Education Thinkers Definitions

Education (n.) can ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠only start from naked reality, never from a delusive ideal — though we prefer to talk of man as he ought to be.

Education (n.) could ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠do everything — reduce a person to a psychic machine or mould him into an ideal — if there were no collective unconscious; its dominants set strict limits with their almost irresistible demands.

Education (n.) bypasses ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠its central problem when it becomes a furor paedagogicus — the education of the educator; children are educated by what the grown-up is, not by what he says.

Education (n.) that ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠opens young eyes to the world but never to the self is the maddest of delusions: the powers of the psyche are mightier than all the Great Powers of the earth.

Education (n.) and ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠treatment succeed best when the unconscious co-operates — our best methods fail when nature does not come to our aid.

Education (n.) that ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠protects every peculiarity of the child without asking whether it serves social life robs the child of the lesson that peculiarities are not admissible just because he has them — and breeds unadapted individualists ruled by a ruthless ego.

Education (n.) as ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠commonly understood is turning more and more into the kind of training one gives animals, says Keyserling.

Education (n.) preached, ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠in the nineteenth century, blind faith from the Church and intellectual rationalism from the universities — so that today we plead in vain whether for faith or reason.

Education (n.) today ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠regards individuality and lawlessness as synonyms, so individual contents return in neurosis as poisons.

Education (n.) truly ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠means being drawn out of oneself into other paths — which only an educative will can do.

Education (n.) should ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠see children as they are, not as we wish them, follow their natural growth, and shun dead rules.

Education (n.) has ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠as its whole aim, Jung remarked, the implanting of lasting complexes in the child, which endure as long as their feeling-tone stays alive.