mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire t be kindled essay
Answers
The saying "The mind is not vessel to be filled,but a fire to be kindled" means a lot to the present situation of education.Students should not be forced to acquire knowledge as filling something into an empty vessel.Education should be like a fire that is lit upon something that grows eventually to sustain.It is totally different that when a student is forced to acquire knowledge rather than tempted to acquire knowledge by his own interest and curiosity.
Content:
Students now-a-days lead a stress filled life.They get fed up due to overloaded homework,lots of books,project,etc.So it is extremely important to make them understand that "education is a part of life".They should bring about their hidden talents by inculcating the thoughts and good deed within themselves.It is not possible to fill minds with answers as it wouldn't remain stable in the student's mind.
So education should bring about an individuals talent and make him prosper in his life.He should understand that education should only be gained by understanding and not by mugging.Interest is the fire referred to here.When interest is grown into someones mind it will lead him to develop his interest which while insist him to research and question on topics that he come across.This will make him a well trained professional in his field rather than just well educated one.Interest should be kindled by knowledge.
Education without interest is just waste.Learning is different from studying.Learning gains you a long lasting memory with exact definition and understanding but studying is just a way of filling answers into minds without understanding it.There is a saying.
"If you can't explain it to a 5 years old child then you yourself aren't thorough about the topic"
So education should be in such way that it helps you as well as your surroundings.Such education can be gained only through interest.
Conclusion:
There is no use in just storing something in a vessel rather than sharing and making use of it.Same is education.There is not use in just gaining education.When it is shared and taught it attains its peak usage like the spreading fire when it is lit in one place and not like the stored content in vessel.
You’ve probably come across the quote by the Greek essayist Plutarch (one that’s often misattributed to William Butler Yeats) that “the mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled”.
This quote always takes me back to a lecturer I had over 20 years ago, Vic Markham. Vic was one of the great minds of British marketing and advertising from the 1960s to 80s. Partially deaf from injuries he’d sustained at the Battle of Dunkirk in World War II, he was one of the best teachers I ever had.
Vic’s lectures were always filled with questions. I remember how he once asked who paid employees’ wages. At the time, I don’t think anyone in the class had had a proper job. “The managers”, said someone. “The owners,” said someone else. “The bank,” joked another. Something clicked in my head and I answered – at the same time as another – “the customers”.
“Yes!” roared Vic. “And don’t ever forget it!”
Coming to that realization was a Eureka moment for many of us. And one that I’d never forget.
This way of learning isn’t too different from Plutarch’s day. In the city states of Ancient Greece, the citizens used to meet in the agora. The agora was the central gathering place for all aspects of city life, from politics and religion through to the arts and athletics. It was a center for discussion and learning, where citizens would gather to discuss news and current affairs. Here the great minds of the day – thinkers such as Plutarch, Archimedes, Aristotle, Plato and Socrates – would debate theories and ideas, using this forum to teach their students. And not just in one city state, but across the Greek-speaking world: Athens, Corinth and even Alexandria, with its famous library and lighthouse.
For these thinkers, it was about lighting up minds rather than simply filling them up. As teachers, they asked their students questions not to test the recall of facts. Instead, it was to get them to think more deeply through reflection, analysis and synthesis, while opening them up to other points of view.
At Cognician, we believe this should be true for all learning, not just school and college education. Take organizational learning, for example. Managers aren’t just given training in change or performance management and then tested on their recall of it. They’re trained so they can use it to improve their performance and that of those around them.
We believe this should also be true of elearning.
Yet traditional elearning initiatives often fall short of this. They involve dumping content that’s followed by multiple choice questions centered on the recall of facts. From an instructional design perspective (or as we’d have it, learning experience design), this is at too low a level, situated at the knowledge and comprehension levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains.
While trying to fill the vessel, this rarely lights the lamp. Nor does it produce any desired change.