Bettering the teacher? (#103; Topic: C)

Some time back, I clipped out, from a full-page church-financed advertising in a local Chinese-language paper, an excerpt from the bible to the effect that a student could not be better than the teacher. I thought, and still think, such an excerpt as odd, particularly when it was cited by a Chinese church, even granting that it was isolated from teachings in Chinese classics. But, due to moving, I could not find that clipping nor its exact quote. Yesterday, accepting a fellow retiree's offer to scan 30 photographs I took into a PowerPoint-based lecture, I went to his condo. In his study, I saw a copy of Strong's Concordance to the Bible. Taking advantage of the lull when the computer was scanning, I asked whether we could use Strong to establish that excerpt's source; we were unsuccessful. (I should have known: Strong's structure is not conducive to single-word searches.) Afterward, using a different reference book in the local library, I was able to establish the source -- Matthew 10:24: "A disciple is not above the teacher." (A similar one is at Luke 6:40, with a one-word difference: disciple is changed to student.) Why not? Would there be advances in knowledge were this verdict observed? On teacher-student's roles in the pursuit of knowledge, Confucius offered the following: "When confronted with nobleness, defer not even to your teacher." (Analects, 15:36, from my translation published in 1999). Now, that is much more becoming -- and much more comfortable, whether one is a teacher or a student -- I know; I have been a professor for 30+ years, and a student my entire life.
Posted at 10:06 am, Wednesday, March 8, 2006