Education ~ Literary Analysis

Patrick Ryan
Section 1
Walden Literary Analysis
11/3 

Education

As with our colleges, so with a hundred "modern improvements"; there is an illusion about them; there is not always a positive advance...

[Fitz's Abbreviated Walden 1-4, Page 23]

              Education is both a gateway and a closed door. In Economy, the first essay in Henry David Thoreau's historic Walden, he talks about how education can enhance your experience in the world in the section titled, Education. In Education, Thoreau writes about how today's, and yesterday's forms of education should be adapted to fit the real world. Thoreau found greater value in learning by your self, preferably with your hands, rather than a ninety year Harvard professor babbling on about how quantum physics can be part of your daily life. It may well be, but Thoreau wanted his readers to be able to learn as much as they can by themselves. In Education, Thoreau writes about the impact that learning through your own intellect, by yourself, that you gain so much more. There are so many professions in which you learn more in the field of work, rather than in a classroom. For example, a car mechanic and a teacher. For a car mechanic, you learn what to fix, and maybe how to fix it, but out in the shop, there are so many problems that often times, you weren't taught what to fix or how to solve the problems in the class rooms, you learn it from experience. This quote sheds a great new light on experience: 

The student who secures his coveted leisure and retirement by systematically shirking any labor necessary to man obtains but an ignoble and unprofitable leisure, defrauding himself of the experience which alone can make leisure fruitful.

[Fitz's Abbreviated Walden 1-4. Page 23]

In Education, Thoreau very clearly states his views on education. From Education, "To my astonishment I was informed on leaving college that I had studied navigation!—why, if I had taken one turn down the harbor I should have known more about it." This quote gives a great insight to the critical thinking of Thoreau, especially on education. What Thoreau is saying in the quote above is that he had almost wasted time studying navigation in Cambridge College (Harvard University), when he could have learned so much more if he walked down to the pier and worked or talked to men that worked on the ships in the harbor. Thoreau wants everyone to help themselves, whether that be through learning in the real world, or standing up of the sidewalk and looking for a job to provide for yourself.  I have a learned valuable lessons from this section. I learned that education can be a great first step on a journey of your own savvy. But, education can get in the way of what Thoreau calls real learning. So do what's best for you.