Montaigne, “On Educating Children”

My perambulations through Montaigne’s (1533-1592) ESSAYS continue with the essential “On Educating Children,” a piece brimming with the truth that a true education is found not in memorization or regurgitation but in fostering a love of learning in the student. Throughout, Montaigne rails against the rote and the mundane:

“Spewing up food exactly as you have swallowed it is evidence of a failure to digest and assimilate it; the stomach has not done its job if, during concoction, it fails to c...