The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.
Interpretation
Education transforms our perspectives and understanding of the world.
In this quote, Sydney J. Harris emphasizes that the true aim of education is not just to reflect our own thoughts and experiences, like a mirror, but to broaden our horizons and allow us to see the world from different viewpoints, like a window. Education should encourage critical thinking and open-mindedness, enabling individuals to understand diverse perspectives and contribute positively to society.
In practice
This quote can be used during a graduation speech to inspire students to embrace lifelong learning.
A person is either himself or not himself; is either rooted in his existence or is a fabrication; has either found his humanhood or is still playing with masks and roles and status symbols. And nobody is more aware of this difference (although unconsciously) than a child. Only an authentic person can evoke a good response in the core of the other person; only person is resonant to person.
We evaluate others with a Godlike justice, but we want them to evaluate us with a Godlike compassion.
The commonest fallacy among women is that simply having children makes them a mother - which is as absurd as believing that having a piano makes one a musician.
Man's unique agony as a species consists in his perpetual conflict between the desire to stand out and the need to blend in.
"Terrorism" is what we call the violence of the weak, and we condemn it; "war" is what we call the violence of the strong, and we glorify it.
At it's highest level, the purpose of teaching is not to teachβit is to inspire the desire for learning. Once a student's mind is set on fire, it will find a way to provide its own fuel.
My mother always told me I had to do 100 times better than a man. I had to work hard at maths, and learn four languages.
I don't have a college degree, and my father didn't have a college degree, so when my son, Zachary, graduated from college, I said, 'My boy's got learnin'!'
My books hold between their covers every story I've ever known and still remember, or have now forgotten, or may one day read; they fill the space around me with ancient and new voices.
I saw as a teacher how, if you take that spark of learning that those children have, and you ignite it, you can take a child from any background to a lifetime of creativity and accomplishment.
Education is the civil rights issue of our generation.
If help and salvation are to come they can only come from the children, for the children are the makers of men.
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