As a child, you respond physically, tactically. You're delighted by sound, you're delighted by recognizing something. It's like hide and seek. Is it there? Is it not there? Is it this note? Is it not this note? It's one fantastic game.
Yo-Yo MaRead
Children, in a way, are constant learners. Certainly sponge-like. Absorbing everything without careful analysis, even though, at the same time, they are certainly capable of incredible insights.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Children learn profoundly and instinctively, often without questioning yet offering remarkable insights.
This quote emphasizes the unique way children approach learning. They have an innate ability to absorb information from their surroundings much like a sponge, without necessitating deep analysis. However, this doesn't undermine their capacity for keen observations and insights, suggesting that their sharp, intuitive understanding is also part of their learning process.
Themes
ChildrenLearningInsightsEducationObservations
In practice
Example use cases
A teacher might use this quote to inspire a discussion about teaching methods that embrace children's natural curiosity.
More from Yo-Yo Ma
All quotes βThere's a part of me that's always charging ahead. I'm the curious kid, always going to the edge.
Yo-Yo MaRead
I think that peace is, in many ways, a precondition of joy.
Yo-Yo MaRead
I think anybody who goes away finds you appreciate home more when you return.
Yo-Yo MaRead
When we enlarge our view of the world, we deepen our understanding of our own lives.
Yo-Yo MaRead
I learn something not because I have to, but because I really want to. That's the same view I have for performing. I'm performing because I really want to, not because I have to bring bread back home.
Yo-Yo MaRead
Similar quotes
Critical thinking is not something you do once with an issue and then drop it. It requires that we update our knowledge as new information comes in. Time spent evaluating claims is not just time well spent. It should be considered part of an implicit bargain we've all made.
Daniel LevitinRead
You can't have a sustainable US economy without a great education system. Teach students to do the job right. You don't have an innovative economy unless you have a great education.
Walter IsaacsonRead
A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.
Andrew CarnegieRead
Read widely, and without apology. Read what you want to read, not what someone tells you you should read.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
Sometimes the most brilliant and intelligent minds do not shine in standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds.
Diane RavitchRead
Literature offers not just a window into the culture of diverse regions, but also the society, the politics; it's the only place where we can keep track of ideas.
Reza AslanRead