Montaigne's Argument On Education

Cicero said, “What you know is of no use, what you do not know does great harm.” Montaigne’s major argument on education was to learn but not to memorize with a positive and active attitude and came up with their own arguments. On the other hand, Rebelais “What do I know?” is a famous statement that Montaigne tried to pursue through his book, The Essays. Montaigne wrote The Essay as a shift from his public life to a private life. He declared that he did not have any goal in writing but to learn more about himself and to explore more in what he was trying to seek in knowledge. One important statement that Montaigne made in The Essay, “On educating children, “For those who want to learn, the obstacle can often be the authority of those who teach.” (Montaigne 43) As the purpose of study and learning, Montaigne commented on the education for children that he encouraged student to make their own argument and not to blindly follow what the …show more content…
Therefore, as a result, the society and people’s intellectual level remained the same all the time, as nobody had the idea to improve the society since they all agreed what they had learnt. According to Cicero’s quote, what they know was of no use as nobody came up with new ideas. What they do not know does great harm, as they never interpret what truth was and how important was it. The impacts behind the “facts” that they were learning might be destructive or beneficial to their society. The value of acquiring knowledge was to explore by the students, not to blindly follow the instructors. Coming up with new ideas, experiencing new things, exploring other places in the world were very useful in learning and could contribute a lot to the society. “What you do not know does great harm,” learning effectively and efficiently would be very useful to prevent future’s harm and might even bring benefits to the