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.
Why are you so docile when you give up your child to a government agent called a schoolteacher?
But by accident, not by cunning calculation, books, because of their weight and texture, and because of their sweetly token resistance to manipulation, involve our hands and eyes, and then our minds and souls, in a spiritual adventure I would be very sorry for my grandchildren not to know about.
A library is an ever-growing entity; it multiples seemingly unaided, it reproduces itself by purchase, theft, borrowings, gifts, by suggesting gaps through association, by demanding completion of sorts.
Universities are the cathedrals of the modern age. They shouldn't have to justify their existence by utilitarian criteria.
Even today, when an Aboriginal mother notices the first stirrings of speech in her child, she lets it handle the "things" of that particular country: leaves, fruit, insects and so forth. "We give our children guns and computer games," Wendy said. "They gave their children the land."
Everywhere I go, the kids call me 'the book lady.' The older I get, the more appreciative I seem to be of the 'book lady' title. It makes me feel more like a legitimate person, not just a singer or an entertainer. But it makes me feel like I've done something good with my life and with my success.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.