Thoughts on Education

Abstract

In the East, a king once wanted to please his subjects. Since they did not know what a clock was, he brought back a sundial from one of his trips. His gift changed the lives of the people in the kingdom. They began to differentiate parts of the day and to divide up their time. Becoming more prompt, orderly, reliable, and industrious, they produced great wealth and a high standard of living. When the king died, his subjects wondered how they could pay tribute to his achievements. Because the sundial symbolized the king’s generosity and was the cause for their success, they decided to build around it a splendid temple with a golden cupola. But, when the temple was finished and the cupola soared above the sundial, the rays of the sun no longer reached the dial. The shadow, which had told the time for the citizens had disappeared; the common point of orientation, the sundial, was covered. The one citizen was no longer punctual, the other no longer reliable, the third no longer industrious. Each went his own way. The kingdom collapsed.