“I m not suggesting that teachers never tell the truth, only that it isn t necessary to do it all the time. Since coming to one s own conclusions is mostly how we learn, the real job of a teacher is to force students to come to sensible conclusions by confronting what they already believe with stuff that is antithetical to those beliefs. A confused person has only 2 choices. Admit he is confused and doesn t care, or resolve the confusion. Resolving the confusion invloves thinking. Teachers can encourage thinking by making sure students have something confusing to think about.”
“After all, what is education, if not the unparalleled means to transcend the self- imposed physical limits of the mind and the body.”
“Certain things need to be done again and again in life, but those things can be learned only in context, not as an abstraction. Different contexts must be provided in order to motivate students and to provide real world skills that will be remembered, not because they were studied and tested but because they were practicied again and again.”
“There are endless books about what every third grader must know that use the idea that factual knowledge is the basis of the ability to read as their justification. Unfortunately, the writers of these tracts have misunderstood the cognitive science behind those statements. It is difficult to read things when you don t understand what they are about, but it does not follow from that thatthe solution is to ram that knowledge down kids throats and then have them read. It is much more clever to have them read about what they know and to gradually increase their knowledge through stories that cause them to have to learn more in order to make the stories understandable to them.”
“Psychologically speaking, far from being worthless, a system is indeed necessary, for any kind of human endeavor. A structure aids in the mind’s endeavor of learning. But the moment the mind becomes dependent on the system and starts trusting the system more than the internal faculties of the mind, the very element of education fades away from the system.”
“All knowledge is born in the mind, and circumstances make them manifest.”
“The methodical implementation of modern human faculties that allow us human beings to transcend the physical limits of biological evolution is Education. However, today, the term education has become somehow synonymous with economic benefits and due to the primeval craving for security, it has disgracefully lost its very core of transcendence into the unknown. Thus, the very evolutionary seeds that gave birth to the method known as education have gone almost extinct in the modern industrialized system of soulless competition and regurgitation. Hence emerged the reason for me to get to the root of its quite unofficially accepted problems, and to concoct the thought processes that would make necessary amendments to the perceptual errors of what I call the three major nodes of education system, which are the teachers, the students and the parents.”
“A proactive learner can have the ability to acquire a vast amount knowledge to use critical thinking because he or she has the passion comprehending complex principles, theories and tasks in daily life and career settings.”
“如果你不能改變所處的環境，那你的一生往往就在這個環境中，被它所拘束、被它所困厄，你很難改變、擺脫自己原有的命運。所以人如果要改變自己的命運，就要去找一個能夠實現希望的好環境。但問題來了，很多人都想改變自己所處的環境，可是辦得到嗎？...... 你想要改變你所處的環境，第一步就是改變你自己。如果你不能讓自己成為好環境需要的人，你永遠不可能到那個環境去。...... 但是人要怎麼樣才能改變自己呢？只有一個字：『學』！”
“It is equally important to learn from experience and from books.”
“Do not feel surprise at being schooled amid toil: you are being schooled for a wondrous destiny.”
“If there were past misdeeds, I do not believe we should nag or repeat them, never mind throw them in someone’s face. If they sincerely apologized and we genuinely forgave them, we must move on. Learn from mistakes, but move on. If we bring them up and toss them at the offender, we may not have actually forgiven them, even if we claim we have.”
“Education is a system. Learning is an ongoing every day process.”
“Don’t be too quick to leave the tree you are highly convinced of its future sweet fruits and comforting shade just because you see its present fruitlessness. Just sit under it and endure the scorching sun, one day, its branches will give you comfort and its fruits will give you smiles and nourish your body!”
“One of the reasons people and animals share such a close relationship is that people have always learned important lessons from animals: what to eat, and what not to eat; when it is safe, or when there is danger about. Have you ever walked in a park or forest where there were no birds singing and no small animals to be seen? It s unsettling, isn t it? Where have the birds gone? And why did they leave? Often, animals can warn us of trouble before we are able to detect it for ourselves. Many people have been saved from fires by their pets, who, sensing the danger early, woke their owners and allowed them to get to safety. By carefully watching animals and their behavior, people can learn, and have learned, a great deal about their environment.”
“A great teacher will invite every student to learn and to participate and inspire more and more learning.”
“Learning is as much an attitude as it is an activity.”