5 Quotes on Education: from Practitioners
We wrote earlier about 5 quotes on education by ancient philosophers. Here are 5 quips by more contemporary practitioners who have done, or are doing work, in the higher education field:
1.
“Here is an essential principal of education: to teach details is to bring confusion; to establish the relationship between things is to bring knowledge.”
— Maria Montessori, in From Childhood to Adolescence
The founder of the Montessori methods (a set of teaching methods and philosphy) Maria Montessori is concerned with the development of the child. As a clinical psychiatrist, she developed the set of child education methods that many institutions (often private) today use.
2.
“These are the kinds of curious, mysterious, and original minds that often end up making major contributions to our world; to reach their full potential, however, they need the latitude to follow their own oblique, nonstandard paths.
— Sal Khan, in The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined
If you ever missed a calculus or college physics class, or if you had prepared for the SAT at minimal costs, you must have used Khan Academy. Sal Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, was named as the “100 Most Influential People in the World” for his venture into educational technology. The service, now with over 10 million students, is essentially the largest school in the world, from what began, and what are still, a set of education videos available for free for anyone on the internet.
3.
“A university is not about results in the next quarter; it is not even about who a student has become by graduation. It is about learning that molds a lifetime, learning that transmits the heritage of millennia; learning that shapes the future. ”
— Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust, in Installation address: Unleashing our most ambitious imaginings
The 28th president of Harvard University, and the first woman president that Harvard named in 370 years, Dr. Drew Faust quipped in her installation speech that higher education is about transformation of a person. An eminent historian, Dr. Drew Faust’s research works seek to understand war, race and gender. She currently serves on the board of Goldman Sachs.
4.
“When it comes to education — we know ‘what happens to a dream deferred.’
— Bill Gates, in his 2011 speech at the National Urban League.
The founder of Microsoft Corp. has been busy working for social causes since his taking a step back from the 1-trillion dollar company. Along with wife Melinda Gates, Gates founded the Melinda and Gates Foundation, which works a lot in developing countries and the U.S. public school system. In this speech, Gates referred to his 1-billion scholarship dollars to be distributed through an organization, and that he knows that much of the current aid still go towards benefitting the privileged few. His endeavours in K-12 school system and the higher education system are generally respected.
5.
“I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way.”
— John Keating (played by Robbie Williams), in movie Dead Poets Society.
The role of a good teacher is seminal in an individual’s education journey. John Keating, a fictional character in movie Dead Poets Society, reminds us how a good teacher can guide pupils in appreciating forms of knowledge, challenging themselves, and thinking about life.
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Reference
- Maria Montessori quotes, American Montessori Society. https://amshq.org/About-Montessori/History-of-Montessori/Who-Was-Maria-Montessori/Maria-Montessori-Quotes
- Sal Khan’s profile on TED. From https://www.ted.com/speakers/salman_khan
3. Drew Gilpin Faust. 2007. Installation address: Unleashing our most ambitious imaginings. https://www.harvard.edu/president/speech/2007/installation-address-unleashing-our-most-ambitious-imaginings
4. Bill Gates. 2011. A discussion on education at the National Urban League. https://www.gatesnotes.com/Education/National-Urban-League-Speech
5. Photo from Dead Poets Society Fandom. https://deadpoetssociety.fandom.com/wiki/John_Keating
