--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As soon as you start asking what…" description: "\"As soon as you start asking what education is for, what the use of it is, you're abandoning the basic assumption of any true culture, that education is..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/653/ann-bridge-29051_asking_as-soon-as-you-start-asking-what-educati_1197513.jpg" --- # As soon as you start asking what education is for, what… ![“As soon as you start asking what education is for, what the use of it is, you're abandoning the basic assumption of any true culture, that education is worth while for its own sake.” quote by Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/653/ann-bridge-29051_asking_as-soon-as-you-start-asking-what-educati_1197513.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/653/ann-bridge-29051_asking_as-soon-as-you-start-asking-what-educati_1197513.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/653/ann-bridge-29051_asking_as-soon-as-you-start-asking-what-educati_1197513.jpg) > “As soon as you start asking what education is for, what the use of it is, you're abandoning the basic assumption of any true culture, that education is worth while for its own sake.” [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Questioning the purpose of education undermines the belief that learning is valuable for its own sake, not merely utilitarian. **In simple terms:** Questioning purpose harms belief in learning's intrinsic value. Key Takeaway Value education beyond practical outcomes. Themes philosophy education intrinsic value Mood thoughtful inquisitive Type philosophical essay When to use this quote - school curricula - policy debates - personal development Key Concepts humanism cultural development lifelong learning Questions to Reflect On - What is education's true purpose? - How can we balance utility and intrinsic worth? A Different Perspective Practical utility often overshadows deeper cultural purposes. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Assumption](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumption/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) ## Related quotes > [“If you've had a freakish education, at least use it, use it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-d-salinger/if-you-ve-had-a-freakish-education-at-least-use-it-use-it/) [J.D. Salinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-d-salinger/) > [When you don't have an education, you have to use your brains](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-baer/when-you-don-t-have-an-education-you-have-to-use-your-brains/) Frank Baer > [Me having no education. I had to use my brains.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-shankly/me-having-no-education-i-had-to-use-my-brains/) [Bill Shankly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-shankly/) > [My wife wanted my children to have some Chinese culture and education. She believes the children need to learn two languages and two cultures.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jet-li/my-wife-wanted-my-children-to-have-some-chinese-culture-and-education/) [Jet Li](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jet-li/) > [In this land of the Ganga (Varanasi), there was education of culture. But, more importantly, there was a culture of education.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/narendra-modi/in-this-land-of-the-ganga-varanasi-there-was-education-of-culture-but/) [Narendra Modi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/narendra-modi/) > [Culture and education have no bounds or limits; now man is in a phase in which he must decide for himself how far he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-montessori/culture-and-education-have-no-bounds-or-limits-now-man-is-in-a-phase/) [Maria Montessori](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-montessori/) > [It seems to me that education has a two-fold function to perform in the life of man and in society: the one is utility…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/it-seems-to-me-that-education-has-a-two-fold-function-to-perform-in/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [The point of my work is to show that culture and education aren't simply hobbies or minor influences.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/the-point-of-my-work-is-to-show-that-culture-and-education-aren-t/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [Culture and education are the lethal weapons against all kinds of fundamentalism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marjane-satrapi/culture-and-education-are-the-lethal-weapons-against-all-kinds-of/) [Marjane Satrapi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marjane-satrapi/) > [I was supposed to go to Northwestern and become a dental hygienist, get married, have babies. My father was very against me being in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-tom/i-was-supposed-to-go-to-northwestern-and-become-a-dental-hygienist/) [Lauren Tom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-tom/) > [Culture itself is neither education nor law-making: it is an atmosphere and a heritage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/culture-itself-is-neither-education-nor-law-making-it-is-an/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [KIPP schools would be just a shining example of schools where students aren't just given homework and taught imaginative ways, but they're really brought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-best/kipp-schools-would-be-just-a-shining-example-of-schools-where/) [Charles Best](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-best/) > [The point of my work is to show that culture and education arent simply hobbies or minor influences. They are hugely important in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-bourdieu/the-point-of-my-work-is-to-show-that-culture-and-education-arent/) [Pierre Bourdieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-bourdieu/) > [Public education is a good foundation on which to build a better life for each of us. And if we want to prove to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-cosby/public-education-is-a-good-foundation-on-which-to-build-a-better-life/) [Bill Cosby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-cosby/) > [Education is worth its weight in gold. Make no mistake about it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clyde-drexler/education-is-worth-its-weight-in-gold-make-no-mistake-about-it/) [Clyde Drexler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clyde-drexler/) ## More by Ann Bridge > [“A conviction, unformulated but strong, rose to the working level of her mind - that painting did something more important for Nicholas than the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/a-conviction-unformulated-but-strong-rose-to-the-working-level-of-her/) [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) > [Mountains had taken the place of religion, had satisfied her religious sense, her need for adoration and worship as no service in any Cathedral,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/mountains-had-taken-the-place-of-religion-had-satisfied-her-religious/) [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) > [Americans ... attach such a fantastic importance to their baths and plumbing and gadgets of all sorts. They talk as if people could hardly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/americans-attach-such-a-fantastic-importance-to-their-baths-and/) [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) > [In Europe, a product must be good, or it will not sell in competition with other products; with you, it is enough to say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/in-europe-a-product-must-be-good-or-it-will-not-sell-in-competition/) [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) > [America ... holds up its way of life as the ideal for every nation, and seeks to impose its own standards of living -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/america-holds-up-its-way-of-life-as-the-ideal-for-every-nation-and/) [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) > [do get over the idea that size has any value or merit. It is the enemy of most of the best things in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/do-get-over-the-idea-that-size-has-any-value-or-merit-it-is-the-enemy/) [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) > [the essence of vulgarity seemed to lie in the pretence at being or the attempt to be, something that one really was not, with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/the-essence-of-vulgarity-seemed-to-lie-in-the-pretence-at-being-or/) [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) > [In any relationship we feel an unconscious need to create, as it were, a new picture, a new edition of ourselves to present to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/in-any-relationship-we-feel-an-unconscious-need-to-create-as-it-were/) [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) > [there is that wish, in the name of democracy, to level down, because high cultural standards are despised and rejected, and even feared, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/there-is-that-wish-in-the-name-of-democracy-to-level-down-because/) [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) > [I do disapprove of the modern attitude that you can't do the simplest thing, like dying or being born, in your own house.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/i-do-disapprove-of-the-modern-attitude-that-you-can-t-do-the-simplest/) [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) > [The full life depends, not on the range of experience but on the intensity of the interest, the emotion involved, and on its being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/the-full-life-depends-not-on-the-range-of-experience-but-on-the/) [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) > [What I find most injurious to mankind in modern advertising is the constant appeal to material standards and values, the elevating of material things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/what-i-find-most-injurious-to-mankind-in-modern-advertising-is-the/) [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) > [advertising confuses values ... By appealing either to fear, or to vanity, or to covetousness, it very skillfully insinuates false values.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/advertising-confuses-values-by-appealing-either-to-fear-or-to-vanity/) [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) > [“Lady Kilmichael, on the other hand, in common with many women of her generation, had made remarkably little use of her experience. It had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/lady-kilmichael-on-the-other-hand-in-common-with-many-women-of-her/) [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) > [What is freedom? It consists in two things: to know each his own limitations and accept them - that is the same thing as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/what-is-freedom-it-consists-in-two-things-to-know-each-his-own/) [Ann Bridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) [Explore all 18 Ann Bridge quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/) ## More Asking quotes > [Why did Erich von Stronheim leave Germany? Why did Hitchcock leave England? If you were a director you'd like to work in Hollywood too.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roman-polanski/why-did-erich-von-stronheim-leave-germany-why-did-hitchcock-leave/) [Roman Polanski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roman-polanski/) > [And in your new lives you'll have to live entirely for that one sensation-that of imminent truth. And you're going to have to holler…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/and-in-your-new-lives-you-ll-have-to-live-entirely-for-that-one/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [“Stop asking yourself how or why and tell yourself you can." - Charmainism”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charmaine-smith-ladd/stop-asking-yourself-how-or-why-and-tell-yourself-you-can-charmainism/) [Charmaine Smith Ladd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charmaine-smith-ladd/) > [Closing his eyes, he sent up a prayer to anyone who was listening, asking please, for God's sake, stop sending him signals that they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-ward/closing-his-eyes-he-sent-up-a-prayer-to-anyone-who-was-listening/) [J.R. Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-ward/) > [People will identify with a persecuted minority without asking themselves what they are identifying with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/people-will-identify-with-a-persecuted-minority-without-asking/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [If you're having a bad day already and everybody is just asking you petty questions, it drives people to the edge, or something really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jess-weixler/if-you-re-having-a-bad-day-already-and-everybody-is-just-asking-you/) [Jess Weixler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jess-weixler/) > [You never give away your heart; you lend it from time to time. If it were not so, how could we take it back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/you-never-give-away-your-heart-you-lend-it-from-time-to-time-if-it/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [I'm not asking people to feel sorry for me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-abramoff/i-m-not-asking-people-to-feel-sorry-for-me/) [Jack Abramoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-abramoff/) > [The boldness of asking deep questions may require unforeseen flexibility if we are to accept the answers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-greene/the-boldness-of-asking-deep-questions-may-require-unforeseen/) [Brian Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-greene/) > [Use Google Before Asking A Stupid Question.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muskaan/use-google-before-asking-a-stupid-question/) [Muskaan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muskaan/) > [There were people asking 'Can women be funny?' People still ask that. It's like asking: 'Can women breathe in and out?'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-walters/there-were-people-asking-can-women-be-funny-people-still-ask-that-it/) [Julie Walters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-walters/) > [Whether that's speaking up in your job or asking for a promotion or saying, 'I think I can do that.' Using your voice in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-shriver/whether-that-s-speaking-up-in-your-job-or-asking-for-a-promotion-or/) [Maria Shriver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-shriver/) > [Love cannot be had for the asking; it comes only as a gift from the heart of another](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paramahansa-yogananda/love-cannot-be-had-for-the-asking-it-comes-only-as-a-gift-from-the/) [Paramahansa Yogananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paramahansa-yogananda/) > [The Baseball Hall of Fame is something every player dreams about, but being a member of God's Hall of Fame is the greatest achievement…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-carter/the-baseball-hall-of-fame-is-something-every-player-dreams-about-but/) [Gary Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-carter/) > [“In such a regime, I say you died a good death if your life had inspired someone to come forward and shoot your murdered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chinua-achebe/in-such-a-regime-i-say-you-died-a-good-death-if-your-life-had/) [Chinua Achebe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chinua-achebe/) Browse all 3,313 Asking quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "As soon as you start asking what education is for, what the use of it is, you're abandoning the basic assumption of any true culture, that education is worth while for its own sake.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ann Bridge" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/as-soon-as-you-start-asking-what-education-is-for-what-the-use-of-it/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Asking" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/as-soon-as-you-start-asking-what-education-is-for-what-the-use-of-it/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/653/ann-bridge-29051_asking_as-soon-as-you-start-asking-what-educati_1197513.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/653/ann-bridge-29051_asking_as-soon-as-you-start-asking-what-educati_1197513.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/653/ann-bridge-29051_asking_as-soon-as-you-start-asking-what-educati_1197513.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“As soon as you start asking what education is for, what the use of it is, you're abandoning the basic…” — Ann Bridge", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ann Bridge", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-bridge/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "As soon as you start asking...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/as-soon-as-you-start-asking-what-education-is-for-what-the-use-of-it/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-bridge/as-soon-as-you-start-asking-what-education-is-for-what-the-use-of-it/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```