Questions and answers

Whom does Einstein dedicate the occasion to? Why?

Einstein dedicates the occasion to people who have gained special distinction for the development of the cultural life of America. He believes that memory of the best people of the past is proper to stimulate and encourage the new generation to contribute further to the nation.

Why is Einstein of the opinion that he was not the right person to grace the occasion?

Einstein was German by birth and Italian by early education. He believes that someone else, American since his youth could have spoken better than him on the occasion. He thinks that the right speaker should be connected to the culture and past of the country. Furthermore, he compares himself to a gypsy who has wondered about and gathered his experiences in all kinds of countries.

Why does Einstein choose to speak on education?

Having said that he was not the right person to talk about the cultural figures of America, Einstein thought it right to venture on education because he believed that education is a subject that is independent of space and time. Education has a relevance at all times.

Why does Einstein think that he was a partial layman in the realm of education?

Einstein was never formally trained to be a teacher so his knowledge connected with educational matters was based on his personal experience and personal conviction. He was of the opinion that only such intelligent and well-meaning men of all times who have dealt with educational problems and have repeatedly expressed their views clearly about these matters could talk about education.

Why does Einstein say that knowledge of truth alone is not enough for active men? What example does he site?

Einstein believes that our knowledge must continually be renewed by continuous effort lest it be lost. He compares this with a statue of marble which stands in the desert and is continually threatened with burial by the shifting sand. Similarly, if knowledge is not renewed, it will be lost and go waste.

Why does school stand as the bearer of one’s traditional wealth more than any other times?

The school has always been the most important means of transferring the wealth of tradition from one generation to the next. In Einstein’s view, school has now a greater responsibility in connection with this as the family as bearer of tradition and education has been weakened due to modern development of the economic life.

How does a school lose its importance and go dead?

Sometimes schools simply function like instruments for transferring a certain maximum quantity of knowledge to the growing generation. Such practices kill knowledge. As the school serves the living,

energetic childhood and youth, it should develop in the young individuals those qualities and capabilities which are of value for the welfare of the society.

How far is independent development and independent thinking important in schools?

If a school adopts to teach all the students the subjects and follow the same aims, it means that the individuality of the child is destroyed and the individual becomes a mere tool of the community. A society of standardized individuals without personal originality and personal aims would be a poor community without possibilities for development. Instead of shaping similar individuals, the aim of the school must be the training of independently thinking and acting individuals who see in the service of the community their highest life problem.

Why is moralizing not the ideal way to train students?

Moralizing is not the right way to train students to free thinking and independent development. Preaching moral values will not have any effect in students because words are mere words and empty sounds. What Einstein thinks right is that personalities are not formed by what is heard and said but by labor and activity. It is good when students learn through activity.

What is the most important method of education?

The most important method of education has always been urging the student to actual performance. This applies at levels of education, whether it be a primary class alphabet class or a doctorate thesis. It implies that a student should have the freedom to choose his way of memorizing a poem, writing a composition, interpretation and translation of a text, the solving of a mathematical problem or the practice of a physical sport.

Why does Einstein think that motivation is the backbone of achievement?

Behind every achievement exists the motivation which is at the foundation of it. This ambition is in turn strengthened and nourished when one achieves his goal.

Which are the kinds of motivating factors?

Fear and compulsion, ambitious desire for authority and distinction and loving interest in the object and a desire for truth and understanding are the basic motivating factors for achievements.

What does Einstein refer to as the divine curiosity which every healthy child possesses, but which so often is weakened early?

Einstein refers to a child’s inborn aptitude and genuine love for knowledge as the divine curiosity that every child possess. For this, neither fear nor compulsion is needed.

What is the worst of all evils in a school? How can a school keep itself free from the worst of all evils?

The worst of all evils in a school is an atmosphere where a student is forced and frightened to study by a teacher’s artificial authority. Such treatment destroys the sound sentiments, the sincerity, and the self-

confidence of the pupil. This evil can be effectively kept away from a school by allowing the teacher to use practically no coercive measures.

What must be the student’s source of respect for the teacher?

A student should feel respect for the teacher not upon how scary the teacher is but the teacher’s human and intellectual qualities must be the student’s source of respect for the teacher.

Explain the second motive that encourages children to study.

The second motive for study and work is ambition. A fixed human nature, ambition aims at recognition and consideration. With the absence of mental stimulus of this kind, human cooperation would be entirely impossible. The desire for approval of one’s fellow-man certainly is one of the most important binding powers of society.

How does the second motive – craving for recognition – go destructive? How should teachers guard against the pitfalls of the second motive?

Constructive and destructive forces lie closely together. Desire for approval and recognition is a healthy motive but the desire to be acknowledged as better, stronger, or more intelligent than a fellow being or fellow scholar easily leads to an excessively egoistic psychological adjustment, which may become injurious for the individual and for the community. School and the teacher must guard against employing the easy method of creating individual ambition in order to encourage the students to hard work without competition.

Why does Einstein dispel absolute prohibition of competition?

Siting Darwin’s theory of the struggle for existence and the selectivity connected with it, Einstein approves of positive competition. Being a social animal, man derives his strength in the struggle for existence, not in the avoidance of competition.

Why shouldn’t children be encouraged to live and work for success?

Success in the ordinary sense should not be the aim of life. A successful person is he who receives a great deal from his fellow men, usually incomparably more than corresponds to his service to them. The value of a man, however, should be seen in what he gives and not what he is able to receive.

What is the third motive for work and achievements?

The third and important motive for work in the school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its results, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community. It is possible by the awakening and strengthening of the psychological forces in the young student and this psychological foundation alone leads to a joyous desire for knowledge and artist-like workmanship.

What is it difficult for a school to make studies enjoyable?

The awakening of the productive psychological powers is certainly less easy than the practice of force or the awakening of individual ambition but is the more valuable for it. Teachers often find it easy and practical to apply force and competition than a love for knowledge with limited and inexperienced teachers and a large number of students.

How can a school ensure pleasure of learning for its students?

First, teachers should grow up in such schools where each student grew up loving to learn rather than forced to learn. Besides, the teacher should be given extensive liberty in the selection of the material to be taught and the methods of teaching employed by him because pleasure in the shaping of his work is killed by force and exterior pressure from the school authorities.

What are Einstein’s views on the choice of subjects and the method of teaching?

Einstein stresses less on the study of language and technical education in science. He believes that the predominantly important choice is the training of the mind and of the mental and manual skill. He too is of the conviction that education is that which remains, if one has forgotten everything he learned in school.

What is wrong with training each student to use a particular knowledge in life? OR What are the disadvantages of specialized training?

Though specialized training has its own advantages, it also leads a trained individual into unexpected troubles. The demands of life are much too many to let such a specialized training in school appear possible. Providing specialization treats the individual like a dead tool. A young student should leave school as a harmonious personality, not as a specialist.

What is more important for technical schools?

Technical schools tend to devote students to a quite definite profession whereas the development of general ability for independent thinking and judgment is often overlooked. Einstein advises such schools to place independent thinking in the lead, not just the acquisition of special knowledge. If a person masters the fundamentals of his subject and has learned to think and work independently, he will surely find his way and besides will better be able to adapt himself to progress and changes than the person whose training principally consists in the acquiring the detailed knowledge.

Einstein begins his speech on education by saying that knowledge of truth alone is not enough for active men.

He believes that our knowledge must continually be renewed by continuous effort lest it be lost.

The school has always been the most important means of transferring the wealth of tradition from one generation to the next.

A school has now a greater responsibility in transferring a nation’s culture to the newer generation because the family as bearer of tradition and education has been weakened due to modern development of the economic life.

Sometimes schools simply function like instruments for transferring a certain maximum quantity of knowledge to the growing generation. This kills learning and the school.

A school should develop in the young individuals those qualities and capabilities which are of value for the welfare of the society.

If a school adopts to teach all the students the subjects and follow the same aims, it means that the individuality of the child is destroyed and the individual becomes a mere tool of the community.

A society of standardized individuals without personal originality and personal aims would be a poor community without possibilities for development.

Instead of shaping similar individuals, the aim of the school must be the training of independently thinking and acting individuals who see in the service of the community their highest life problem.

Preaching moral values will not have any effect in students because words are mere words and empty sounds.

It is good when students learn through activity.

The most important method of education has always been urging the student to actual performance.

Students should have the freedom to choose his way of memorizing a poem, writing a composition, interpretation and translation of a text, the solving of a mathematical problem or the practice of a physical sport.

Behind every achievement exists the motivation which is at the foundation of it. This ambition is in turn strengthened and nourished when one achieves his goal.

Fear and compulsion,

Ambitious desire for authority and distinction,

Loving interest in the object and a desire for truth and understanding.

A child’s inborn aptitude and genuine love for knowledge as the divine curiosity that every child possess. For this, neither fear nor compulsion is needed.

The worst of all evils in a school is an atmosphere where a student is forced and frightened to study by a teacher’s artificial authority.

Such treatment destroys the sound sentiments, the sincerity, and the self-confidence of the pupil.

This evil can be effectively kept away from a school by allowing the teacher to use practically no coercive measures.

Desire for approval and recognition is a healthy motive but the desire to be acknowledged as better, stronger, or more intelligent than a fellow being or fellow scholar easily leads to an excessively egoistic psychological adjustment, which may become injurious for the individual and for the community.

School and the teacher must guard against employing the easy method of creating individual ambition in order to encourage the students to hard work without competition.

Einstein approves of positive competition. Being a social animal, man derives his strength in the struggle for existence, not in the avoidance of competition.

Success in the ordinary sense should not be the aim of life. A successful person is he who receives a great deal from his fellow men, usually incomparably more than corresponds to his service to them.

The value of a man, however, should be seen in what he gives and not what he is able to receive.

The awakening of the productive psychological powers is certainly less easy than the practice of force or the awakening of individual ambition but is the more valuable for it.

Teachers often find it easy and practical to apply force and competition than a love for knowledge with limited and inexperienced teachers and a large number of students.

First, teachers should grow up in such schools where each student grew up loving to learn rather than forced to learn.

Besides, the teacher should be given extensive liberty in the selection of the material to be taught and the methods of teaching employed by him.

Einstein stresses less on the study of language and technical education in science.

He believes that the predominantly important choice is the training of the mind and of the mental and manual skill.

Education is that which remains, if one has forgotten everything he learned in school.

Though specialized training has its own advantages, it also leads a trained individual into unexpected troubles. The demands of life are much too many to let such a specialized training in school appear possible.

Providing specialization treats the individual like a dead tool. A young student should leave school as a harmonious personality, not as a specialist.

Technical schools tend to devote students to a quite definite profession whereas the development of general ability for independent thinking and judgment is often overlooked.

Einstein advises such schools to place independent thinking in the lead, not just the acquisition of special knowledge.

If a person masters the fundamentals of his subject and has learned to think and work independently, he will surely find his way and besides will better be able to adapt himself to progress and changes than the person whose training principally consists in the acquiring the detailed knowledge.