“He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.
A learned man is an idler who kills time with study.
Beware of his false knowledge: it is more dangerous than ignorance.
Activity is the only road to knowledge.”
Excerpts from The Revolutionists Handbook and Pocket Companion
by John Tanner, M.I.R.C.
Man and Superman and Three Other Plays, George Bernard Shaw, Barnes and Noble Classics, 2004
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I’d like to think that some learned individuals can be both doers and teachers. But I’ve been in seminars with supposed “learned men” and been horribly disappointed. Thanks for sharing this thought-provoker.
Carole, you made me laugh with your comment about “learned men”. I think there is only so much we can learn from books, or from the internet. Learning needs to be put in context – someone who reads and doesn’t step outside and “do” could go severely off-track! Come to think of it, that’s the challenge faced in education when bookwork is separated from real work.
This quote makes me think of some of the professors I had in college … you could always tell if someone had spent their entire life in academia, versus the ones who had actually worked in the real world and knew what students would really need to know. I like to think that those who have been active can make great teachers, like Carole said. But I agree that learning only from books rather than experience is not enough.