The Filling of the Pail

W.B. Yeats has said "Education is not the filling of a pail, it is the lighting of a fire."

Yeats' ideal of education sounds smart and inspirational, like something you'd find on tumblr. But when you think about it, the pail needs to be filled before you can burn it to the ground.

If a student doesn't have a broad and strong foundation - general history, math, exposition to literature, writing, etc. - what are they to draw from when they want to delve deeper into certain areas? How would they even know what they were interested in? There must be something to burn, and Yeats' idea doesn't provide for that. He posits that education should provide inspiration, and should not just stuff kids with useless information. However, without some information that might be useless in the "real" world, people would not find anything to be curious about. There must be some base which people can build up from, and that base may be otherwise useless information.

The curiosity and inspiration that Yeats is talking about is the curiosity and inspiration to learn more and more, and to better oneself with knowledge. Children should be exposed to as many different things as possible, so that they may pick and choose from that reservoir what they want to make up their personalities. Once they have been exposed, when they have reached an age in which they are able to think for themselves and choose their path in life, they will have a place to start.