What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.
George Bernard ShawRead
Every fool believes what his teachers tell him, and calls his credulity science or morality as confidently as his father called it divine revelation.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Blind acceptance of ideas from authority figures can lead to misguided beliefs.
In this quote, George Bernard Shaw criticizes the tendency of individuals to uncritically accept teachings from their educators or authoritative figures. He suggests that many people equate their unquestioning faith in these teachings with higher truths, such as moral or scientific principles, just as they might accept their parents' beliefs as divine truth. This highlights the importance of critical thinking and skepticism in education and belief systems.
Themes
EducationBeliefCritical ThinkingAuthorityScienceMorality
In practice
Example use cases
In a classroom discussion on critical thinking, a teacher might use this quote to encourage students to question what they are taught.
More from George Bernard Shaw
All quotes βMarriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us.
George Bernard ShawRead
Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!
George Bernard ShawRead
Those who talk most about the blessings of marriage and the constancy of its vows are the very people who declare that if the chain were broken and the prisoners left free to choose, the whole social fabric would fly asunder. You cannot have the argument both ways. If the prisoner is happy, why lock him in? If he is not, why pretend that he is?
George Bernard ShawRead
Treat a friend as a person who may someday become your enemy; an enemy as a person who may someday become your friend.
George Bernard ShawRead
The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.
George Bernard ShawRead
Similar quotes
The wrong things are predominantly stressed in the schools - things remote from the student's experience and need.
Anne Sullivan MacyRead
Both education and religion need to ground themselves within the story of the universe as we now understand this story through empirical knowledge. Within this functional cosmology, we can overcome our alienation and begin the renewal of life on a sustainable basis. This story is a numinous revelatory story that could evoke the vision and the energy required to bring not only ourselves but the entire planet into a new order of magnificence.
Thomas BerryRead
A few modern philosopher's assert that an individual's intelligence is a fixed quantity, a quantity which cannot be increased. We must protest and react against this brutal pessimism.... With practice, training, and above all, method, we manage to increase our attention, our memory, our judgment and literally to become more intelligent than we were before.
Alfred BinetRead
There are three schoolmasters for everybody that will employ them - the senses, intelligent companions, and books.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
I try to learn as much as I can because I know nothing compared to what I need to know.
Muhammad AliRead
Obviously, Jay-Z is one of the greatest entertainers of the world today. Not only is he a remarkable rhetorical genius, he's also a man of deep sympathy and empathy for those who are lost and vulnerable, but especially under-educated youth of all cultures and stripes.
Michael Eric DysonRead