"I always thought the idea of education was to learn to think for youself."
"At these boys' age, not on your life."
What do the quotes imply?
And how are these words related to Thoreau?
2007-12-15 13:22:07 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
"I always thought the idea of education was to learn to think for youself."
Implies that education is teaching us how to think instead of allowing us to form our own opinions.
"At these boys' age, not on your life."
Implies that someone's age makes an action virtually impossible. Emphasized by the fact that someone would bet a life against the success of an action committed by someone of a certain age.
Thoreau once said, "What does education often do? It makes a straight cut ditch of a free meandering brook". He believed that education often applied limits to individual thinking; which he obviously did not advocate. I think the second quote would relate to limitations also; something Thoreau disliked because limitations prevent us from fully experiencing life and gaining true knowledge.
2007-12-15 13:38:28 · answer #1 · answered by Von 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Thoreau was a part of a group of people called the transcendentalists meaning they focus on the deeper aspects of life...Nature..How it works and behaves...I suppose they thought of themselves not as humans but as beings a part of something much greater..The enlightened ones...The first quote is said like ...i was always questioning the nature or reason of things especially what was being taught and why we were being taught.....(oh yes WHY itself is a huge part in the relation here and within trancendental ideas) the second quote i am not familiar w/
2007-12-15 14:10:46 · answer #2 · answered by WoRDWiz 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Henry David was a teacher for a short time, and since his transcendentalist beliefs were that you learned by experiencing life, the first quote fits his philosophy. The second quote needs more information.
2007-12-15 13:28:40 · answer #3 · answered by DR W 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The first one implies that as we go through school, we learn to think and speak for ourselves. But in school, we can't do either. We have to do everything a certain way. Its contradicting, really.
2007-12-15 13:26:23 · answer #4 · answered by oh geez 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
for me it means that..education is implemented so that we can learn for ourselves.....so that we will not be ignorant....
2007-12-15 13:26:55 · answer #5 · answered by alphapoison_26 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Isn't that from "Dead Poets Society"?
2007-12-15 16:45:08 · answer #6 · answered by yet-knish! 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋