s’. (February 1992). Ascent, Vol. 2, No. 1, p. 1. Singapore: Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, National University of Singapore.
2. See example in John E. Wills Jr. (1994). Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, Ch. 2.
3. The Gospel of St. Mark, 4:33–34.
4. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches his disciples, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?” He asked them, “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” (The Gospel of St. Matthew, 5:13, 46, 47).
5. Ernest Chew. (1991). In E.C.T. Chew & Edwin Lee (eds.), A History of Singapore. Singapore. Oxford University Press, p. 357.
6. ‘A Chat with Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam’. (April-May 2003). ACS Echo, p. 20.
7. Rudyard Kipling. (1902). ‘The Elephant’s Child’. Just So Stories. London: Macmillan.