Education In The Light Of Present-day Knowledge

Every Renaissance Comes To The World With A Cry, The Cry Of The Human Spirit To Be Free.

If The Child Is Left To Himself, He Will Think More And Better, If Less Showily. Let Him Go And Come Freely, Let Him Touch Real Things And Combine His Impressions For Himself.

I Cannot Explain It; But When Difficulties Arise, I Am Not Perplexed Or Doubtful. I Know How To Meet Them.

It's A Great Mistake, I Think, To Put Children Off With Falsehoods And Nonsense, When Their Growing Powers Of Observation And Discrimination Excite In Them A Desire To Know About Things.

I Am Beginning To Suspect All Elaborate And Special Systems Of Education. They Seem To Me To Be Built Upon The Supposition That Every Child Is A Kind Of Idiot Who Must Be Taught To Think. Whereas If The Child Is Left To Himself, He Will Think More And Better , If Less "showily." Let Him Come And Go Freely, Let Him Touch Real Things And Combine His Impressions For Himself... Teaching Fills The Mind With Artificial Associations That Must Be Got Rid Of Before The Child Can Develop Independent Ideas Out Of Actual Experiences.