“A good learner lets the teacher work less and achieves twice the result, then gives the teacher credit.” The sentence comes from the Xue Ji, or Record of Learning, in the Book of Rites. Here, yong does not mean mediocrity; it means to credit or praise the teacher.
The passage contrasts this learner with one who learns badly, then discusses how a good questioner proceeds from easier parts to harder knots and how a good respondent answers according to the depth of the question. Its point is not passive obedience. The learner understands the direction, asks fitting questions and carries the work forward, so teaching need not drag or force. Today the line still usefully divides responsibility: good teaching matters, but learning is also formed by how the learner participates. Explaining every outcome through the teacher alone leaves out one's own part.
https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/禮記/學記
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