Quote of the Day: Maria Mitchell on the Great Danger of Student Life

 

“There is this great danger in student life. Now, we rest all upon what Socrates said, or what Copernicus taught; how can we dispute authority which has come down to us, all established, for ages? We must at least question it; we cannot accept anything as granted, beyond the first mathematical formulae. Question everything else.” — Maria Mitchell

Maria (pronounced in the proper English way after the Great Vowel Shift with a long-I sound, not the foreign European way we generally do now) Mitchell was an astronomer and astronomy professor in the middle to late Nineteenth Century. Back in her day, the students were at least learning Socrates and Copernicus and Aristotle. (How many teeth do women have, Aristotle? Have you tried asking a few to open their mouths to let you count?) Now, the students learn nonsense and pay coming and going for the pleasure, but how many of their professors would suggest they question what they are being taught?

August First is the anniversary of Maria Mitchell’s birth. Happy Birthday Miss Mitchell.

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  1. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Judge Mental (View Comment):
    You’re ignoring the possibility that he may have been referring to manually operated owners.

    Kinky!

    • #61
  2. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    What are the names of the angels dancing on the head of that pin?

    You people.

    • #62
  3. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Judge Mental (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Hank Rhody’s Grandson (View Comment):
    A master of disguise, obviously.

    He’s not shaped like some of us, and that’s for sure.

    You know, I’m right here.

    I’m right everywhere.

     

    • #63
  4. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Mark Camp (View Comment):
    In mental development, young people divide into two groups in terms of interests, skills, and activities–the questioners and the non-questioners–early on. Puberty intensifies the division. From that point on, the aversion of the non-questioners to questioning is complete, and has only a small chance of being revived in university by some brilliant prof, or in adult life by accidentally picking up a brilliant book or article. To try to educate them would produce very little gain at great expense.

    Elitist claptrap. This is the sort of thing that motivates the Oxfordians. And an earlier Earl of Oxford was on Henry Tudor’s side, ushering in an age of tyranny in England. It all fits together.

    Elitism says aristocracy solves the problem.

    I wrote that it does not. It fails just like rule according to the passions of the majority who do not question.

    Only a society where the differing strengths of the various people—loyalty and courage, learning and the power of advanced reasoning—are combined for Godly purposes can lead to good.

    • #64
  5. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    Dang elites.

    • #65
  6. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Percival (View Comment):

    What are the names of the angels dancing on the head of that pin?

    You people.

    Do you want street addresses and social media names, too, so you can doxx them? 

    • #66
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