Thoreau and Real Education

It's amusing for me to think about the correlations I see between Thoreau's gripes with society and the complaints I had about prep school. In Walden, Thoreau poses a question which reminds me of the Mark Twain quote, "I never let school interfere with my education." Thoreau's question is, "What is a course of history or philosophy, or poetry, no matter how well selected, or the best society, or the most admirable routine of life, compared with the discipline of always looking at what is to be seen? Will you be a reader, a student merely, or a seer?" I see a correlation between the two quotes because both imply the value of acquiring knowledge through life experience and practical applications of one's experiences, rather than solely absorbing institutionalized education which often contradicts personal gratification. Back in New York, I was continually ostracized by students and administrators for poking holes at the information which my school wanted to hardwire into my mind. Thoreau boldly asks, "Why should we leave it to Harper and Brothers and Redding & Co. to select our reading?" I respect his posing of this question because it is not up for the institutions and media conglomerates to which we submit ourselves to decide for us what information we should take in; it is up to us to navigate through the variety of portals we have at our fingertips to discern what has bearing on our lives.

On a related point, I've always been an advocator of healthy provocation to simply reinforce the notion that one's thoughts can always be refined. Thoreau notes that "We boast that we belong to the nineteenth century, and we are making the most rapid strides of any nation. But consider how this little village does for its own culture. I do not wish to flatter my townsmen, nor to be flattered by them, for that will not advance either of us. We need to be provoked--." Healthy provocation, when exercised efficiently, is the key to breaking the delusions in which people live. While there is no doubt that our society has made extraordinary advancements socially, politically, and economically throughout history, the recent Wall Street crash was partially a result of people who got too comfortable abusing their privileges. Getting too settled into one's comfort zone can be dangerous, and to provoke is to send a genuine reminder that change is constant and we must embrace it to progress.