Thursday, November 07, 2013

Chekhov on teaching

How can we undertake to bring up the young? In old days people were simpler and thought less, and so settled problems boldly. But we think too much, we are eaten up by logic. 

The more developed a man is, the more he reflects and gives himself up to subtleties, the more undecided and scrupulous he becomes, and the more timidity he shows in taking action. How much courage and self-confidence it needs, when one comes to look into it closely, to undertake to teach, to judge, to write a thick book.

Anton Chekhov – Home (short story published in 1887)

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4 comments:

  1. Paddington8 November 2013 at 01:03

    Who thinks too much? I see very little of that in daily life.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A K Haart8 November 2013 at 09:41

    Paddington - that's because thinking isn't often the best way to get on in life.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sackerson9 November 2013 at 09:12

    This may have been written when confined to house by deep snows. Is reflection thinking, or the cerebral equivalent of the hamster's wheel?

    ReplyDelete
  4. A K Haart9 November 2013 at 20:01

    Sackers - for me, the quality of reflection depends on the time of day. In the early morning it's quite good, but in the evening it's back to the the hamster's wheel.

    ReplyDelete

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