So last blog I said I was going to dedicate this week's blogs to education. Here are 25 quotes on education, my thoughts on those quotes, and hell, do some critical thinking of your own on those quotes. Think about them and my thoughts on your own and feel free to comment with thoughts of your own. What does education truly mean? Or at least decide what it truly means to you. Since I don't want any preconceived notions affecting your critical thinking, I'm not including who said it. (You can always Google it if you fall in love with one though.)
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." I agree, but it's not just education. I can "educate" a child to believe complete hogwash if I want to and call it education. In that respect, it really could be used as a weapon.
"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." Probably not true for the general population, but for true genius, it might be very applicable. Obviously a quote from a true genius, not a card carrying Mensa wanna be genius.
"It is well to remember from time to time that nothing worth knowing can be taught." Experience and time sometimes are the only way we can explain somethings.
"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence." I disagree. Education is a building block that has little to nothing to do with personality, self control, and in fact, nothing to do with self confidence. Personality is a gift from birth. Self control is learned by observation and with maturity. Self confidence might be improved with education, but true self confidence is made up several things--and not necessarily any formal education.
"The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth." Yes-ish and no. The advancement of knowledge, yes-ish, through the sharing of knowledge and critical thinking and ideas exchange. The dissemination of truth? No. Absolute truths are in mathematics and sciences. Truth in historical analysis, political assessments and analysis, philosophical debates, sociological research...well, sometimes, "truth" is in the eye of the beholder, just like "history is written by the winners" or by the people who can play the media, the sheep and the uneducated, the best. Sometimes, those truths simply are never written.
"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." Yes, but knowledge is not necessarily education.
"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." We would hope. I wish all teachers and administrators would understand this. Education should not be to learn to regurgitate; it is to spark the curiosity to acquire knowledge.
"He who opens a school, closes a prison." Probably not. It's far more complicated than that, because education is only one piece of the puzzle. If you don't understand that, watch a 90s movie starring Wesley Snipes called "New Jack City". Ironically, the person quoted here comes from an era where people looked for very, very simple answers to very, very complex questions. Very rarely do complex problems have simple solutions.
"Don't limit a child to your own learning for he (she) was born in another time." No doubt.
"A liberal education is at the heart of a civil society, and at the heart of a liberal education is the act of teaching." I've tried it without the liberal...An education is at the heart of civil society and at the heart of education is teaching. Still sounds like double talk without a real meaning to me.
"Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom." Yes. Where there is ignorance, there is the ability to end freedom, enslave either literally or metaphorically. Education is a way to enlighten those that are otherwise ignorant.
"The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change." At it's face value, it sounds so limiting. However, how to learn and change means one can continue to "educate" themselves and develop themselves. Poignant.
"A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car, but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad." Doesn't say much about our society of the time or now. My rose colored bubble would prefer to think that not everyone is a criminal. Might say a lot about society of the person quoted here. Hell now that I think about it, it might say a lot about the 1980s.
"(Education) is being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't know." Education should give you the building block needed to know the difference, but the educational building block needed is critical thinking. We fail to teach people how to "know" what they do versus what they "don't know", and they assume that they can read a paragraph off "The Onion" and know exactly what is going on.
"The roots of education are bitter but the fruit is sweet." An education can be work. I'm sure any college kid can claim it's bitter at times. However, education while it should be "tough" should spark a sense of continued curiosity if we want people (kids) to continue to grow and expand. Again, perhaps a statement of the times of the quoted person here.
"...always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy." Sort of agree. Ignorance is not always by choice either; some people know nothing but the ignorance they were taught. Choosing to be ignorant versus being illiterate is grossly different. Some ignoramuses are literate, but don't bother to take advantage of the fact they could be more educated. Poignant from one point of view, but as most education quotes, only applicable in a limited range.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." Yes. Being able to reason and think allows one to be open to other's ideas and opinions without being lead...and without being a regal *ss about it either.
"A child without an education is like a bird without wings." Yes. Define education though. That's the real trick, isn't it?
"When educating the minds of our youth, we must not forget to educate their hearts." Or we will fail in helping them have sympathy and be able to understand another person's plight. Compromise comes from understanding another's view, plight or circumstance. The mind is only as good as the heart that supplies its nourishment.
"There are two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live." In practice, the two are usually closely intertwined.
"The secret in education lies in respecting the student." Sometimes. Sometimes kids need to be lead, but like the proverbial horse to water, sometimes they need to be respected and trusted enough to drink on their own.
"Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten." Metaphorically, yes. What should remain is the ability to think, consider things and apply oneself. If that is what is left, then someone has been educated. If that is forgotten, or worse yet never learned, then what was forgot was memorization with no value add to the person's life.
"America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week." Yea, not just in America folks. Professional soccer players in most countries are paid the same enormous paychecks.
"Education...has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading." That's the truth.
"Good teaching is one fourth preparation and three fourths theater." Presentation, at least. For children and teenagers, the favorite teachers are always the ones that engage their minds--generally with theater, presentation and/or bribery. Nothing screams do a good job more than a break on homework over the weekend.
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