This is what language does: organize the world into manageable, and in some sense artificial, units that can then be inhabited and manipulated.
Stanley FishRead
The purpose of a good education is to show you that there are three sides to a two-sided story.
Interpretation
Good education broadens your perspective by revealing multiple viewpoints in any situation.
This quote by Stanley Fish emphasizes the importance of education not only in acquiring knowledge but also in developing critical thinking skills. It suggests that a well-rounded education teaches individuals to recognize and understand various perspectives, highlighting that many issues are more complex than they initially appear. This awareness encourages open-mindedness and informed decision-making.
In practice
During a seminar on conflict resolution, this quote can be used to illustrate the importance of considering multiple viewpoints.
This is what language does: organize the world into manageable, and in some sense artificial, units that can then be inhabited and manipulated.
Language is not a handmaiden to perception; it is perception; it gives shape to what would otherwise be inert and dead.
It is of no help to us that there is an absolute truth of the matter of things because unfortunately, none of us are in a position to say definitively what that is - although we all think that we are.
In general, higher education does not know how to speak for its interests. It offers a stance that is defensive, cowardly and likely to be ineffective.
Opinion-sharing sessions are like junk food: they fill you up with starch and leave you feeling both sated and hungry. A sustained inquiry into the truth of a matter is an almost athletic experience; it may exhaust you, but it also improves you.
Never become so much of an expert that you stop gaining expertise. View life as a continuous learning experience.
Do we really need school? I don't mean education, just forced schooling: six classes a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve years. Is this deadly routine really necessary? And if so, for what? Don't hide behind reading, writing, and arithmetic as a rationale, because 2 million happy homeschoolers have surely put that banal justification to rest.
It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds. In the best books, great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours.
Our higher education system is one of the things that makes America exceptional. There's no place else that has the assets we do when it comes to higher education. People from all over the world aspire to come here and study here. And that is a good thing.
I just love learning. I think learning is how you live. The verb of my life is learning.
You must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.
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