Education, the great mumbo jumbo and fraud of the age purports to equip us to live and is prescribed as a universal remedy for everything from juvenile delinquency to premature senility.
Interpretation
This quote critiques the effectiveness of education as a solution to various societal issues.
Malcolm Muggeridge's quote reflects a skepticism towards the educational system, suggesting that while it is presented as the key to addressing many problems in society—from youth delinquency to aging—it may actually be a deceptive panacea rather than a genuine solution. The phrase 'mumbo jumbo' implies that education is seen as overly complicated or even nonsensical, raising questions about its true value in fostering real understanding and growth.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion on the challenges of the educational system during a seminar.
This life in us; however low it flickers or fiercely burns, is still a divine flame which no man dare presume to put out, be his motives never so humane and enlightened; To suppose otherwise is to countenance a death-wish; Either life is always and in all circumstances sacred, or intrinsically of no account; it is inconceivable that it should be in some cases the one, and in some the other.
I never met a rich man who was happy, but I have only very occasionally met a poor man who did not want to become a rich man.
It was a somber place, haunted by old jokes and lost laughter. Life, as I discovered, holds no more wretched occupation than trying to make the English laugh.
Bad humor is an evasion of reality; good humor is an acceptance of it.
The only ultimate disaster that can befall us is to feel ourselves at home on this earth.
All happenings, great and small, are parables whereby God speaks. The art of life is to get the message. To see all that is offered us at the windows of the soul, and to reach out and receive what is offered, this is the art of living.
We need the books that affect us like a disaster
Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.
Deftly they opened the brain of a child, and it was full of flying dreams.
Research shows that whether you are low-income or not, mindset is a bigger predictor of success than academic skills, and how students gain great academic skills and persevere in the face of challenges.
Throughout the human experience people have read history because they felt that it was a pleasure and that it was in some way instructive. The profession of professor of history has taken it in a very different direction.
It isn’t what the book costs. It’s what it will cost you if you don’t read it.
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