Education Quote by William Arrowsmith
““At present the universities are as uncongenial to teaching as the Mojave Desert to a clutch of Druid priests. If you want to restore a Druid priesthood, you cannot do it by offering prizes for Druid-of-the Year. If you want Druids, you must grow forests.””
About This Quote
Source Speech: Lecture on Higher Education, 1970s, University of California
Universities have become hostile to teaching, likened to a desert for Druid priests; incentives won’t revive true scholarship, only nurturing environments will.
In simple terms: Universities ignore teaching; need supportive culture to thrive.
Key Takeaway
Cultivate supportive academic cultures.
Themes
education
culture
incentives
scholarship
Mood
critical
reflective
Type
analytical
commentary
When to use this quote
- faculty development
- policy reform
- curriculum design
Key Concepts
institutional decay
environmental metaphor
Questions to Reflect On
- How can universities redesign incentives to value teaching?
- What cultural shifts are needed to nurture scholarship?
A Different Perspective
Incentives alone cannot change deep institutional attitudes.
![“The sense of tragedy - according to Aristotle - comes, ironically enough, not from the protagonist's weak points but from his good qualities. Do you know what I'm getting at? People are drawn deeper into tragedy not by their defects but by their virtues. ... [But] we accept irony through a device…” quote by Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/aa9/haruki-murakami-21_accepting_the-sense-of-tragedy-according-to-aristo_23796.jpg)
