"Institutions of learning should be devoted to the cultivation of curiosity and the less they are deflected by considerations of immediacy of application, the more likely they are to contribute not only to human welfare but to the equally important satisfaction of intellectual interest which may indeed be said to have become the ruling passion of intellectual life in modern times."
edit: it's interesting to look back at my school/college career and be able to pick out those educators who taught this above all else vs. those who taught 'by the book'. Each had their place in my education, but the former certainly had a more profound impact.
"Institutions of learning should be devoted to the cultivation of curiosity and the less they are deflected by considerations of immediacy of application, the more likely they are to contribute not only to human welfare but to the equally important satisfaction of intellectual interest which may indeed be said to have become the ruling passion of intellectual life in modern times."
edit: it's interesting to look back at my school/college career and be able to pick out those educators who taught this above all else vs. those who taught 'by the book'. Each had their place in my education, but the former certainly had a more profound impact.