I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no person should witness. Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and babies shot and killed by high school and college graduates. So I'm suspicious of education. My request is: help your students to be human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, or educated Eichmanns. Reading and Writing and spelling and history and arithmetic are only important if they serve to make our students more human.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
What a powerful quote!
Wow. What a wonderful way to frame the importance of humanity as the ultimate lesson for us all. Thank you for posting!
Excellent quote. Thanks for posting it.
1+1=2 has been used for good and bad. So, education isn't all that suspicion-worthy. The circumstances and context within which that education is provided determines the outcome of an individual. Still a great quote, though.
I remember many years ago visiting the memorial to the children of the Holocaust at Yad Vashem in Israel. Seeing the lit candles, representing the children, reflected in the glass and hearing the names of the children recited who died in the concentration camps, made me realise that I had to work to help humanity work with positive human values. Dr Neil Hawkes www.values-education.com
Thank you for this.
It was read to me by my Principal when teaching in America.
I then heard it read by Joe Bish at a training programme on PSHE in Hull.
It was used as the foreward in a book on education I used to have.
It never ceases to move me.
It's what I believe.
Post a Comment