For Part One, Part Two, Part Three, or Part Four, or even Part Six, or Part Seven, click on the appropriate link.
This talk, by Elder Paul H. Dunn, "What is a Teacher?" comes with a cornucopia of quotes to look up. Here's the next one:
The Quote
"It was James Truslow Adams who said,
“There are obviously two educations.
One should teach us how to make a living,
and the other how to live.”
Personally, I love this quote, and I love James Truslow Adams for saying it and vindicating me in the advice I gave to my homeschooling friend, here and here. See? I wasn't even the first one to come up with the idea.
Did you know that the phrase, "American dream", comes from James Truslow Adams? I didn't.
But where does this quote come from? His book, The Epic of America?
No.
At first I thought it came from an essay Adams wrote for Harper's Magazine in October of 1931. They have an online archive that I would love to peruse, but unfortunately, there's a paywall.
But thankfully, it wasn't Harper's. It was Forum Magazine, which I was able to find for free.
And here below, is the original quote from the original source. Sometimes I amaze myself:
"There are obviously two educations.
One should teach us how to make a living,
and the other how to live.
Surely these should never be confused in the mind of any man
has the slightest inkling of what culture is.
For most of us it is essential that we should make a living.
In the old days we learned how to do it mainly in the shop or on the farm
or by practice in the office of merchant, lawyer, or doctor.
In the complications of modern life and with our increased accumulation of knowledge,
it doubtless helps greatly to compress some years of experience ;
into far fewer years by studying for a particular trade or profession in an institution;
but that fact should not blind us to another —
namely, that in so doing we are learning a trade or a profession,
but are not getting a liberal education as human beings.
It is merely learning how to make a living.
Culture is essential in order to enable us to know how to live
and how to get the best out of living,
and a liberal education should help us on our way to acquire it,
albeit the acquisition is a lifelong process."
This guy sounds fascinating, and definitely a kindred spirit! Making a note to read more of his work.
I also agree somewhat with his ideas here - there is earning a living, and there is building a life. Most of my education in doing this has come from the gospel of Jesus Christ, but also with study of history and literature as I talk about here.
Formal school is very helpful in this regard, but I never let school get in the way of getting an education. Most of what I learned, I learned on my own.
Another thing that I make a point of doing is learning through a lens of Jesus Christ and His gospel. Some may feel this limits learning - but I feel exactly the opposite. Once I found a mindset I trust, I stick with that mindset, and then I am free to discard much that isn't going to be of value to me in building the life I want.
Other people are free to find whatever works for them. I know that this works for me.
