--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: That the great majority of those who…" description: "\"That the great majority of those who leave school should have some idea of the kind of evidence required to substantiate given types of belief does not..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d8e/john-dewey-545_absurd_that-the-great-majority-of-those-who-lea_2277036.png" --- # That the great majority of those who leave school should… ![“That the great majority of those who leave school should have some idea of the kind of evidence required to substantiate given types of belief does not seem unreasonable. Nor is it absurd to expect that they should go forth with a lively interest in the ways in which knowledge is improved and a…” quote by John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d8e/john-dewey-545_absurd_that-the-great-majority-of-those-who-lea_2277036.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d8e/john-dewey-545_absurd_that-the-great-majority-of-those-who-lea_2277036.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d8e/john-dewey-545_absurd_that-the-great-majority-of-those-who-lea_2277036.png) > “That the great majority of those who leave school should have some idea of the kind of evidence required to substantiate given types of belief does not seem unreasonable. Nor is it absurd to expect that they should go forth with a lively interest in the ways in which knowledge is improved and a marked distaste for all conclusions reached in disharmony with the methods of scientific inquiry.” [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Students should understand evidence standards and embrace scientific inquiry, fostering curiosity and skepticism toward unsupported claims. **In simple terms:** Teach evidence and curiosity; value science. Key Takeaway Encourage critical thinking and evidence‑based learning. Themes education science critical thinking curiosity Mood inspirational reflective Type educational philosophical When to use this quote - classroom teaching - research projects - public science outreach - media literacy Key Concepts epistemology scientific method skepticism Questions to Reflect On - What evidence standards should be taught first? - How can we make scientific inquiry engaging? A Different Perspective Some may resist questioning deeply held beliefs, hindering learning. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Absurd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absurd/) [Belief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belief/) [Conclusion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conclusion/) [Conclusions Reached](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conclusions-reached-2904946/) [Disharmony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disharmony/) [Distaste](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/distaste/) [Distaste Conclusions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/distaste-conclusions-5300111/) [Doe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doe/) [Evidence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evidence/) [Evidence Required](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evidence-required-4178338/) [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) [Given](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/given/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Inquiry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inquiry/) [Interest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interest/) [Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kind/) [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [Lively](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lively/) [Majority](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/majority/) [Method](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/method/) [School](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/school/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Scientific Inquiry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scientific-inquiry-1217600/) [Seems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seems/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Should have](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should-have/) [Type](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/type/) [Unreasonable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unreasonable/) [Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/) ## Related quotes > [“Under the charge against us the normal rules of evidence are suspended. For us they don't exist.WE are charged not with committing espionage, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-l-doctorow-2/under-the-charge-against-us-the-normal-rules-of-evidence-are/) [E.L. Doctorow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-l-doctorow-2/) > [The routine of custom tends to deaden even scientific inquiry; it stands in the way of discovery and of the active scientific worker. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/the-routine-of-custom-tends-to-deaden-even-scientific-inquiry-it/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [My mother cared more about how you reasoned than about the conclusions you reached.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-frum/my-mother-cared-more-about-how-you-reasoned-than-about-the/) [David Frum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-frum/) > [Different conclusions are reached when one fact is viewed from two separate points of view. 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The first adjective is redundant.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/free-scientific-inquiry-the-first-adjective-is-redundant/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [The whole thrust of yogic philosophical and scientific inquiry has therefore been to examine the nature of being, with a view to learning to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-k-s-iyengar/the-whole-thrust-of-yogic-philosophical-and-scientific-inquiry-has/) [B.K.S. Iyengar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-k-s-iyengar/) > [“James believed that scientific inquiry, like any other form of inquiry, is an activity inspired and informed by our tastes, values, and hopes. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-menand/james-believed-that-scientific-inquiry-like-any-other-form-of-inquiry/) [Louis Menand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-menand/) > [As long as every question is answered by the word "God," scientific inquiry is simply impossible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/as-long-as-every-question-is-answered-by-the-word-god-scientific/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [“what is the role of human scientists in an age when the frontiers of scientific inquiry have moved beyond the comprehension of humans?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/what-is-the-role-of-human-scientists-in-an-age-when-the-frontiers-of/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) > [It is my idea that the public needs to be better educated about the nature of scientific inquiry and how the scientific process works.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/priyamvada-natarajan/it-is-my-idea-that-the-public-needs-to-be-better-educated-about-the/) [Priyamvada Natarajan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/priyamvada-natarajan/) > [At root what is needed for scientific inquiry is just receptivity to data, skill in reasoning, and yearning for truth. Admittedly, ingenuity can help…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willard-van-orman-quine/at-root-what-is-needed-for-scientific-inquiry-is-just-receptivity-to/) [Willard Van Orman Quine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willard-van-orman-quine/) ## More by John Dewey > [“The deepest urge in human nature is the desire to be important.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/the-deepest-urge-in-human-nature-is-the-desire-to-be-important/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [“Empirically, things are poignant, tragic, beautiful, humorous, settled, disturbed, comfortable, annoying, barren, harsh, consoling, splendid, fearful; are such immediately and in their own right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/empirically-things-are-poignant-tragic-beautiful-humorous-settled/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [A good aim surveys the present state of experience of pupils, and forming a tentative plan of treatment, keeps the plan constantly in view…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/a-good-aim-surveys-the-present-state-of-experience-of-pupils-and/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Experiences in order to be educative must lead out into an expanding world of subject matter, a subject matter of facts or information and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/experiences-in-order-to-be-educative-must-lead-out-into-an-expanding/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [A tribe, let us say, is warlike. The successes for which it strives, the achievements upon which it sets store, are connected with fighting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/a-tribe-let-us-say-is-warlike-the-successes-for-which-it-strives-the/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [The phrase "think for one's self" is a pleonasm. Unless one does it for one's self, it isn't thinking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/the-phrase-think-for-one-s-self-is-a-pleonasm-unless-one-does-it-for/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Doctrine that eliminates or even obscures the function of choice of values and enlistment of desires and emotions in behalf of those chosen weakens…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/doctrine-that-eliminates-or-even-obscures-the-function-of-choice-of/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [There is no such thing as educational value in the abstract. The notion that some subjects and methods and that acquaintance with certain facts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/there-is-no-such-thing-as-educational-value-in-the-abstract-the/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Men live in a community in virtue of the things which they have in common; and communication is the way in which they come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/men-live-in-a-community-in-virtue-of-the-things-which-they-have-in/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [We can have facts without thinking but we cannot have thinking without facts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/we-can-have-facts-without-thinking-but-we-cannot-have-thinking/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [But progress in knowledge has made us aware of the superficiality of Plato's lumping of individuals and their original powers into a few sharply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/but-progress-in-knowledge-has-made-us-aware-of-the-superficiality-of/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Even the alleged benefits of war, so far as more than alleged, spring from the fact that conflict of peoples at least enforces intercourse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/even-the-alleged-benefits-of-war-so-far-as-more-than-alleged-spring/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [“When the organization called soul is free, moving and operative, initial as well as terminal, it is spirit. Qualities are both static, substantial, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/when-the-organization-called-soul-is-free-moving-and-operative/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Since in reality there is nothing to which growth is relative save more growth, there is nothing to which education is subordinate save more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/since-in-reality-there-is-nothing-to-which-growth-is-relative-save/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [Creative thinking will improve as we relate the new fact to the old and all facts to each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/creative-thinking-will-improve-as-we-relate-the-new-fact-to-the-old/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) [Explore all 486 John Dewey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) ## More Absurd quotes > [“It seem absurd to me that they don't know, haven't felt any change or tremor, even as my life has been completely turned upside…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/it-seem-absurd-to-me-that-they-don-t-know-haven-t-felt-any-change-or/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [When a person’s tongue is extensively wrong, it is absurd, no less than unscriptural, to say that their heart is right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-c-ryle/when-a-person-s-tongue-is-extensively-wrong-it-is-absurd-no-less-than/) [J. C. Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-c-ryle/) > [Every sensible man, every honorable man, must hold the Christian sect in horror." "Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd and bloody religion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/voltaire/every-sensible-man-every-honorable-man-must-hold-the-christian-sect/) [Voltaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/voltaire/) > [It is human nature to think wisely and to act in an absurd fashion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-france/it-is-human-nature-to-think-wisely-and-to-act-in-an-absurd-fashion/) [Anatole France](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-france/) > [It is a dangerous and fateful presumption, besides the absurd temerity that it implies, to disdain what we do not comprehend. For after you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-is-a-dangerous-and-fateful-presumption-besides-the-absurd-temerity/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I thought to myself: if it’s true that every person has a star in the sky, mine must be distant, dim, and absurd. Perhaps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sadegh-hedayat/i-thought-to-myself-if-it-s-true-that-every-person-has-a-star-in-the/) [Sadegh Hedayat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sadegh-hedayat/) > [If, indeed, a firearm were more dangerous to its possessors than to potential aggressors, would it not make sense for the government to arm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mamet/if-indeed-a-firearm-were-more-dangerous-to-its-possessors-than-to/) [David Mamet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mamet/) > [“You were torturing a cat," she says. "With a freaking prod." "A prod I built myself in metal shop," he says. "But of course…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-saunders/you-were-torturing-a-cat-she-says-with-a-freaking-prod-a-prod-i-built/) [George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-saunders/) > [I have never heard enough classical music to be able to enjoy it; & the simple truth is, I detest it. 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But solitude also produces perverseness, the disproportianate, the absurd and the forbidden.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/solitude-produces-originality-bold-and-astonishing-beauty-poetry-but/) [Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) [Browse all 1,644 Absurd quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absurd/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "That the great majority of those who leave school should have some idea of the kind of evidence required to substantiate given types of belief does not seem unreasonable. 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