Lessons from “Kungfu Panda”
Joseph OOI Thian Leong
School of Design & EnvironmentTeaching, like “kung fu”, is an art which connotes trained ability or mastery of a skill or craft. We may not be born with teaching skills, but we can acquire them. Using the ancient art of storytelling as an effective teaching tool that engages not only the mind but also the heart, a journey to learning the art of teaching and discovering the heart of teaching will be narrated.
Nurturing Values
HOOI Shing Chuan
Yong Loo Lin School of MedicineIt was Aristotle who said, “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all”. This is true of all professions, but perhaps some more than others, where caring for others in the community is an integral part of its work. We aspire to produce people who are guided not just by their minds but also by their hearts, who in the words of William Osler, treat the person who has the disease rather than treat the disease. Examples of how we attempt to integrate the education of the mind and heart in one particular domain, to motivate learning and to nurture empathy and servant leadership will be shared.
Against Empathetic Learning
LO Mun Hou
University Scholars ProgrammeMany recent educational initiatives—from systematic ones such as service learning, to more discrete efforts like hijab challenges—assume the virtue of empathy, and it seems insane to “oppose” such a humanistic value. Despite, or because, of this, it is worth subjecting empathy to critical interrogation. A brief discussion of a contemporary memoir will help to reveal a potential limitation of empathetic learning, after which a pedagogical approach to help students avoid this pitfall will be suggested.