There is less flogging in our great schools than formerly-but then less is learned there; so what the boys get at one end they lose at the other.
Interpretation
While discipline has decreased in schools, so has the quality of learning, suggesting a trade-off between strictness and knowledge gained.
Samuel Johnson's quote reflects on the evolving educational practices within schools, highlighting a paradox where a reduction in strict discipline seems to correlate with a decline in the learning outcomes of students. The implication is that a balanced approach to education, which combines both discipline and effective teaching methods, is essential for meaningful learning to occur.
In practice
During a discussion on educational reforms, one might reference this quote to emphasize the importance of maintaining a balance between discipline and learning.
To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.
To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of the weary pilgrimage.
Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away.
A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.
For truly it is to be noted, that children's plays are not sports, and should be deemed as their most serious actions.
The higher education system in these countries (US, Korea etc) has become like a theatre in which some people decided to stand to get a better view, promoting the others behind them to stand. Once enough people stand, everyone has to stand, which means no one is getting a better view, while everyone has become more uncomfortable.
If you were a medieval scholar reading a book, you knew that there was a reasonable likelihood you'd never see that particular text again, and so a high premium was placed on remembering what you read. You couldn't just pull a book off the shelf to consult it for a quote or an idea.
If I am given a formula, and I am ignorant of its meaning, it cannot teach me anything, but if I already know it what does the formula teach me?
Great books help you understand, and they help you feel understood.
Censoring books that deal with difficult, adolescent issues does not protect anybody. Quite the opposite. It leaves kids in the darkness and makes them vulnerable. Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance. Our children cannot afford to have the truth of the world withheld from them
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.