Thoreau on Education

   Thoreau speaks out against using education as a way to "study" life instead of "living" life. He doesn't seem to disrespect eduation but, instead, suggests that people put too much stock in book learning that they ignore life learning. Unless a student's education can be applied to life in a meaningful and productive way, it is merely a way of putting parents into debt. I appreciated his example of a chemistry students not learning how his own bread is made; it displays well that lack of application results in meaningless head knowledge. His call to students to try the "experiment of living" ties in with some of his thoughts earlier on in Walden. I think this is an interesting way of referring to life but a good reminder that we don't have all the answers to life. Education can help as long as we apply our learning, but it won't give us a roadmap to our lives. I think USF does well at considering both knowledge and life-learning. In my classes, we gain knowledge but also discuss ways to apply the knowledge to life. Emphesis on critical thinking and required internships for many majors forces us to move past simply letting facts float around our brains and into living out life.