Most of us have endured an education. For many things we struggled in vain to understand the purpose for our learning them. Learning without purpose barriers understanding and bars the ability to apply what we learn.
It is a sad thing to report that the longer a child remains a victim of institutional education, the lower is his/her IQ on testing.
So I have included below several quotes from Albert Eistein, one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, on the subject of education.
Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.
Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.
I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions. Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.
It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be.
Most people say that is it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.
Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.
Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.
The only source of knowledge is experience.
The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.
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So he valued courage, curiosity, direct observation, character, imagination, continuous learing, creative expression and simplicity.
Hats off to the home schooling mums!