--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Schools are not about enabling children…" description: "\"Schools are not about enabling children to have a living but about children being able to have a life.\" — Elliot W. Eisner" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c8/elliot-w-eisner-22990_able_schools-are-not-about-enabling-children_1251055.png" --- # Schools are not about enabling children to have a living… ![“Schools are not about enabling children to have a living but about children being able to have a life.” quote by Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c8/elliot-w-eisner-22990_able_schools-are-not-about-enabling-children_1251055.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c8/elliot-w-eisner-22990_able_schools-are-not-about-enabling-children_1251055.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c8/elliot-w-eisner-22990_able_schools-are-not-about-enabling-children_1251055.png) > “Schools are not about enabling children to have a living but about children being able to have a life.” [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Education should nurture a fulfilling existence, not merely prepare for work. **In simple terms:** Education is about living, not just earning. Key Takeaway Focus on holistic development. Themes education purpose holistic development Mood reflective inspirational Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - curriculum design - parenting - school policy - career counseling Key Concepts humanistic pedagogy lifelong learning Questions to Reflect On - How can schools balance life skills with vocational training? - What does a “good life” look like for students? A Different Perspective May overlook economic realities and job market demands. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [School](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/school/) ## Related quotes > [I have three living children for whom this is a father who I want them to love and on whom they're going to have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-edwards/i-have-three-living-children-for-whom-this-is-a-father-who-i-want/) [Elizabeth Edwards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-edwards/) > [We have obligations towards the innocent, the dead, towards the living, towards our children and their children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ricardo-lagos/we-have-obligations-towards-the-innocent-the-dead-towards-the-living/) [Ricardo Lagos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ricardo-lagos/) > [The opinions of men who think are always growing and changing, like living children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-gilbert-hamerton/the-opinions-of-men-who-think-are-always-growing-and-changing-like/) [Philip Gilbert Hamerton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-gilbert-hamerton/) > [I think this power of living in our children is one of the sweetest things in the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/i-think-this-power-of-living-in-our-children-is-one-of-the-sweetest/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-heffner/the-art-of-mothering-is-to-teach-the-art-of-living-to-children/) Elaine Heffner > [“The poor are always rich in children, and in the dirt and ditches of this street there are groups of them from morning to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maxim-gorky/the-poor-are-always-rich-in-children-and-in-the-dirt-and-ditches-of/) [Maxim Gorky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maxim-gorky/) > [“We are the children of the living God.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/we-are-the-children-of-the-living-god/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [We know that children living in a household with someone in work do better in school, have better educational attainment, and are more likely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-mcvey/we-know-that-children-living-in-a-household-with-someone-in-work-do/) [Esther McVey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-mcvey/) > [Our opponents say more children are living in poverty than when we came into office. And that's probably right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-key/our-opponents-say-more-children-are-living-in-poverty-than-when-we/) [John Key](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-key/) > [“Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-postman/children-are-the-living-messages-we-send-to-a-time-we-will-not-see/) [Neil Postman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-postman/) > [Children are living beings - more living than grown-up people who have built shells of habit around themselves. Therefore it is absolutely necessary for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/children-are-living-beings-more-living-than-grown-up-people-who-have/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [My children are living, thinking human beings. It isn't in my power to regret them, for they belong to themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-cusk/my-children-are-living-thinking-human-beings-it-isn-t-in-my-power-to/) [Rachel Cusk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-cusk/) > [Rhesus monkeys as well as human adults and older children living in a remote Amazon village have been given comparison and addition tasks using…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-spelke/rhesus-monkeys-as-well-as-human-adults-and-older-children-living-in-a/) Elizabeth Spelke > [Our children are the living messages we send to a future we will ever see... Will we rob them of their destiny? Will we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elijah-cummings/our-children-are-the-living-messages-we-send-to-a-future-we-will-ever/) [Elijah Cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elijah-cummings/) > [We have got some mountains to move. Three billion people - half of God's children - are living on less than $2 a day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-wallis/we-have-got-some-mountains-to-move-three-billion-people-half-of-god-s/) [Jim Wallis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-wallis/) ## More by Elliot W. Eisner > [The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/the-arts-teach-children-that-problems-can-have-more-than-one-solution/) [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) > [We have inadvertently designed a system in which being good at what you do as a teacher is not formally rewarded, while being poor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/we-have-inadvertently-designed-a-system-in-which-being-good-at-what/) [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) > [The arts make vivid the fact that words do not, in their literal form or number, exhaust what we can know. The limits of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/the-arts-make-vivid-the-fact-that-words-do-not-in-their-literal-form/) [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) > [All art forms employ some means through which images become real.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/all-art-forms-employ-some-means-through-which-images-become-real/) [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) > [The ultimate aim of education is to enable individuals to become the architects of their own education and through that process to continually reinvent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/the-ultimate-aim-of-education-is-to-enable-individuals-to-become-the/) [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) > [The kinds of nets we know how to weave determine the kinds of nets we cast. These nets, in turn, determine the kinds of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/the-kinds-of-nets-we-know-how-to-weave-determine-the-kinds-of-nets-we/) [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) > [The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/the-arts-enable-us-to-have-experience-we-can-have-from-no-other/) [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) > [In some sense our aim ought to be to convert the school from an academic institution into an intellectual one. That shift in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/in-some-sense-our-aim-ought-to-be-to-convert-the-school-from-an/) [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) > [The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/the-arts-celebrate-multiple-perspectives-one-of-their-large-lessons/) [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) > [The arts inform as well as stimulate; they challenge as well as satisfy. Their location is not limited to galleries, concert halls and theatres.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/the-arts-inform-as-well-as-stimulate-they-challenge-as-well-as/) [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) > [The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said. When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/the-arts-help-children-learn-to-say-what-cannot-be-said-when-children/) [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) > [The Arts are fundamental resources through which the world is viewed, meaning is created, and the mind developed. To neglect the contribution of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/the-arts-are-fundamental-resources-through-which-the-world-is-viewed/) [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) > [The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects. The arts traffic in subtleties.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/the-arts-teach-students-that-small-differences-can-have-large-effects/) [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) > [The Arts' position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young what adults believe is important.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/the-arts-position-in-the-school-curriculum-symbolizes-to-the-young/) [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) > [Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/learning-in-the-arts-requires-the-ability-and-a-willingness-to/) [Elliot W. Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) [Explore all 26 Elliot W. Eisner quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/) ## More Able quotes > [I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lusseyran/i-am-certain-that-children-always-know-more-than-they-are-able-to/) [Jacques Lusseyran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lusseyran/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. If you don't accept it and you're having a conversation with someone who does,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-englert/there-is-something-about-the-south-that-accepts-the-supernatural-if/) [Alice Englert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-englert/) > [In the '80s, the way radio was programmed, if you didn't have a hit record you weren't going to be able to make any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huey-lewis/in-the-80s-the-way-radio-was-programmed-if-you-didn-t-have-a-hit/) [Huey Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huey-lewis/) > [I think I've had the longest career of strength, focus, and still being able to sell records. I think I'm that guy. I'm still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nas/i-think-i-ve-had-the-longest-career-of-strength-focus-and-still-being/) [Nas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nas/) > [I have that need in me, I want everyone to love me, but I'm embarrassed by that need, so I wanted to cover it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-jeselnik/i-have-that-need-in-me-i-want-everyone-to-love-me-but-i-m-embarrassed/) [Anthony Jeselnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-jeselnik/) > [Thinking about the things that happened, I don't know any other ball player would could have done what he (Jackie Robinson) did. To be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pee-wee-reese/thinking-about-the-things-that-happened-i-don-t-know-any-other-ball/) [Pee Wee Reese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pee-wee-reese/) > [I wanted to remember in order to be able to return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/i-wanted-to-remember-in-order-to-be-able-to-return/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [Government schools, with your tax money, now discourage the teaching of multiplication tables by rote memorization but teach reading by the 'look-and-say' method which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-perry/government-schools-with-your-tax-money-now-discourage-the-teaching-of/) Greg Perry > [I don't know if I would qualify as mainstream. I think I have managed to function pretty successfully on the fringes of the music…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-metheny/i-don-t-know-if-i-would-qualify-as-mainstream-i-think-i-have-managed/) [Pat Metheny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-metheny/) > [What we're supposed to do as actors is be able to portray real human beings and emotions. And if you grow up in this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-browning/what-we-re-supposed-to-do-as-actors-is-be-able-to-portray-real-human/) [Emily Browning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-browning/) > [The reason that Apple is able to create products like iPad is because we always try to be at the intersection of technology and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-jobs/the-reason-that-apple-is-able-to-create-products-like-ipad-is-because/) [Steve Jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-jobs/) > [It was an important period for us, because even though we weren't a "punk band", and what became a model for a punk band,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-mallinder/it-was-an-important-period-for-us-because-even-though-we-weren-t-a/) [Stephen Mallinder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-mallinder/) > [- You look fine. - Right. I look fine. Except I don't, said Zora, tugging sadly at her man's nightshirt. This was why Kiki…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zadie-smith/you-look-fine-right-i-look-fine-except-i-don-t-said-zora-tugging/) [Zadie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zadie-smith/) > [There is a way to be a woman, ask for what we deserve and be able to negotiate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracee-ellis-ross/there-is-a-way-to-be-a-woman-ask-for-what-we-deserve-and-be-able-to/) [Tracee Ellis Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracee-ellis-ross/) Browse all 17,257 Able quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Schools are not about enabling children to have a living but about children being able to have a life.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Elliot W. Eisner" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/schools-are-not-about-enabling-children-to-have-a-living-but-about/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Able" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/schools-are-not-about-enabling-children-to-have-a-living-but-about/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c8/elliot-w-eisner-22990_able_schools-are-not-about-enabling-children_1251055.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c8/elliot-w-eisner-22990_able_schools-are-not-about-enabling-children_1251055.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c8/elliot-w-eisner-22990_able_schools-are-not-about-enabling-children_1251055.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Schools are not about enabling children to have a living but about children being able to have a life.” — Elliot W. Eisner", "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": "Elliot W. Eisner", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliot-w-eisner/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Schools are not about enabling children...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/schools-are-not-about-enabling-children-to-have-a-living-but-about/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-w-eisner/schools-are-not-about-enabling-children-to-have-a-living-but-about/#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 } } ] } ```