Curiosity is very important I think, and I think too much of education, starting with childhood education, is either designed to kill curiosity or it works out that way anyway.
Myles HortonWhen people criticize me for not having any respect for existing structures and institutions, I protest. I say I give institutions and structures and traditions all the respect that I think they deserve. That's usually mighty little, but there are things that I do respect. They have to earn that respect. They have to earn it by serving people. They don't earn it just by age or legality or tradition.
Myles HortonI also knew that if people have a position on something and you try to argue them into changing it, youโre going to strengthen that position. If you want to change peopleโs ideas, you shouldnโt try to convince them intellectually. What you need to do is get them into a situation where theyโll have to act on ideas not argue about them.
Myles HortonIf you only try to do the things where you win, then you'll never try to do anything worth doing.
Myles HortonIโm much better at working out ideas in action than I am in theorizing about it and then transferring my thinking to action. I donโt work that way. I work with tentative ideas and I experiment and then with that experimentation in action, I finally come to the conclusions about what I think is the right way to do it.
Myles Horton