Thoreau Case

Thoreau made some good points, but in a terribly rude, thickheaded, narcissistic manner.

I agree that by reading the classics in their birth language is important for us to understand History in its truest form and expand our horizons on the human race. Thoreau states; "Those who have not learned to read the ancient classics in the language which they were written must have an imperfect knowledge of history of the human race." That makes sense; going to the actual source of history, not just Wikipedia, in all of its glory will give us the clearest idea of history.

"Most men are satisfied if they read or hear read, and perchance have been convicted by the wisdom of one good book, the Bible, and for the rest of their lives vegetate and dissipate their faculties in what's called easy reading."O.k. Makes sense, even though I believe he is being a little dramatic. I agree though, we should always be expanding our minds, learning new things, and improving ourselves. No one can take away what we already know.

This is my favorite quote of Thoreau, and I fully disagree; "A man, any man, will go considerably out of his way to pick up a silver dollar; but here are the golden words."Can the "Golden Words" feed your family or provide shelter? I am the "common man", I need to work for a living, and I have a family and a home to look after. I wish I had the leisure to read a novel once in a while, but I have priorities that come first. This quote was made by a spoiled intellect. Thoreau was supported by his brother who put him through Harvard, than he spent the next five years in a sweet little cottage by the Lake working on Walden, only working 6 weeks a year. (Thoreau biography) What a nice life. How many people in that era and now have the luxuries of a rich family and time to do nothing but think about how dumb everyone else is?

"And yet we learn to read only as far as Easy Reading......and when we leave school..... Our reading, conversation and thinking are on a very low level, worthy of pygmies and manikins."I looked up Manikin and it is not nice, it's an offensive term for a short man, or a cadaver used for art or science. Either way that is quite a blow to the common population. During this time children could only go to school up to a point before they had to help around the house, family business, farm, etc. That was considered normal back then, but, once again Thoreau was more privileged than the average person then and now. It would be great if those children didn't have to work and could expand their education, but when life calls, you have to come running, not sit back and figure out Greek, Latin and the meaning of the universe.

There is one thing that really impressed me about Thoreau and made me almost like him. This was his dream of the expansion of education, trying to make it easier for the common man