--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is, however, a most astonishing but…" description: "\"It is, however, a most astonishing but incontestable fact, that the history of the evolution of man as yet constitutes no part of general education. In..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83f/ernst-haeckel-20972_astonishing_it-is-however-a-most-astonishing-but-inc_2784873.png" --- # It is, however, a most astonishing but incontestable fact… ![“It is, however, a most astonishing but incontestable fact, that the history of the evolution of man as yet constitutes no part of general education. Indeed, our so-called "educated classes" are to this day in total ignorance of the most important circumstances and the most remarkable phenomena…” quote by Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83f/ernst-haeckel-20972_astonishing_it-is-however-a-most-astonishing-but-inc_2784873.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83f/ernst-haeckel-20972_astonishing_it-is-however-a-most-astonishing-but-inc_2784873.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83f/ernst-haeckel-20972_astonishing_it-is-however-a-most-astonishing-but-inc_2784873.png) > “It is, however, a most astonishing but incontestable fact, that the history of the evolution of man as yet constitutes no part of general education. Indeed, our so-called "educated classes" are to this day in total ignorance of the most important circumstances and the most remarkable phenomena which Anthropogeny has brought to light.” [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human evolution is largely omitted from general education, leaving many ignorant of key discoveries. **In simple terms:** Evolutionary history is missing from curricula. Key Takeaway Advocate for comprehensive anthropology education. Themes education science anthropology Mood thoughtful critical Type academic advocacy When to use this quote - school curricula - public lectures - museum exhibits Key Concepts evolution knowledge gaps curriculum design Questions to Reflect On - How can curricula better include human origins? - What barriers prevent widespread teaching of evolution? A Different Perspective Integrating evolution challenges entrenched narratives. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Biology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/) [Class](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Evolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evolution/) [Evolution of man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evolution-of-man/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [General education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/general-education/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) ## Related quotes > [The legend of the jungle heritage and the evolution of man as a hunting carnivore has taken root in man's mind ... He may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-morgan/the-legend-of-the-jungle-heritage-and-the-evolution-of-man-as-a/) [Elaine Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-morgan/) > [The evolution of man is the evolution of his consciousness, and 'consciousness' cannot evolve unconsciously. The evolution of man is the evolution of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-i-gurdjieff/the-evolution-of-man-is-the-evolution-of-his-consciousness-and/) [G. I. Gurdjieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-i-gurdjieff/) > [The evolution of man is slow. The injustice of men is great.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/the-evolution-of-man-is-slow-the-injustice-of-men-is-great/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [What we will have attained when Neil Armstrong steps down upon the moon is a completely new step in the evolution of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wernher-von-braun/what-we-will-have-attained-when-neil-armstrong-steps-down-upon-the/) [Wernher von Braun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wernher-von-braun/) > [Because the history of evolution is that life escapes all barriers. Life breaks free. Life expands to new territories. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-crichton/because-the-history-of-evolution-is-that-life-escapes-all-barriers/) [Michael Crichton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-crichton/) > [By contrast with history, evolution is an unconscious process. Another, and perhaps a better way of putting it would be to say that evolution…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/owen-barfield/by-contrast-with-history-evolution-is-an-unconscious-process-another/) [Owen Barfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/owen-barfield/) > [The history of life is more adequately represented by a picture of 'punctuated equilibria' than by the notion of phyletic gradualism. The history of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/the-history-of-life-is-more-adequately-represented-by-a-picture-of/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [You have to look at history as an evolution of society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-chretien/you-have-to-look-at-history-as-an-evolution-of-society/) [Jean Chretien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-chretien/) > [“If animal history has been a history of evolution, then the history of mankind is one of retrogression. Hooray for monsters! Monsters are the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abe-kobo/if-animal-history-has-been-a-history-of-evolution-then-the-history-of/) [Abe Kōbō](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abe-kobo/) > [“The 'wheel of fortune' is a better analogy for history than the 'evolution of humanity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-gomez-davila/the-wheel-of-fortune-is-a-better-analogy-for-history-than-the/) [Nicolás Gómez Dávila](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-gomez-davila/) > [The History of Evolution is the real source of light in the investigation of organic bodies. It is applicable at every step, and all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-ernst-von-baer/the-history-of-evolution-is-the-real-source-of-light-in-the/) [Karl Ernst von Baer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-ernst-von-baer/) > [Evolution does not attempt to explain the origin of life. It is simply a history of the process of life. With the secret cause…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/evolution-does-not-attempt-to-explain-the-origin-of-life-it-is-simply/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [It's evolution, man. Eventually the student becomes the teacher.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/big-sean/it-s-evolution-man-eventually-the-student-becomes-the-teacher/) [Big Sean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/big-sean/) > [“Only God was able to create a free creature, and freedom could only arise by the act of creation. Freedom is not the result…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alija-izetbegovic/only-god-was-able-to-create-a-free-creature-and-freedom-could-only/) [Alija Izetbegović](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alija-izetbegovic/) > [At a certain stage in his evolution, man himself had been able to lay hold upon a higher order of things, which raised him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-noyes/at-a-certain-stage-in-his-evolution-man-himself-had-been-able-to-lay/) [Alfred Noyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-noyes/) ## More by Ernst Haeckel > [ We are compelled by reflection to recognize that God is not to be placed against the material world \[as in Christianity\], but must be… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haeckel/we-are-compelled-by-reflection-to-recognize-that-god-is-not-to-be/) [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) > [Civilization and the life of nations are governed by the same laws as prevail throughout nature and organic life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haeckel/civilization-and-the-life-of-nations-are-governed-by-the-same-laws-as/) [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) > [An irrefutable proof that such single-celled primaeval animals really existed as the direct ancestors of Man, is furnished according to the fundamental law of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haeckel/an-irrefutable-proof-that-such-single-celled-primaeval-animals-really/) [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) > [The succession of individuals, connected by reproduction and belonging to a species, makes it possible for the specific form itself to last for ages.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haeckel/the-succession-of-individuals-connected-by-reproduction-and-belonging/) [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) > [The cell never acts; it reacts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haeckel/the-cell-never-acts-it-reacts/) [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) > [There is no doubt that the course and character of the feared 'European war'... will become the first world war in the full sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haeckel/there-is-no-doubt-that-the-course-and-character-of-the-feared/) [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) > [ Man is not distinguished from \[the animals\] by a special kind of soul, or by any peculiar and exclusive psychic function, but only by… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haeckel/man-is-not-distinguished-from-the-animals-by-a-special-kind-of-soul/) [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) > [Where faith commences, science ends. Both these arts of the human mind must be strictly kept apart from each other. Faith has its origin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haeckel/where-faith-commences-science-ends-both-these-arts-of-the-human-mind/) [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) > [The nucleus has to take care of the inheritance of the heritable characters, while the surrounding cytoplasm is concerned with accommodation or adaptation to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haeckel/the-nucleus-has-to-take-care-of-the-inheritance-of-the-heritable/) [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) > [The whole of organic nature on our planet exists only by a relentless war of all against all. ... The raging war of interests…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haeckel/the-whole-of-organic-nature-on-our-planet-exists-only-by-a-relentless/) [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) > [By ecology we understand the total science of the connections of the organism to the surrounding external world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haeckel/by-ecology-we-understand-the-total-science-of-the-connections-of-the/) [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) > [Both of these branches of evolutionary science, are, in my opinion, in the closest causal connection; this arises from the reciprocal action of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haeckel/both-of-these-branches-of-evolutionary-science-are-in-my-opinion-in/) [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) > [In the course of individual development, inherited characters appear, in general, earlier than adaptive ones, and the earlier a certain character appears in ontogeny,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haeckel/in-the-course-of-individual-development-inherited-characters-appear/) [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) > [ Phylogeny and ontogeny are, therefore, the two coordinated branches of morphology. Phylogeny is the developmental history \[Entwickelungsgeschichte\] of the abstract, genealogical individual; ontogeny, on… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haeckel/phylogeny-and-ontogeny-are-therefore-the-two-coordinated-branches-of/) [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) > [“Thus for Haeckel, to know is not to conceptualize but to see. What nature is, is visible on its surface.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-haeckel/thus-for-haeckel-to-know-is-not-to-conceptualize-but-to-see-what/) [Ernst Haeckel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) [Explore all 30 Ernst Haeckel quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-haeckel/) ## More Astonishing quotes > [It's astonishing what you learn and feel and see along the way. That's why a reporter's job, as you know, is such a joy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-wallace/it-s-astonishing-what-you-learn-and-feel-and-see-along-the-way-that-s/) [Mike Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-wallace/) > [A man may perform astonishing feats and comprehend a vast amount of knowledge, and yet have no understanding of himself. But suffering directs a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soren-kierkegaard/a-man-may-perform-astonishing-feats-and-comprehend-a-vast-amount-of/) [Soren Kierkegaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soren-kierkegaard/) > [A first novel of astonishing force, craft and beauty, The Headmaster's Wager conjures up a dizzyingly evocative wartime Saigon in the story of Percival…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janice-y-k-lee-2/a-first-novel-of-astonishing-force-craft-and-beauty-the-headmaster-s/) Janice Y. K. Lee > [“What is astonishing is that we, who had no idea how anything was going to turn out, now know exactly what happened.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/what-is-astonishing-is-that-we-who-had-no-idea-how-anything-was-going/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [It's a great historical joke that when the Spanish met the Aztecs, it was a blind date made in serve-you-right heaven. At the time,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-a-gill/it-s-a-great-historical-joke-that-when-the-spanish-met-the-aztecs-it/) [A. A. Gill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-a-gill/) > [It was astonishing when at one point, I got the idea of how to make artifical clouds with a collaborator, we had pictures made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/it-was-astonishing-when-at-one-point-i-got-the-idea-of-how-to-make/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) > [Although there may be nothing new under the sun, what is old is new to us and so rich and astonishing that we never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robertson-davies/although-there-may-be-nothing-new-under-the-sun-what-is-old-is-new-to/) [Robertson Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robertson-davies/) > [The astonishing thing for me is that I had a career before politics and I never thought about my colour.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-gyimah/the-astonishing-thing-for-me-is-that-i-had-a-career-before-politics/) [Sam Gyimah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-gyimah/) > [“There is no denying it; one must admit that there is something astonishing about Christianity. 'It is because you were born in it,' they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-pascal/there-is-no-denying-it-one-must-admit-that-there-is-something/) [Blaise Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-pascal/) > [It's Twitter's combination of simplicity and complexity that is astonishing in the same way that minimalist sculpture was inspiring and enlightening.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-goldsmith/it-s-twitter-s-combination-of-simplicity-and-complexity-that-is/) [Kenneth Goldsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-goldsmith/) > [All that we don't know is astonishing. Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/all-that-we-don-t-know-is-astonishing-even-more-astonishing-is-what/) [Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/) > [Still more astonishing is that world of rigorous fantasy which we call mathematics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/still-more-astonishing-is-that-world-of-rigorous-fantasy-which-we/) [Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/) > [“No one ever said aloud any of the kinds of things he was so constantly thinking, because no one in the parish, not Alice,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/no-one-ever-said-aloud-any-of-the-kinds-of-things-he-was-so/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [If you worry less about what people think of you, you can pick up an astonishing amount of information about them. You no longer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pamela-druckerman/if-you-worry-less-about-what-people-think-of-you-you-can-pick-up-an/) [Pamela Druckerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pamela-druckerman/) > [The Bureau of Justice reports that one in three black male babies born this century will go to jail or prison - that is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-stevenson/the-bureau-of-justice-reports-that-one-in-three-black-male-babies/) [Bryan Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-stevenson/) Browse all 410 Astonishing quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is, however, a most astonishing but incontestable fact, that the history of the evolution of man as yet constitutes no part of general education. 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