At it's highest level, the purpose of teaching is not to teach—it 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.
Interpretation
Teaching should aim to inspire a love of learning rather than just impart information.
This quote emphasizes the transformative power of education. Rather than merely transmitting knowledge, the true essence of teaching lies in igniting a passion for inquiry and understanding within students. When educators inspire students, they evoke a sense of curiosity and motivation that drives individuals to pursue knowledge independently, leading to a deeper and more meaningful educational experience.
In practice
In a motivational speech for teachers, this quote can be used to highlight the importance of inspiring students.
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.
You may be sure that when a man begins to call himself a realist he is preparing to do something that he is secretly ashamed of doing.
Islam tells us every girl and boy should be educated. I don't know why the Taliban have forgotten it.
Widening the talent pipeline sufficiently will require a generational commitment to teaching math and science, providing technical training, and mentoring young people of all backgrounds so they understand the full range of possibilities that a career in technology affords.
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.
Having the freedom to read and the freedom to choose is one of the best gifts my parents ever gave me.
Life-Enriching Education: an education that prepares children to learn throughout their lives, relate well to others, and themselves, be creative, flexible, and venturesome, and have empathy not only for their immediate kin but for all of humankind.
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