因材施教

Pronunciation: yīn cái shī jiào Literal meaning: Teach according to ability

Origin & Usage

Teaching (施教) according to (因) the material (材). 材 is timber or stock, what you have been given to work with, and the carpenter's metaphor does real work: the grain decides what can be made from it. The idea is old and the wording is not. Cheng Yi, quoted in Zhu Xi's commentary on the Analects, explains why Confucius answered the same question about filial conduct differently for Ziyou and Zixia — 各因其材, each according to his material and to what he was short of. The four-character form itself is a late, Qing-period coinage. It works as the standard argument against uniform instruction, and it is a demand as much as a compliment.

Examples

English: "Good teachers adapt their methods to each student's learning style."

Chinese: 好老师会因材施教，根据每个学生的学习方式调整方法。