Gone are the days when most of us thought that the best teacher in a school was the one who talked too much in class, whereas now it is universally agreed that the best teacher is the one who talks less in class and who instead gives the students the chance to speak more. Speaking should then be typical of learners rather than language practitioners while teaching. However, from time to time, I hear some teachers in their classes talking all the time, and seldom do they let their students speak.
Perhaps, they do so to show of their linguistic capabilities in front of both their students and their colleagues in other classes. I still vividly remember once reading a quote by one of my favourite philosophers, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, which runs thus: “People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.” This is what we call a paradox, something contradictory at first sight, but when we look back closely at it, we find that it is really true.
The fact that people who know too much talk little and those who know little talk much is due to several reasons. One of the latter is that those who know much feel that what they know is not necessary to say and thus desist from saying it. For instance, a writer may not tell you when to use punctuation marks unless you ask him simply because he has gone beyond this stage and feels that there is no use in explaining. He who knows much thinks that other people know the same as he does and believes that there is no point is repeating what he knows.
On the other hand, those who know little have to talk greatly, for they have to say something they have just learned. We all know that learning something new makes us so excited about it and induces us to seek every opportunity just to say it. It is the very case with great talkers. This, of course, brings me back to my university days when some of my ex-classmates talked all the time in class, but they rarely said something meaningful, precise and to the point. Afterwards, I discovered that they did so poorly in the exams they sat for which confirmed that their talking was merely a sign of little learning.
I would stress that I am not generalizing here; rather I am talking about the majority of little talkers and great talkers. Most importantly, a well-informed man of course speaks about his opinions, but he doesn’t do so as greatly as does an ignorant man. This disproportion is attributed to the fact that a well-informed man has so much to say and then holds his tongue because he very well knows that no matter how much he broaches on a certain issue, he will not say something which is everything it should be.
As regards an ignorant man, he thinks that all that he knows is so important and as a result begins to impart it to anybody he meets. The man in question can be likened to a poor man who has just won a lottery. If the latter doesn’t inform all people that he has become rich, he will not be able to sleep peacefully that night. However, a rich man doesn’t need to inform people of his social status either because he has become so out of his constant efforts or because he is already born with a sliver spoon in his mouth.
In 2004 and 2005, as a high school student, I had the chance to be taught by two different teachers of French in the respective academic years. The first one was a plain-looking, modest teacher. The second one was an insolent, great talker. The difference between the two is that we learned a lot from the former who taught us French lessons in a good, simple and patient manner, while we learned nothing from the latter because he talked greatly fast, insulted us for being inconsiderate, prided himself a lot on his pronunciation and his remarkable fluency, and was very impatient with our learning of the language.
However, towards the end of the academic year, we students learned that the first teacher was a writer and a poet, having been the author of nearly 10 books. The teacher in question gave those who excelled in French that year some of his books without even mentioning that it was he who wrote them. We only knew that when we saw his name written on the books cover. As for the second teacher, he was a mere braggart who never produced something in the language he ‘taught’ us. Later on, we even learned from some of his ex-classmates at university that he used to be such an inveterate cheater.
Day after day, I learn more and more about life, and the lesson that I have learnt these days is that most great talkers are merely braggarts and creepers, while little talkers are wise, modest, and knowledgeable. As the saying goes, still waters are deep. Or as Edgar Allan Poe once described a genius as someone who shudders at incompleteness and usually prefers silence to saying something which is not everything it should be. Following is the poem that I once wrote about the topic in question.
The Pencil Sharpener
I took a pencil that I have sharpened for years,
Put it to use,
But has produced nothing of use;
Only my days it often sears.
Enraged, I broke it
As it was about to end;
I took a new and longer one
I sharpened it once;
The pencil, still sharp
While I keep using it up,
At this stage,
My spirit has never aged.
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