A few days ago
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What does Mark Twain mean when he said he never let schooling interfere with his education?

What are your opinions?

Top 10 Answers
A few days ago
bmuel11

Favorite Answer

schooling manipulates not only what you learn but HOW you think. he was saying that he learned things in school but was still a free-thinker, that there is alot more to learn about life than what you learn in school.
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A few days ago
Anonymous
By Mark Twain’s definition, education is what you learn in life to accomplish the things you want, and school education is mainly useless things you never need.

For example most, if not all, of my present income comes from work that I do which was basically self-taught by doing on my own. In fourth or fifth grade I remember in some mathematics class learning about determinants. Now, I have never used that information outside of that particular class ever since we learned it in class, and I can’t see that I ever will. It does not get in my way, so to speak, but it has been relegated to the trash bin of Useless Things. It is possible to have you mind infected with ideas and things in school that can be a hindrance, and these certainly can get in your way. An example is the notion of “Intelligent Design” and other idiotic concepts that are more in the nature of special interest propaganda than anything else, and do nothing at all to prepare you to get along in life.

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A few days ago
William D
I think it’s pretty clear that he means that there is a lot of education that is not included in the subject at school, education about the things of life. That comment also hints that most schooling is not as valuable as lessons learned in life and that, if anything, schooling can make you more narrow minded or close minded or is just a waste of time.
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A few days ago
?
That statement by Mark Twain was what is known as tongue-in-cheek, meaning he was using irony. He didn’t totally mean what he said.

He simply wanted to get a laugh while he said he’d never let a teacher try to tell him everything to do; his education was mainly won through life experience… being on the riverboats and working various jobs he had.

Remember, Twain was famous for the ironic quips! (a quip is a [sometimes] well-known but brief saying)

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A few days ago
spruded
school is a place to learn a set ciriculem(sp) of things and never stray from it. but education could be anything from watching a dog give birth, to learning how to make an origami crane. educaiton is anything u want to learn. school can teach u only so much, but self exploration is what made him great. he had a question and discovered the answer
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A few days ago
?
learning doesnt start or end in school, it never did and it never will – since the beginning of time. Life is learning, but only when you’re paying attention.
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5 years ago
?
Hi! My opinion is… Mr. Clemens was a very smart man. It means,:there is MUCH more to life and what can be learned than is taught in school. }:>
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A few days ago
Rachelle
It means his real knowledge came from his real life experiences, not necessarily the A’s and B’s he learned during school.
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A few days ago
Chris M.
He was saying that school would corrupt his way of thinking and acting and seeing things. He had already been raised one way and he didnt wanna change that for anything.
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A few days ago
sharifjunaid
he evinces his contempt for ‘academic’ knowledge, expressing a preference for the wisdom gained from everyday life.
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