A professor can never better distinguish himself in his work than by encouraging a clever pupil, for the true discovers are among them, as comets amongst the stars.
Interpretation
A great professor shines through their ability to nurture talented students who can make significant discoveries.
This quote by Carl Linnaeus emphasizes the importance of a teacher's role in recognizing and fostering the potential of bright students. By encouraging clever pupils, professors not only elevate their own status but also contribute to meaningful discoveries, likening these intelligent students to comets that stand out amongst the stars in the vast sky of knowledge.
In practice
During a graduation speech, a speaker can remind students of the importance of supportive teachers.
Of what use are the great number of petrifactions, of different species, shape and form which are dug up by naturalists? Perhaps the collection of such specimens is sheer vanity and inquisitiveness. I do not presume to say; but we find in our mountains the rarest animals, shells, mussels, and corals embalmed in stone, as it were, living specimens of which are now being sought in vain throughout Europe. These stones alone whisper in the midst of general silence.
There are as many species as the infinite being created diverse forms in the beginning, which, following the laws of generation, produced many others, but always similar to them: therefore there are as many species as we have different structures before us today.
I demand of you, and of the whole world, that you show me a generic character... by which to distinguish between Man and Ape. I myself most assuredly know of none.
Blessed be the Lord for the beauty of summer and spring, for the air, the water, the verdure, and the song of birds.
Words and ideas work in the short run to get you through school and to impress educators and employers. But they do not work in the long run or in the deep run. We soon find ourselves separate and without wonder.
When dictators feel their support slipping among adults, it is not unusual for them to alter school textbooks in the hope of enlisting impressionable youths in their cause.
If children have interest, then Education happens
Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.
Reading fiction not only develops our imagination and creativity, it gives us the skills to be alone. It gives us the ability to feel empathy for people we've never met, living lives we couldn't possibly experience for ourselves, because the book puts us inside the character's skin.
One trend that bothers me is the glorification of stupidity, that the media is reassuring people it's alright not to know anything. That to me is far more dangerous than a little pornography on the Internet.
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