Quotessence
Home / Books / Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Book by Robert M. Pirsig · 4 quotes · Philosophy, Zen, Mountains

Filter quotes by topic

AllPhilosophyZenMountainsMontanaMotorcyclesThinkingLogicMechanicsMotorcycle MaintenanceEducationInspirationalArtAwarenessConsciousnessIfsLanguageLearningMindfulnessQualityReflection

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values Quotes

“As a result of his experiments he concluded that imitation was a real evil that had to be broken before real rhetoric teaching could begin. This imitation seemed to be an external compulsion. Little children didn’t have it. It seemed to come later on, possibly as a result of school itself. That sounded right, and the more he thought about it the more right it sounded. Schools teach you to imitate. If you don’t imitate what the teacher wants you get a bad grade. Here, in college, it was more sophisticated, of course; you were supposed to imitate the teacher in such a way as to convince the teacher you were not imitating, but taking the essence of the instruction and going ahead with it on your own. That got you A’s. Originality on the other hand could get you anything – from A to F. The whole grading system cautioned against it.”

SchoolEducationLearningGradesRhetoricImitation
Book:Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Create image

“Grades really cover up failure to teach. A bad instructor can go through an entire quarter leaving absolutely nothing memorable in the minds of his class, curve out the scores on an irrelevant test, and leave the impression that some have learned and some have not. But if the grades are removed the class is forced to wonder each day what it’s really learning. The questions, What’s being taught? What’s the goal? How do the lectures and assignments accomplish the goal? become ominous. The removal of grades exposes a huge and frightening vacuum.”

EducationLearningTeachingGradesPublic SchoolSchool SystemGrading Systems
Book:Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Create image

“One student laid it wide open when she said with complete candor, “Of course you can’t eliminate the degree and grading system. After all, that’s what we’re here for.” She spoke the complete truth. The idea that the majority of students attend a university for an education independent of the degree and grades is a little hypocrisy everyone is happier not to expose.”

EducationGrading
Book:Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Create image

“The student’s biggest problem was a slave mentality which had been built into him by years of carrot-and- whip grading, a mule mentality which said, "If you don’t whip me, I won’t work." He didn’t get whipped. He didn’t work. And the cart of civilization, which he supposedly was being trained to pull, was just going to have to creak along a little slower without him. This is a tragedy, however, only if you presume that the cart of civilization, "the system," is pulled by mules. This is a common, vocational, "location" point of view, but it’s not the Church attitude. The Church attitude is that civilization, or "the system" or "society" or whatever you want to call it, is best served not by mules but by free men. The purpose of abolishing grades and degrees is not to punish mules or to get rid of them but to provide an environment in which that mule can turn into a free man.”

EducationStudentsFree WillMentalityStatus QuoSchoolingFree Man
Book:Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Create image