Education should aim at destroying free will so that after pupils are thus schooled they will be incapable throughout the rest of their lives of thinking or acting otherwise than as their school masters would have wished
Interpretation
The quote critiques education that suppresses individual thought and autonomy.
Johann Gottlieb Fichte's quote expresses a concern about educational practices that prioritize conformity and obedience over critical thinking and personal freedom. He argues that such an education aims to limit the students' ability to think independently, effectively shaping them to adhere to the desires of their teachers rather than fostering their own unique perspectives and talents.
In practice
During a discussion on educational reform, one might quote Fichte to emphasize the need for fostering independent thought.
By mere burial man arrives not at bliss; and in the future life, throughout its whole infinite range, they will seek for happiness as vainly as they sought it here, who seek it in aught else than that which so closely surrounds them here - the Infinite
Upon the progress of knowledge the whole progress of the human race is immediately dependent: he who retards that, hinders this also.
By philosophy the mind of man comes to itself, and from henceforth rests on itself without foreign aid, and is completely master of itself, as the dancer of his feet, or the boxer of his hands.
What sort of philosophy one chooses depends on what sort of person one is.
The schools must fashion the person, and fashion him in such a way that he simply cannot will otherwise than what you wish him to will.
He who is firm in will molds the world to himself.
My writing is often a way of 'bearing witness' for others who lack the education and the opportunity to tell their own stories, so I hope that my writing won't be affected too much by my personal life.
Reading can take you places you have never been before.
Plasticene and self-expression will not solve the problems of education. Nor will technology and vocational guidance; nor the classics and the Hundred Best Books.
I read a lot of highly unsuitable books for an 11-year-old. I was desperate to read as widely as possible. I thought, 'There are so many places I am never going to get the chance to visit, but I can if I read them.' And I did. I could go anywhere in the world - and off it - by reading.
Anyone can be a moral individual, concerned with human rights and problems; but only a college professor, a trained expert, can solve technical problems by 'sophisticated' methods. Ergo, it is only problems of the latter sort that are important or real.
The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that.
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