Progress is possible only if we train ourselves to think about programs without thinking of them as pieces of executable code.
Edsger DijkstraRead
The students that, like the wild animal being prepared for its tricks in the circus called 'life', expects only training as sketched above, will be severely disappointed: by his standards he will learn next to nothing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Learning requires more than basic training; it demands deep understanding and engagement with the material.
In this quote, Edsger Dijkstra emphasizes that students who approach education passively, expecting only basic training and structure, will find themselves lacking in real knowledge and skills. True learning occurs when students actively engage with their education and seek to understand the underlying principles rather than merely following instructions.
Themes
EducationLearningEngagementUnderstandingPassiveActive
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on educational philosophy, one might use this quote to illustrate the importance of active learning.
More from Edsger Dijkstra
All quotes →Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.
Edsger DijkstraRead
The purpose of abstraction is not to be vague, but to create a new semantic level in which one can be absolutely precise.
Edsger DijkstraRead
We shall do a much better programming job, provided that we approach the task with a full appreciation of its tremendous difficulty, provided that we stick to modest and elegant programming languages, provided that we respect the intrinsic limitations of the human mind and approach the task as Very Humble Programmers.
Edsger DijkstraRead
The tools we use have a profound and devious influence on our thinking habits, and therefore on our thinking abilities.
Edsger DijkstraRead
LISP has jokingly been described as "the most intelligent way to misuse a computer." I think that description is a great compliment because it transmits the full flavour of liberation: it has assisted a number of our most gifted fellow humans in thinking previously impossible thoughts.
Edsger DijkstraRead
Similar quotes
Learn as if you were not reaching your goal and as though you were scared of missing it
ConfuciusRead
Education is identical with helping the child realize his potentialities. The opposite of education is manipulation, which is based on the absence of faith in the growth of potentialities and the connection that a child will be right only if the adults put into him what is desirable and suppress what seems to be undesirable.
Erich FrommRead
Reading and writing, like everything else, improve with practice. And, of course, if there are no young readers and writers, there will shortly be no older ones. Literacy will be dead, and democracy - which many believe goes hand in hand with it - will be dead as well.
Margaret AtwoodRead
The exercise of voluntary attention in the schoolroom must therefore be counted one of the most important points of training that take place there; and the first-rate teacher, by the keenness of the remoter interests which he is able to awaken, will provide abundant opportunities for its occurrence.
William JamesRead
Hairstyles change, and skirt lengths, and slang, but high school administrations? Never.
Stephen KingRead
I write for young girls of color, for girls who don’t even exist yet, so that there is something there for them when they arrive. I can only change how they live, not how they think.
Ntozake ShangeRead