Richard Feynman on education in Brazil

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Some quotes from “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” talking about university education in Brazil:

After a lot of investigation, I finally figured out that the students had memorized everything, but they didn’t know what anything meant.

I didn’t see how they were going to learn anything from that. Here he was talking about moments of inertia, but there was no discussion about how hard it is to push a door open when you put heavy weights on the outside, compared to when you put them near the hinge – nothing!

Finally, I said that I couldn’t see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, and teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything.

via Richard Feynman on education in Brazil

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