I am sure Confucius had a good reason to do that, since this was the easiest way for him to find out what his students’ approach and attitude towards the subject were.
A student who is not fond of a philosophy, will think of is as of a burden and do no more, and learn no more than he has been told to. Confucius definitely did not want to tutor students who considered his science a ponderous task. He knew that in this case, both the teacher and the student would be negatively affected.
Confucius, as any other great teacher, wanted to teach people, who appreciated and craved knowledge. It is actually these people who study purposefully and will gladly apply what they have learned. Actually, is there a rational reason to study something you do not like? For me, a science is like a plug, and if you do not have the right socket for it, you will just be hurting your entity. And you will actually start hating the damn thing, won’t you?
The important thing is to know, what you are designed for. And Confucius used to find that out easily by his smart and simple method. Ping a socket with one bit of information, and if it responds correctly, you will have no troubles loading terabytes on it.
