Benefits Quote by Kenny Smith
“Americans are cultured from their earliest years to be either one-sided douloi or one-sided banausoi, i.e. either they cannot think abstractively/conceptually/orchestrally or else they can only think abstractively. Thinking in a truly rational dialectic between intuition and intellect is just beyond the reach of our nation of emotionalist helots. What prevails among us truly has to be called not thinking but "thinking," a pathetic surrogate for actual thinking for the benefit of existentially or modally crippled mentalities.”
About This Quote
Source Essay: Unknown, possibly an online forum post, 2010s
A critique of American education, claiming it produces either overly abstract thinkers or overly practical ones, lacking balanced rational thought.
In simple terms: American schooling creates extremes, not balanced thinkers.
Key Takeaway
Encourage curricula that integrate intuition and intellect.
Themes
education
critical thinking
culture
philosophy
Mood
critical
analytical
skeptical
Type
philosophical
commentary
When to use this quote
- high school curricula
- college seminars
- policy debates
- parental guidance
Key Concepts
dialectic
cognitive balance
intellectual development
Questions to Reflect On
- How can education foster both intuition and rational analysis?
- What evidence supports this binary view of thinkers?
A Different Perspective
Oversimplifies complex educational outcomes; may ignore successes.
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