Quotes on Quotes - Think to Start/Start to Think

I’m way behind my intended blog-writing again. I actually started to write this post some time ago in September. Honestly I don’t know what happened, October came quicker than expected and all the new and exciting things overwhelmed the things I wanted to write about.

Anyway, the main reason for this post was the new challenge I was facing. The last couple of months since I graduated from teacher training have been exciting and fun already, but what came next was without a doubt another step up. I enrolled in an MA program. It is not only a distance learning program, but I also get to dive deeper into a very interesting field of education research and technology use. The program is called Education and Media: eEducation.

Before everything got started, we received a package with our scripts for our first term. Although I got them later than I would have liked, in terms of being able to prepare beforehand, at least I got them. Included in this package where some pretty cool quote-postcards, which kind of were the first prompt for this blogpost.

For me personally, they offered a great starting point: it meant that we had to turn on our brain again. I posted the picture above and the best possible translations into English below:

Grey: "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest."

Red: "Educated are the ones who see parallels where others see something all new"

Light Blue: "Everyone can do anything, but he must also be ready for anything."

Dark Blue: "Those who set high goals, have a lot of room to grow."

Orange: "Education comes not from reading, but from thinking about what has been read."

Before even taking a closer look at the books, I started to wonder which one I liked the most, which one did I think was the most important one. Obviously all of them are good and important, but it is an interesting thought experiment. I think usually I would go with the red one, because from my experience, a lot of times it is about perspective. Education is one of those fields where everybody has an opinion. I'm not talking about teachers or researchers, I'm talking about anybody on out on the street. If you go out and ask a random person about his or her thoughts on education, I'm pretty sure you would get a somewhat passionate answer and explanation. Still most of the time, it is about getting to know all of the angles. Education is such a broad topic with way too many variables, but it is nonetheless important to be able to connect and understand different opinions.

Instead I thought about the Orange card the most. It might have to do with the influence my previous education program had on me, but the reflection implied in this quote, is one of the most important processes for development. I wouldn't count reflection as a key for learning necessarily, but the part about thinking is invaluable.  Regardless if you are teaching kids, youngster or adults, getting learners to think about the topic and not just regurgitate it, should be atop the list of goals. And in this case, it also makes sense for higher education. It is not enough to just read the books and studies about certain topics. A priority must be to understand what has been read, but you can only understand it if you are willing to think about it.

I will definitely come back to these quotes, because the first two months of this program have been more than interesting, to say the least. But in the meantime, what would be your favorite quote and why?