Thoreau's Theory on Formal Education

As my first real contact with the writing of Henry David Thoreau, I was pleased to find I didn’t dislike Walden. I just read Emerson’s Nature for another class and fought to get through it. I found his ideas organized but obnoxiously complex and difficult to fully comprehend. So I enjoyed Thoreau much more. I like that Thoreau’s ideas ran in the same vein as Emerson’s but they’re more realistically applicable with clearer examples.

            Personal side note: I appreciate Thoreau’s humor. The introduction text reads, “As he neared death his aunt Louisa asked him if he had made his peace with God. ‘I did not know we have ever quarreled.’” I perceive a man with a sense of humor as a more trustworthy person.

            I found his opinion of formal education rather interesting. As a poor college student myself, I was struck by his style of persuasion by bringing up money. People are always willing to stop and listen if their wallets are involved. He notes that he spent $28 to build his entire home in the woods, which is approximately what a person would have spent on housing at school each year. This ticks off an alarm that says, “I’m spending in rent for school housing what it would cost me to build four of my own homes.” That’s a thought to pause over. Then he goes into the minute details of building his home, all of which was foreign to me. I know little to nothing about construction, which he points out is a vital disconnect with people. You live in a house that you paid for but have no appreciation for it, as you didn’t build it yourself. You can’t find pride in the tight locking junctures or the waterproof roof. Formal education exercises your mind to expand and learn different or foreign things. Yet, there is little to no hands-on experience that you can utilize in your lifetime. I took it to heart, as I am new in my profession. I spent last spring semester in two paralegal courses. The professors discussed contracts and tickler systems and the computer systems and filing and research and…the list goes on. The information expanded my mind, of course. But textbook information will leave you high and dry unless you know how to put it into a real life situation. Only after I obtained a job as a legal secretary during the summer did I fully understand the knowledge I was taught in school. I paid thousands of dollars to reiterate the knowledge that didn’t truly mean anything to me until I could physically touch and use.