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Education has for its object the formation of character.
Herbert Spencer
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Education aims to shape and develop a person's character.

In this quote, Herbert Spencer emphasizes that the true purpose of education extends beyond the acquisition of knowledge; it is fundamentally about shaping the character of individuals. Character formation involves instilling values, ethics, and critical thinking skills that guide a person's actions and decisions throughout life.

Themes

EducationCharacterDevelopmentValuesGrowth

In practice

Example use cases

During a graduation speech, one might say 'As Herbert Spencer noted, education shapes our character.'

More from Herbert Spencer

There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance-that principle is contempt prior to investigation.
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No one can be perfectly free till all are free; no one can be perfectly moral till all are moral; no one can be perfectly happy till all are happy.
Herbert SpencerRead
That feelings of love and hate make rational judgments impossible in public affairs, as in private affairs, we can clearly enough see in others, though not so clearly in ourselves.
Herbert SpencerRead
Be it or be it not true that Man is shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin, it is unquestionably true that Government is begotten of aggression, and by aggression.
Herbert SpencerRead
Organs, faculties, powers, capacities, or whatever else we call them; grow by use and diminish from disuse, it is inferred that they will continue to do so. And if this inference is unquestionable, then is the one above deduced from it-that humanity must in the end become completely adapted to its conditions-unquestionable also. Progress, therefore, is not an accident, but a necessity.
Herbert SpencerRead
This survival of the fittest implies multiplication of the fittest.
Herbert SpencerRead

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