Read the quotations below and think how you would answer the questions.
EDUCATION
“Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive: easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.” [Lord Brougham: in a speech to the House of Commons, 1828]
- Does the sentence suggest that it’s easier to control uneducated masses?
- Is it in the interest of those who wield power to keep people ignorant?
- Do you think that it’s still possible in the 21st century to doubt the benefits of education?
LEARNING
“A little learning is a dangerous thing.” [Alexander Pope]
- How would the meaning of the sentence change if it started with ‘little learning’ instead of ‘a little learning’?
- What can be dangerous about ‘a little learning’?
- Is ‘a little learning’ better than ignorance?
TEACHING
“Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” [Oscar Wilde]
- Which things are worth knowing that cannot be taught?
- If you were to choose things that you want to know, would they exclude things that you are currently learning?
- If certain things cannot be taught, does it mean that they cannot be learned?
INSTRUCTION
“The things which hurt, instruct.” [Benjamin Franklin]
- Do we learn better through pain?
- If children learn through fun and play, isn’t it proper education?
- Is an idea of punishment necessarily connected with instruction?
TEACHERS
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” [Henry Adams]
- Doesn’t teachers’ influence stop the moment you leave the classroom?
- Have you ever been taught by a teacher whose lessons you will still remember after 10 or even 20 years?
- Is the teaching profession considered a ‘vocation’ or a ‘job’?
WISDOM
“The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all the other woes of mankind, is wisdom.” [T.H. Huxley]
- How different is ‘wisdom’ from ‘education’?
- Is wisdom connected with technological and scientific progress or compassion and understanding?
- Who can be called a wise man?