It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
H. L. MenckenRead
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Formal education often fails to provide valuable knowledge to those naturally inclined to learn.
In this quote, H. L. Mencken highlights the idea that many highly educated individuals feel that they gained their knowledge independently, rather than through formal schooling. He criticizes the educational system for merely assessing pre-existing knowledge instead of fostering genuine learning, suggesting that true education should inspire curiosity and growth rather than just serve as a measure of what one has already learned.
Themes
EducationLearningKnowledgeSchoolSelf-Education
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about the effectiveness of modern education, use this quote to emphasize the shortcomings of school systems.
More from H. L. Mencken
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The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
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It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
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A poet more than thirty years old is simply an overgrown child.
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