Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education.
Interpretation
Education can sometimes hinder critical thinking and creativity.
Bertrand Russell emphasizes that ignorance is a natural state at birth, but the educational system can impose limitations on individuals that lead to a lack of true understanding or critical thought. This quote suggests that formal education should encourage questioning and independent thought rather than merely instilling rote knowledge.
In practice
During a lecture on the limitations of traditional education, this quote can serve as a thought-provoking starting point for discussion.
St. Paul introduced an entirely novel view of marriage, that it existed primarily to prevent the sin of fornication. It is just as if one were to maintain that the sole reason for baking bread is to prevent people from stealing cake.
Freedom comes only to those who no longer ask of life that it shall yield them any of those personal goods that are subject to the mutations of time.
Of these austerer virtues the love of truth is the chief, and in mathematics, more than elsewhere, the love of truth may find encouragement for waning faith. Every great study is not only an end in itself, but also a means of creating and sustaining a lofty habit of mind; and this purpose should be kept always in view throughout the teaching and learning of mathematics.
At all times, except when a monarch could enforce his will, war has been facilitated by the fact that vigorous males, confident of victory, enjoyed it, while their females admired them for their prowess.
Moreover, the attitude that one ought to believe such and such a proposition, independently of the question whether there is evidence in its favor, is an attitude which produces hostility to evidence and causes us to close our minds to every fact that does not suit our prejudices.
Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.
In a time of turbulence and change, it is more true than ever that knowledge is power.
I think if you're going to master policy, especially world affairs, you've got to know history.
I've got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby.
At O'Reilly, the way we think about our business is that we're not a publisher; we're not a conference producer; we're a company that helps change the world by spreading the knowledge of innovators.
With but a few exceptions, we don't have this personal study under masters any more. Craftsmanship has sunk very low. We no longer have any universally creative persons who are able to guide young learners not only in technical matters but also, at the same time, in a formal way.
One of the most important things that teachers teach students is you, you can work harder. You are mentally tougher than you think.
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