Henry David Thoreau on Education
Thoreau's relation to the institution of education has been problematic. He entered the teaching profession early, as an undergraduate, and left it a few years later, when he closed the private school he had conducted with his brother. Although there were external reasons for this action, Thoreau's departure from teaching also resulted from disillusion with the conventional classroom, a growing sense that it prevented learning rather then fostering it. Despite having undergone a formal education at Harvard University, Thoreau challenged existing teaching standards and sought to implement idealistic educational principles. He emphasized a deep respect for the local and concrete as the basis of all learning, education through experience as intrinsically valuable, and a vision of schooling in which knowledge is as much constructed as it is transmitted. Also, placing focus where it really should be, he increasingly came to feel that "it is strange that men are in such haste to get fame as teachers rather then knowledge as learners" (Allen 217). He spent the rest of his life learning and writing; the two were usually the same for him. He never lost his concern for teaching, both envisioning better ways to go about it and launching a powerful critique of the way it was usually done: "What does education often do! -- It makes a strait-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook" (Allen 312).
Because he stands outside the mainstream of educational practice, Thoreau can help us transcend the false oppositions that have arisen between traditionalists and progressives, between advocates of traditional education, and those of openness and creativity. Thoreau envisioned and enacted a necessary synthes...
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...learn from them. At the conclusion of Walden, Thoreau urged the reader "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them" (323-24).
Bibliography:
Works Cited
Allen, Francis H. and Bradford Torrey, eds. The Journal of Henry David Thoreau.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981.
Crutch, Joseph Wood, ed. Walden and Other Writings. By Henry Thoreau. 1854. Bantam: New York, 1962.
Hovde, Carl F., William Howarth, and Elizabeth Hall Witherell, eds. A week on the Concord and Merrymack Rivers. By Henry Thoreau. 1849. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980.
Sanborn, F. B. The Life of Henry David Thoreau.
Boston: Houston Mifflin, 1971.
Thoreau, Henry. Walden and Other Writings. Ed. Joseph Wood Krutch.
Bantam: New York, 1962.
Henry David Thoreau, a Harvard graduate, did not exceed in his professions he studied. Thoreau studied the art of teaching and when he returned to teach in his home town of Concord he quit within the first two weeks because he would not conform to the
[Thoreau] stood close to the top of his class, but he went his own way too
Harton, Ron. "Henry Thoreau as a Model for Nature Writing." 9 August 2009. The Thoreau Reader. Online Document. 17 March 2014. .
To conclude, Thoreau believed that people should be ruled by conscience and that people should fight against injustice through non-violence according to “Civil Disobedience.” Besides, he believed that we should simplify our lives and take some time to learn our essence in the nature. Moreover, he deemed that tradition and money were unimportant as he demonstrated in his book, Walden. I suggested that people should learn from Thoreau to live deliberately and spend more time to go to the nature instead of watching television, playing computer games, and among other things, such that we could discover who we were and be endeavored to build foundations on our dreams.
Henry David Thoreau was a great American writer, philosopher, and naturalist of the 1800’s who’s writings have influenced many famous leaders in the 20th century, as well as in his own lifetime. Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts in 1817, where he was later educated at Harvard University. Thoreau was a transcendentalist writer, which means that he believed that intuition and the individual conscience “transcend” experience and are better guides to truth than are the senses and logical reason (Prentice Hall 1174). Thoreau is well known for writing Walden Pond, Excursions, The Maine Woods, Cape Cod, and A Yankee in Canada. In 1849 Henry David Thoreau wrote an essay called Civil Disobedience which little did he know would influence great leaders such as Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and US civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"How important is a constant intercourse with nature and the contemplation of natural phenomenon to the preservation of moral & intellectual health. The discipline of the schools or of business—can never impart such serenity to the mind. " ~ Henry David Thoreau, May, 1851
Thoreau writes that "the greater part will be meadow and forest, not only serving an immediate use, but preparing a mould against a distant future, by the annual decay of the vegetation which it supports." Man needs "wild and dusky knowledge" more than lettered learning. Thoreau undercuts the notion of "Useful Knowledge," which may preclude higher understanding, preferring instead "Useful Ignorance" or "Beautiful Knowledge." His own desire for knowledge is intermittent, but his "desire to bathe my head in atmospheres unknown to my feet is perennial and constant." He encourages not the seeking of knowledge per se but rather of "Sympathy with Intellect." Our understanding cannot encompass the magnitude of nature and the universal. Thoreau writes that in his own relationship with nature he lives "a sort of border life, on the confines of a world into which I make occasional and transient forays only." Even Thoreau–a man who has devoted his life to higher pursuit–cannot grasp the full meaning of nature. When we are successful in beginning to approach the universal through our experience of nature, our glimpses of understanding are fleeting and evanescent. Imperfect though our comprehension is, however, we must elevate, must seek those places that offer broader perspective. Thoreau employs the image of the rooster–crowing confidently to inspire others to alertness and awareness, expressing the "health and soundness of
When Thoreau returned home his family noticed a change in his personality. He was no longer accepting people’s opinions as facts but would shock people with his own independent and unconventional opinions. He desired to live his life with the freedom to think and act as he wished. He obtained a local teaching job and refused to Flog children as punishment. Instead he would give moral lectures. The community objected to this method of punishment and forced Thoreau to flog his incorrigible children. That day Thoreau flogged six students and then turned in his resignation. He did so believing that physical punishment should have no place in education.
Henry Thoreau's voice speaks of individuality, that is dependent upon unconformity and simplicity. Thoreau believes one must escape societal expectations,“ If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer (Thoreau ).”, to find true individualism. He presumes that if tradition and conformity are extinguish the individual will be able to shape his or her own path and not be stuck on the beaten down trail. If one disregards expectations and heads, “...in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours ( Thoreau
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.” In this quote, Eleanor is expressing that you should always take advantage of the universal human right to be an individual. From time immemorial, many of those who have led meaningful and enjoyable lives have shared one particular trait in common: individualism. Chris McCandless and Thoreau were no different, they both embodied individualism and as a result they have unknowingly inspired generations.
In act one while Thoreau is still a teacher he says this to Ball, “I said ‘No.’ I do not believe in corporal punishment.” (pg. 21) In this time flogging is the way teachers punish students, but Henry knows this is wrong as well and will not conform to their methods for the sake of his job. Henry then, quits his job and starts teaching with his brother using untraditional methods, in an untraditional “classroom”. John, Henry’s brother, shares his brother’s mindset on this topic, and you can see that when he says, “A school doesn’t need a School Committee. Or Trustees. Or Governors. Or Lumber. Or approved textbooks. All a school needs is a mind that sends, and minds that receive.” (pg.
Thoreau and Emerson both believe that to transcend and achieve this oneness with nature, man must educate himself mentally and spiritually. While both writers recognize the importance of books and reading as a precursor to spiritual growth, they also both feel that one ca...
Thoreau sees beyond the power and economic structures that society creates and offers an alternative. He uses Walden Pond as his central metaphor and recreates his experiences through his imagery. His recognition of the pond, and the natural world surrounding it, not only establishes an atmosphere for spiritual growth, but also succeeds in creating a paradigm for society to follow in order to achieve the same. He assembles an instruction manual for the purpose of spiritual discovery and discovery of the self.
Literature such as Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Nature” and Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden” reflect the tenets of Transcendentalism. They set the foundation for Transcendentalism because Emerson and Thoreau were the “fathers” of the literary movement. Both writers searched for truth and the meaning of life on an individual level that fit their feelings. They demonstrated the perfectibility and self-reliance of individuals. For example, “Walden” tells of Thoreau’s two years of living in the woods relying on himself for food and shelter and trying to simplify his life. He wanted to demonstrate that there was no evil in the simplicity of his forest home. Just as Thoreau’s “Walden” demonstrated Thoreau’s renewal or refreshing of his own spirit, Transcendentalism was the renewal or rebirth of American Literature.
Henry David Thoreau’s early life began in Concord, Massachusetts on July 12, 1817. He was baptized as David Henry Thoreau later reversing his middle and first names. He was raised with his older siblings John and Helen and his younger sister Sophia. His father managed a local pencil factory, and his mother rented out rooms in the family’s house to boarders. His mother encouraged his love of nature. As a young boy, every morning he would go out for a walk in the woods to seek inspiration and admire the natural beauty. When Thoreau started school, he attended Concord public schools and later, his mother insisted that all the children go to a prestigious private Concord Academy. A bright student Thoreau entered Harvard College in 1833. Unfortunately, for financial reasons Thoreau had to drop out and began teaching a small school in Canton, Massachusetts. In 1838, he left to start his own school with the help of his brother John and it prospered for a while. However it eventually collapsed a few years later when his brother grew ill. Thoreau went back to help his father in the pencil making business. After college, Thoreau met Ralph Waldo Emerson and shortly after they beca...