---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The schools turn wonder into drudgery and…"
description: "\"“The schools turn wonder into drudgery and uniqueness into aberration. Acceptance by the dulled others becomes worth almost any surrender, and nothing ..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e22/william-j-o-malley-101678_plato_the-schools-turn-wonder-into-drudgery-an_2694941.jpg"
---

#  The schools turn wonder into drudgery and uniqueness into…

![“The schools turn wonder into drudgery and uniqueness into aberration. Acceptance by the dulled others becomes worth almost any surrender, and nothing is worth the price of solitude: to read, to ponder, to paint, to pray. In the new Plato’s cave, we have the electronic shadows to make the unreal…” quote by William J. O'Malley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e22/william-j-o-malley-101678_plato_the-schools-turn-wonder-into-drudgery-an_2694941.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e22/william-j-o-malley-101678_plato_the-schools-turn-wonder-into-drudgery-an_2694941.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e22/william-j-o-malley-101678_plato_the-schools-turn-wonder-into-drudgery-an_2694941.jpg)

> ““The schools turn wonder into drudgery and uniqueness into aberration. Acceptance by the dulled others becomes worth almost any surrender, and nothing is worth the price of solitude: to read, to ponder, to paint, to pray. In the new Plato’s cave, we have the electronic shadows to make the unreal true and to give us an ersatz peace — even though every ad ever produced is deliberately formulated to make us unhappy.””

William J. O'Malley

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Schools stifle wonder, turning uniqueness into conformity; modern media offers false peace while promoting unhappiness.

**In simple terms:** Education can suppress creativity.

Key Takeaway

Foster curiosity and authentic expression.

Themes

education conformity media

Mood

critical reflective

Type

Plato:0 Plato Cave:0 New Plato:0 Acceptance Dulled:0 Wonder Drudgery:0

When to use this quote

- school curricula
- media consumption
- personal development

Key Concepts

philosophy social critique psychology

Questions to Reflect On

- How can education nurture wonder?
- What media offers genuine peace?

A Different Perspective

May generalize all schools negatively.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

## Related quotes

> [What difference is there, do you think, between those in Plato's cave who can only marvel at the shadows and images of various objects,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/desiderius-erasmus/what-difference-is-there-do-you-think-between-those-in-plato-s-cave/)

[Desiderius Erasmus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/desiderius-erasmus/)

> [Plato's cave is full of freaks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-johnson/plato-s-cave-is-full-of-freaks/)

[Jack Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-johnson/)

> [“I feel I could kill. I feel that I might like it. And I know that this should scare me. But it doesn't. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nenia-campbell/i-feel-i-could-kill-i-feel-that-i-might-like-it-and-i-know-that-this/)

[Nenia Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nenia-campbell/)

> [Art is the distillate of life, the winnowed result of the experience of a people, the record of the joyous adventure of the creative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawren-harris/art-is-the-distillate-of-life-the-winnowed-result-of-the-experience/)

[Lawren Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawren-harris/)

> [Plato, the first true pope of philosophy (sorry, Socrates), argued for a World of Forms above the reality-a transcendent plane of perfect essences, pure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-d-wilson/plato-the-first-true-pope-of-philosophy-sorry-socrates-argued-for-a/)

[N.D. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-d-wilson/)

> [The great spiritual geniuses, whether it was Moses, Buddha, Plato, Socrates, Jesus, or Emerson… have taught man to look within himself to find God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-holmes/the-great-spiritual-geniuses-whether-it-was-moses-buddha-plato/)

[Ernest Holmes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-holmes/)

> [Homer, Hesiod, Pythagoras, Plato, and Cicero, just to name a few, all lived in pagan societies. Some of the greatest political and military leaders…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brendan-myers/homer-hesiod-pythagoras-plato-and-cicero-just-to-name-a-few-all-lived/)

[Brendan Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brendan-myers/)

> [“The love of man to woman is a thing common and of course, and at first partakes more of instinct and passion than of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/the-love-of-man-to-woman-is-a-thing-common-and-of-course-and-at-first/)

[Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/)

> [“What she's learned is what she always learns. Plato was right. We're all of us immortal. We couldn't die if we wanted to. Every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/what-she-s-learned-is-what-she-always-learns-plato-was-right-we-re/)

[Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/)

> [But I still has enough longing for that concept that I didn't want to dispel it completely. Meaning: I didn't want to tell Lily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/but-i-still-has-enough-longing-for-that-concept-that-i-didn-t-want-to/)

[David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/)

> [During the 2300 years since Plato, very little opposition has been registered to his ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/during-the-2300-years-since-plato-very-little-opposition-has-been/)

[Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/)

> [Any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/any-city-however-small-is-in-fact-divided-into-two-one-the-city-of/)

[Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/)

> [Plato compared the intellect to a charioteer guiding the powerful horses of the passions, i.e., he gave it both the power of perception and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-cattell/plato-compared-the-intellect-to-a-charioteer-guiding-the-powerful/)

[Raymond Cattell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-cattell/)

> [I don't want my kids growing up with the image of God that I had -- Plato's white grandfatherly god -- because that god…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-p-young/i-don-t-want-my-kids-growing-up-with-the-image-of-god-that-i-had/)

[William P. Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-p-young/)

> [According to Plato, we don't learn anything. Our soul has lived so many lives that we know everything. Teachers and education can only remind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/according-to-plato-we-don-t-learn-anything-our-soul-has-lived-so-many/)

[Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/)

## More by William J. O'Malley

> [“Immanuel Kant is credited with saying, “If the stars came out only once in a lifetime, we’d stay up all that night.” Now we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-o-malley/immanuel-kant-is-credited-with-saying-if-the-stars-came-out-only-once/)

William J. O'Malley

Explore all 2 William J. O'Malley quotes

## More Plato quotes

> [According to Plato, we don't learn anything. Our soul has lived so many lives that we know everything. Teachers and education can only remind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/according-to-plato-we-don-t-learn-anything-our-soul-has-lived-so-many/)

[Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/)

> [I don't want my kids growing up with the image of God that I had -- Plato's white grandfatherly god -- because that god…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-p-young/i-don-t-want-my-kids-growing-up-with-the-image-of-god-that-i-had/)

[William P. Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-p-young/)

> [Plato compared the intellect to a charioteer guiding the powerful horses of the passions, i.e., he gave it both the power of perception and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-cattell/plato-compared-the-intellect-to-a-charioteer-guiding-the-powerful/)

[Raymond Cattell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-cattell/)

> [Any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/any-city-however-small-is-in-fact-divided-into-two-one-the-city-of/)

[Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/)

> [During the 2300 years since Plato, very little opposition has been registered to his ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/during-the-2300-years-since-plato-very-little-opposition-has-been/)

[Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/)

> [But I still has enough longing for that concept that I didn't want to dispel it completely. Meaning: I didn't want to tell Lily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/but-i-still-has-enough-longing-for-that-concept-that-i-didn-t-want-to/)

[David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/)

> [“What she's learned is what she always learns. Plato was right. We're all of us immortal. We couldn't die if we wanted to. Every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/what-she-s-learned-is-what-she-always-learns-plato-was-right-we-re/)

[Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/)

> [“The love of man to woman is a thing common and of course, and at first partakes more of instinct and passion than of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/the-love-of-man-to-woman-is-a-thing-common-and-of-course-and-at-first/)

[Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/)

> [Homer, Hesiod, Pythagoras, Plato, and Cicero, just to name a few, all lived in pagan societies. Some of the greatest political and military leaders…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brendan-myers/homer-hesiod-pythagoras-plato-and-cicero-just-to-name-a-few-all-lived/)

[Brendan Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brendan-myers/)

> [The great spiritual geniuses, whether it was Moses, Buddha, Plato, Socrates, Jesus, or Emerson… have taught man to look within himself to find God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-holmes/the-great-spiritual-geniuses-whether-it-was-moses-buddha-plato/)

[Ernest Holmes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-holmes/)

> [Plato, the first true pope of philosophy (sorry, Socrates), argued for a World of Forms above the reality-a transcendent plane of perfect essences, pure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-d-wilson/plato-the-first-true-pope-of-philosophy-sorry-socrates-argued-for-a/)

[N.D. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-d-wilson/)

> [Art is the distillate of life, the winnowed result of the experience of a people, the record of the joyous adventure of the creative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawren-harris/art-is-the-distillate-of-life-the-winnowed-result-of-the-experience/)

[Lawren Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawren-harris/)

> [Others of them employ outward marks ... They style themselves Gnostics. They also possess images, some of them painted and others formed from different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irenaeus-of-lyons/others-of-them-employ-outward-marks-they-style-themselves-gnostics/)

[Irenaeus of Lyons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irenaeus-of-lyons/)

> [When something goes wrong, accuse yourself first. Even the wisdom of Plato or Solomon can wobble and go blind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/when-something-goes-wrong-accuse-yourself-first-even-the-wisdom-of/)

[Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/)

> [Plato calls complacency the companion of loneliness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-grillparzer/plato-calls-complacency-the-companion-of-loneliness/)

[Franz Grillparzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-grillparzer/)

Browse all 588 Plato quotes

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“The schools turn wonder into drudgery and uniqueness into aberration. Acceptance by the dulled others becomes worth almost any surrender, and nothing is worth the price of solitude: to read, to ponder, to paint, to pray. In the new Plato’s cave, we have the electronic shadows to make the unreal true and to give us an ersatz peace — even though every ad ever produced is deliberately formulated to make us unhappy.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "William J. O'Malley"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-o-malley/the-schools-turn-wonder-into-drudgery-and-uniqueness-into-aberration/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Plato"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-o-malley/the-schools-turn-wonder-into-drudgery-and-uniqueness-into-aberration/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e22/william-j-o-malley-101678_plato_the-schools-turn-wonder-into-drudgery-an_2694941.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e22/william-j-o-malley-101678_plato_the-schools-turn-wonder-into-drudgery-an_2694941.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e22/william-j-o-malley-101678_plato_the-schools-turn-wonder-into-drudgery-an_2694941.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“The schools turn wonder into drudgery and uniqueness into aberration. Acceptance by the dulled others…” — William J. O'Malley",
                "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": "William J. O'Malley",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-j-o-malley/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“The schools turn wonder into drudgery...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-o-malley/the-schools-turn-wonder-into-drudgery-and-uniqueness-into-aberration/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-o-malley/the-schools-turn-wonder-into-drudgery-and-uniqueness-into-aberration/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
