Education is not the filling of a pail

By Biodun Ajewole. Biodun studies at the Seventhday Adventist secondary school, at Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria

I can vividly say emphatically that I strongly agree with the quote that education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. The quote is almost certainly apocryphal and it must have generated a lot of controversies among the global populace. But I belief this is one of a harmful of common truisms that finds a certain justification practice.

The reasons why I agree with the above quote are not far fetch. As a popular adage says, there is a reason behind any quotations,, happenings or occurrence. Without mincing words, majority of people will tend to agree with me that learning is unlimited. Looking at the pail, there is just so much water a pail can hold, that is there is a limit to every water pour in a pail. But a fire can get bigger and bigger by what you do to make it grow. If you give the proper materials for it to grow, which in this case is education, it’ll grow larger and larger. So if you feed your brain with more and more information, your brain will absorb that information like a sponge and you will end up gaining a successful life, all you have to do is to continue feeding the fire. The basic assumption here is that since education is the fuel to the fire, the more fuel you put in a fire, the larger the fire gets. In orders words, think as the fuel to the fire as your education and your brain as the actual fire.

From another similar perspective on why I agree with W.B Yeats quote is that education should inspire people to learn more about things. It shouldn’t just be something people learn because they have to. That is why teachers should not just teach the students fact and data alone, but get them interested and then they figure it out themselves and love it. Also as a student, you have to apply your education and not just obtain it.

It is not surprising that once children reach school age, they start spending more time with their teachers than with their parents. As result, teachers aren’t just imparting an education, they’re affecting the emotional, intellectual and social development of each student they encounter.

And indeed, by giving kids the knowledge and skills they need to succeed as adults by urging them to pursue their dreams and by impressing on them the joy that comes from a lifetime of learning. Infact teachers can be virtually limitless in their capacity to touch lives.

In conclusion, permit me to drop my golden pen by re-emphasizing on the quote that education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire, because education is like a difficult bunch of kindling; It takes a lot of huffing and swearing to catch but when it does light the fire burns bright and hot and long. Thus no education should be considered complete, over at no point in a person’s life should they set their minds to rest believing they know all they will ever need to know, they understand all the rules. Truly without mincing words, education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a pail.

4 comments on “Education is not the filling of a pail

  1. John Bosco Lamoris Okullo on

    A great interpretation of this quote on education. I am very satisfied and highly motivated to search for more. I shall indeed use it to motivate others.
    Bravo!

    Reply

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