On Education – Albert Einstein

 March 7, 2017

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This is an excerpt from an address by Albert Einstein to the State University of New York at Albany, on
the occasion of the celebration of the tercentenary/300th Anniversary of higher education in America, 15th
October, 1931.

You may remember how Einstein managed to get a doctor’s certificate stating him insane to get expelled
from his school in Munich because he hated the education system of that time. Finally the school
authorities (without a medical certificate) got rid of Einstein. What happened to Einstein after that? We
could expect this expelled student joining a okay-okay school, managing to pass through some elementary
exams and open a tea-stall, become a goon or a nuisance for the society. Einstein didn’t opt for any. He
opted for being the world’s most practical scientist ever known!

Summary
Einstein delivers a talk on education. He was neither an educator nor a psychiatrist (but he was Einstein!)
so he starts with an apology and an excuse. He repeatedly reminds the listeners that education should not
be forced upon the student. The student should grow up learning what he most likes. There are three
motives that influence a student: fear or coercion, recognition and finally pleasure or willingness for a
certain subject. The school should find and use the best motive that guides the student yet he believes that
the first and the second motives do more harm than good.

Let’s begin – Introduction

 Einstein begins his speech on education by saying that knowledge of truth alone is not enough for active
men.
 He believes that our knowledge must be renewed by continuous effort to stop it from loss.
 The school has always been the most important means of transferring the wealth of tradition from one
generation to the next.
 A school has now a greater responsibility in transferring a nation’s culture to the newer generation because
the family as bearer of tradition and education has been weakened due to modern development of the
economic life.
What a School should NOT Be
 Sometimes schools simply function like instruments for transferring a certain maximum quantity of
knowledge to the growing generation. This kills learning and the school.
 A school should develop in the young individuals those qualities and capabilities which are of value for the
welfare of the society.
 If a school adopts to teach all the students the subjects and follow the same aims, it means that the
individuality of the child is destroyed and the individual becomes a mere tool of the community.
 A society of standardized individuals without personal originality and personal aims would be a poor
community without possibilities for development.
What a School Should Be
 Instead of shaping similar individuals, the aim of the school must be the training of independently thinking
and acting individuals who see in the service of the community their highest life problem.
 Preaching moral values will not have any effect in students because words are mere words and empty
sounds.
 It is good when students learn through activity.
 The most important method of education has always been urging the student to actual performance.
 Students should have the freedom to choose his way of memorizing a poem, writing a composition,
interpretation and translation of a text, the solving of a mathematical problem or the practice of a physical
sport.
Motivation
 Behind every achievement exists the motivation which is at the foundation of it. This ambition is in turn
strengthened and nourished when one achieves his goal.
o Fear and compulsion,
o Ambitious desire for authority and distinction,
o Loving interest in the object and a desire for truth and understanding.
 A child’s inborn aptitude and genuine love for knowledge as the divine curiosity that every child possess.
For this, neither fear nor compulsion is needed.
 The worst of all evils in a school is an atmosphere where a student is forced and frightened to study by a
teacher’s artificial authority.
 Such treatment destroys the sound sentiments, the sincerity, and the self-confidence of the pupil.
Punishment and Competition
 This evil can be effectively kept away from a school by allowing the teacher to use practically no coercive
measures.
 Desire for approval and recognition is a healthy motive but the desire to be acknowledged as better,
stronger, or more intelligent than a fellow being or fellow scholar easily leads to an excessively egoistic
psychological adjustment, which may become injurious for the individual and for the community.
 School and the teacher must guard against employing the easy method of creating individual ambition in
order to encourage the students to hard work without competition.
 Einstein approves of positive competition. Being a social animal, man derives his strength in the struggle
for existence, not in the avoidance of competition.
 Success in the ordinary sense should not be the aim of life. A successful person is he who receives a great
deal from his fellow men, usually incomparably more than corresponds to his service to them.
 The value of a man, however, should be seen in what he gives and not what he is able to receive.
 The awakening of the productive psychological powers is certainly less easy than the practice of force or
the awakening of individual ambition but is the more valuable for it.
 Teachers often find it easy and practical to apply force and competition than a love for knowledge with
limited and inexperienced teachers and a large number of students.
Freedom to Teachers
 First, teachers should grow up in such schools where each student grew up loving to learn rather than
forced to learn.
 Besides, the teacher should be given extensive liberty in the selection of the material to be taught and the
methods of teaching employed by him.
 Einstein stresses less on the study of language and technical education in science.
 He believes that the predominantly important choice is the training of the mind and of the mental and
manual skill.
 Education is that which remains, if one has forgotten everything he learned in school.
 Though specialized training has its own advantages, it also leads a trained individual into unexpected
troubles. The demands of life are much too many to let such a specialized training in school appear
possible.
Cons of Technical Education
 Providing specialization treats the individual like a dead tool. A young student should leave school as a
harmonious personality, not as a specialist.
 Technical schools tend to devote students to a quite definite profession whereas the development of
general ability for independent thinking and judgment is often overlooked.
 Einstein advises such schools to place independent thinking in the lead, not just the acquisition of special
knowledge.
 If a person masters the fundamentals of his subject and has learned to think and work independently, he
will surely find his way and besides will better be able to adapt himself to progress and changes than the
person whose training principally consists in the acquiring the detailed knowledge.
Questions & Answers
1. HOW DOES THE SECOND MOTIVE – CRAVING FOR RECOGNITION – GO DESTRUCTIVE?
HOW SHOULD TEACHERS GUARD AGAINST THE PITFALLS OF THE SECOND MOTIVE?
Constructive and destructive forces lie closely together. Desire for approval and recognition is a healthy
motive but the desire to be acknowledged as better, stronger, or more intelligent than a fellow being or
fellow scholar easily leads to an excessively egoistic psychological adjustment, which may become
injurious for the individual and for the community. School and the teacher must guard against employing
the easy method of creating individual ambition in order to encourage the students to hard work without
competition.
2. WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT FOR TECHNICAL SCHOOLS?
Technical schools tend to devote students to a quite definite profession whereas the development of
general ability for independent thinking and judgment is often overlooked. Einstein advises such schools to
place independent thinking in the lead, not just the acquisition of special knowledge. If a person masters
the fundamentals of his subject and has learned to think and work independently, he will surely find his
way and besides will better be able to adapt himself to progress and changes than the person whose
training principally consists in the acquiring the detailed knowledge
3. HOW FAR IS INDEPENDENT DEVELOPMENT AND INDEPENDENT THINKING IMPORTANT IN
SCHOOLS?
If a school adopts to teach all the students the subjects and follow the same aims, it means that the
individuality of the child is destroyed and the individual becomes a mere tool of the community. A society
of standardized individuals without personal originality and personal aims would be a poor community
without possibilities for development. Instead of shaping similar individuals, the aim of the school must be
the training of independently thinking and acting individuals who see in the service of the community their
highest life problem.
4. WHOM DOES EINSTEIN DEDICATE THE OCCASION TO? WHY?
Einstein dedicates the occasion to people who have gained special distinction for the development of the
cultural life of America. He believes that memory of the best people of the past is proper to stimulate and
encourage the new generation to contribute further to the nation.
5. WHY IS EINSTEIN OF THE OPINION THAT HE WAS NOT THE RIGHT PERSON TO GRACE THE
OCCASION?
Einstein was German by birth and Italian by early education. He believes that someone else, American
since his youth could have spoken better than him on the occasion. He thinks that the right speaker should
be connected to the culture and past of the country. Furthermore, he compares himself to a gypsy who has
wondered about and gathered his experiences in all kinds of countries.
6. WHY DOES EINSTEIN CHOOSE TO SPEAK ON EDUCATION?
Having said that he was not the right person to talk about the cultural figures of America, Einstein thought
it right to venture on education because he believed that education is a subject that is independent of space
and time. Education has a relevance at all times.
7. WHY DOES EINSTEIN THINK THAT HE WAS A PARTIAL LAYMAN IN THE REALM OF
EDUCATION?
Einstein was never formally trained to be a teacher so his knowledge connected with educational matters
was based on his personal experience and personal conviction. He was of the opinion that only such
intelligent and well-meaning men of all times who have dealt with educational problems and have
repeatedly expressed their views clearly about these matters could talk about education.
8. WHY DOES EINSTEIN SAY THAT KNOWLEDGE OF TRUTH ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH FOR
ACTIVE MEN? WHAT EXAMPLE DOES HE SITE?
Einstein believes that our knowledge must continually be renewed by continuous effort lest it be lost. He
compares this with a statue of marble which stands in the desert and is continually threatened with burial
by the shifting sand. Similarly, if knowledge is not renewed, it will be lost and go waste.
9. WHY DOES SCHOOL STAND AS THE BEARER OF ONE’S TRADITIONAL WEALTH MORE
THAN ANY OTHER TIMES?
The school has always been the most important means of transferring the wealth of tradition from one
generation to the next. In Einstein’s view, school has now a greater responsibility in connection with this
as the family as bearer of tradition and education has been weakened due to modern development of the
economic life.
10. HOW DOES A SCHOOL LOSE ITS IMPORTANCE AND GO DEAD?
Sometimes schools simply function like instruments for transferring a certain maximum quantity of
knowledge to the growing generation. Such practices kill knowledge. As the school serves the living,
 energetic childhood and youth, it should develop in the young individuals those qualities and capabilities
which are of value for the welfare of the society.
11. WHY IS MORALIZING NOT THE IDEAL WAY TO TRAIN STUDENTS?
Moralizing is not the right way to train students to free thinking and independent development. Preaching
moral values will not have any effect in students because words are mere words and empty sounds. What
Einstein thinks right is that personalities are not formed by what is heard and said but by labour and
activity. It is good when students learn through activity.
12. WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT METHOD OF EDUCATION?
The most important method of education has always been urging the student to actual performance. This
applies at levels of education, whether it be a primary class alphabet class or a doctorate thesis. It implies
that a student should have the freedom to choose his way of memorizing a poem, writing a composition,
interpretation and translation of a text, the solving of a mathematical problem or the practice of a physical
sport.
13. WHY DOES EINSTEIN THINK THAT MOTIVATION IS THE BACKBONE OF ACHIEVEMENT?
Behind every achievement exists the motivation which is at the foundation of it. This ambition is in turn
strengthened and nourished when one achieves his goal.
14. WHICH ARE THE KINDS OF MOTIVATING FACTORS?
Fear and compulsion, ambitious desire for authority and distinction and loving interest in the object and a
desire for truth and understanding are the basic motivating factors for achievements.
15. WHAT DOES EINSTEIN REFER TO AS THE DIVINE CURIOSITY WHICH EVERY HEALTHY
CHILD POSSESSES, BUT WHICH SO OFTEN IS WEAKENED EARLY?
Einstein refers to a child’s inborn aptitude and genuine love for knowledge as the divine curiosity that
every child possess. For this, neither fear nor compulsion is needed.
16. WHAT IS WRONG WITH TRAINING EACH STUDENT TO USE A PARTICULAR KNOWLEDGE
IN LIFE? OR WHAT ARE THE DISADVANTAGES OF SPECIALIZED TRAINING?
Though specialized training has its own advantages, it also leads a trained individual into unexpected
troubles. The demands of life are much too many to let such a specialized training in school appear
possible. Providing specialization treats the individual like a dead tool. A young student should leave
school as a harmonious personality, not as a specialist.
17. WHAT IS THE WORST OF ALL EVILS IN A SCHOOL? HOW CAN A SCHOOL KEEP ITSELF
FREE FROM THE WORST OF ALL EVILS?
The worst of all evils in a school is an atmosphere where a student is forced and frightened to study by a
teacher’s artificial authority. Such treatment destroys the sound sentiments, the sincerity, and the self-
confidence of the pupil. This evil can be effectively kept away from a school by allowing the teacher to use
practically no coercive measures.
18. WHAT MUST BE THE STUDENT’S SOURCE OF RESPECT FOR THE TEACHER?
A student should feel respect for the teacher not upon how scary the teacher is but the teacher’s human and
intellectual qualities must be the student’s source of respect for the teacher.
19. EXPLAIN THE SECOND MOTIVE THAT ENCOURAGES CHILDREN TO STUDY.
The second motive for study and work is ambition. A fixed human nature, ambition aims at recognition
and consideration. With the absence of mental stimulus of this kind, human cooperation would be entirely
impossible. The desire for approval of one’s fellow-man certainly is one of the most important binding
powers of society.
20. WHY DOES EINSTEIN DISPEL ABSOLUTE PROHIBITION OF COMPETITION?
Siting Darwin’s theory of the struggle for existence and the selectivity connected with it, Einstein approves
of positive competition. Being a social animal, man derives his strength in the struggle for existence, not in
the avoidance of competition.
21. WHY SHOULDN’T CHILDREN BE ENCOURAGED TO LIVE AND WORK FOR SUCCESS?
Success in the ordinary sense should not be the aim of life. A successful person is he who receives a great
deal from his fellow men, usually incomparably more than corresponds to his service to them. The value of
a man, however, should be seen in what he gives and not what he is able to receive.
22. WHAT IS THE THIRD MOTIVE FOR WORK AND ACHIEVEMENTS?
The third and important motive for work in the school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its results,
and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community. It is possible by the awakening and
strengthening of the psychological forces in the young student and this psychological foundation alone
leads to a joyous desire for knowledge and artist-like workmanship.
23. WHAT IS IT DIFFICULT FOR A SCHOOL TO MAKE STUDIES ENJOYABLE?
The awakening of the productive psychological powers is certainly less easy than the practice of force or
the awakening of individual ambition but is the more valuable for it. Teachers often find it easy and
practical to apply force and competition than a love for knowledge with limited and inexperienced teachers
and a large number of students.
24. HOW CAN A SCHOOL ENSURE PLEASURE OF LEARNING FOR ITS STUDENTS?
First, teachers should grow up in such schools where each student grew up loving to learn rather than
forced to learn. Besides, the teacher should be given extensive liberty in the selection of the material to be
taught and the methods of teaching employed by him because pleasure in the shaping of his work is killed
by force and exterior pressure from the school authorities.
25. WHAT ARE EINSTEIN’S VIEWS ON THE CHOICE OF SUBJECTS AND THE METHOD OF
TEACHING?
Einstein stresses less on the study of language and technical education in science. He believes that the
predominantly important choice is the training of the mind and of the mental and manual skill. He too is of
the conviction that education is that which remains, if one has forgotten everything he learned in school.