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.
I tell young people to prepare themselves as best they can for a world that grows more challenging every day-get the best education they can, and couple that education with real-life experience in social justice work.
If it were customary to send daughters to school like sons, and if they were then taught the natural sciences, they would learn as thoroughly and understand the subtleties of all the arts and sciences as well as sons.
When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.
The imagination is an innate gift, but it needs refinement and cultivation; this is what the humanities provide.
Present-day Spain translates as many books into Spanish, annually, as the Arab world has translated into Arabic in the past 1,100 years.
As citizens, I'm asking you not to leave any child behind. I'm asking you not to be color blind, but to be color brave, so that every child knows that their future matters and their dreams are possible.
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