What Are Some Noteworthy Quotes About Education?

“𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥’𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘺.” — 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘴 22:6.

There is also a noteworthy quote by Swiss teacher and publicist Adolphe Ferrière that explains how we fail to follow this principle, i.e.

“𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴.

𝘏𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺.

𝘏𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘴.

𝘏𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 — 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵.

𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 — 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵.

𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮.

𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥.”

This quote dates back to the beginning of the previous century, but it is just as accurate today. It shows how children have natures to be like free birds, but we place them into cages.

Why? It is simply easier and clearer for us to coercively make children stay within our four corners. And by doing so, we rob them of their soul’s, mind’s and heart’s free development, and even disrupt their bodily development.

I think that the move to this kind of education will come when we become completely disillusioned with the ways we currently raise children, when we see that our current systems serve to create a world of increasing depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness, and other problematic phenomena across the board on personal, social, economic and ecological scales.

The principle “teach a child according to the child’s way” means that children should be raised in ways that let them freely develop. In practice, it means that they should listen to adults, but adults should adjust themselves to be as interesting and as relevant as possible to the children. Also, children need a lot of time outdoors with their friends, and to be simultaneously with their friends and their teachers. That is, they should engage in several activities that involve creating, inventing and fixing things together, as well as in ongoing discussions with their peers and with adults where they need to debate certain topics and reach conclusions.

Such an approach develops children in the natural course of their activities. It liberates them and gives them the freedom to think and to develop new ideas. We have yet to see an educational system that develops children to their fullest potential in such a way. Instead, we pack them into cubes that constrain their thinking and optimal development.

In order to upgrade education to “teach a child according to the child’s way,” we need different teachers, or more specifically, teachers themselves need to initially undergo a different course of education over several years, and only then will they accordingly become ready to cater to children. We will then start seeing completely different results to the current ones.

I think that the move to this kind of education will come when we become completely disillusioned with the ways we currently raise children, when we see that our current systems serve to create a world of increasing depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness, and other problematic phenomena across the board on personal, social, economic and ecological scales.