“We are students of words; we are shut up in schools, and colleges, and recitation rooms, for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bag of wind, a memory of words, and do not know a thing.”

Can you imagine what Mr. Emerson would say if he could see our public schools now.

There is much truth in this quote. Unfortunately.

What we wouldn't give for an education system as lousy as the one during his time.

Emerson was/is great. He said the only reason the prophets and other men are famous is because they wrote things down. We can have just as great thoughts as they. Raldo would have got along great with Paul Simon "When I think back to all that crap I learned in High School, its a wonder I can think at all." Seriously though some schools teach occupational and technical things that are very job related. Not all kids take words and math and college prep.

You get out of any endeavor nothing more than you put into it... some may thus come out of 15 years of attending schools as bags of wind, but they would arrived at this state with or without formal education. Others invest themselves in the process and thus learn from it, emerging with the sum of their efforts and the efforts of the formal education.

Too true.

;-) I like it.

I saw a teacher accept a Golden Apple Award in Chicago. His words on acceptance gave me the best description of what education should be. He said his job was to create worlds of meaning for children. Give them something to latch on to and go for. Some latch on some don't.

It put me in mind of what Betrand Russell said :"Once every six months, good philosophers think about what stands behind their words, Bad hilosophers never do" Ludwig Wittgenstein thought that the study of philosophy aims at combating the bewitchment of the mind by language

4 doctors proved that to me

The greatest fault of the education system is NOT teaching children the real meaning of their American heritage. NOT teaching them morality. And then indoctrinating them with socialist idealism. No wonder they come out of school unprepared for real life in the real world.

This is a poor representative sample of Emerson's wisdom. In fact, many come out of school not even knowing words. And speaking of words, I have noticed that no matter the subject, whether fact, fiction or fantasy, some responders see nothing but a morbid trepidation of socialism. In which case not even words were learned in school.

Here's a word for you dick..."denial". Look it up. :)

I must enter quote from Emerson that I have had 30 years: "The louder he spoke of honor the faster we counted our spoons." Now, related to the quote today: My 2 daughers have degrees, the slim one graduated cum laud from Med school 15 years ago, married a millionaire's son and admits addiction to diet pepsi. At best it will blind her, the worst it will kill her www.dorway.com and she won't let me tell her anything. The other daughter is obese and hooked on diet soda along with her daughter, a nurse who miscarried and her son along with his wife are both pharmacists who like diet soda. Several years ago, my grandson changed his email so that I cannot reach him. I finally realized that the pharmacists figure anything approved by his M.D. cousin must be good enough for him and his wife. Then I realized that while the perfidious press prints only what they want us to believe, both facts and lies and that universities do the same, If there were no lies or secrets from the press or schools, too many will discover that very few are required to file tax returns AND it is impossible to pay taxes with paper and when too many quit pretending to pay taxes, the system collapses as the money that Keynes called "worthless" become useless paper and the easy life of all with degrees ends. "None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe that they are free." Johann vonGoethe

I wonder how much Herr Waffler is paid for his pearls of wisdom that are as userful as tits on a boar?

This quote is so true, i'm in high school, and lots of my teachers try to make real world examples, but they never work, and all my reatives have warned me once I leave school I really won't know a thing

the teaching of parrots in government seminaries.

Mark Twain said to not let schooling get in the way of your education.

Thanks to compulsory 'public' education, the schools have become mental programming centers, redefining the meaning of words, introducing euphemistic language as pillars to prop up a view of the world that is no more real than the words used to define it. All the political jargon we now take for granted takes on new and expanded meaning -- a 'terrorist' is anyone that stands in the way of authoritarians, the list of which is growing -- even a traffic stop is treated as a potential terrorist confrontation and anyone questioning . 'Global warming' is now 'climate change' -- another catch all phrase, if the temperature goes up, it's climate change, if it goes down, it's climate change. And something must be done! Ever ask yourself why? Why do we think we must do something to prevent climate change? Infanticide is "women's health," aborted baby parts are "fetal tissue donations," and trafficking in their sale is "reimbursement of shipping expenses." Thank the legal establishment for most of this in order to twist the meaning of words so that the law not only permits such atrocity but subsidizes it.

To read and write, add, subtract and multiply. Commonsense skills badly needed. This the first step, to begin to understand application. Learning to read a Ruler ! A guide to measure all things pertinent to life's understanding of relationships across the board. It also allows for the introduction of the divider or compass if you will. Which leads to the plummet, the apex, point, from which reference and mark are noted. Not all will obtain a so called higher education, but with the fundamentals firmly understood, a higher degree of understanding is achieved. Instilling confidence of judgment. There are so many types of callings in life, but I have found, the ministry of the Word to be the most profound of all. Very few are ever exposed to such depth, never knowing what lies just below the surface of words. People are just that, a house for words. Knowledge coupled with understanding gives lift to the conscience of mankind. Numbers are words and words are numbered for a very [ good ] reason. Our Creator, the Word, is in constant harmony. Harmony is to be discovered and sought out for the purpose of laboring for ones self, and the enjoyment of the fruit of your labor. " Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, [ Rightly Dividing ] the word of truth. ( II Timothy 2:15 ) To cut aright, literally, that which is to you, from that which is for you. The ( cover up ) as through my observation has been well entrenched for thousands of years. If not for Divine Providence our Type of Liberty and Freedom would never be brought to Light, Some are awakened, generation to generation, and given the Light to shine, in this dark time we live in. Unity of, The knowledge of Truth, brings like mindedness and peace. A soul without knowledge is not wise. In the image of God, Plumb and Square. With no respect of persons. As our Declaration of Independence. All are created equal. " The self-same Power that brought me there brought you " Emerson, The Rhodora

Not all potatoes are the same size.....