How does Einstein view fairy tales and education?
“How much more valuable a personal responsibility-focused education is than one that emphasizes drill, outside authority, or ambition.”
Albert Einstein, hailed as “the ultimate contemporary genius,” is credited with a wide range of accomplishments, including scientific breakthroughs that changed the course of history as well as profound insights on topics like kindness, creativity, war, and the key to learning anything.
A sentiment of remarkable insight but dubious attribution is also included among them: Einstein is quoted as having said the following in Christopher Frayling’s 2005 book Mad, Bad, and Dangerous?: The Scientist and the Cinema.
Read fairy tales to your kids if you want them to be smart. Read them more fairy tales if you want them to be incredibly intelligent. This is how Einstein view fairy tales and education?
I was naturally delighted to hear these words as I am a huge fan of fairy tales and a firm believer in Tolkien’s claim that they are not intended “for children,” but I was also irritated by the broken chain of correct attribution. After careful searching through several archives, I discovered the earliest mention of this in a volume that is no longer in print and was released by the Montana State Library during Book Week in November 1958. The entry, which is at best a second-hand story, says:
Elizabeth Margulis relates the tale of a woman who was a close friend of the late Dr. Albert Einstein in the most recent issue of the New Mexico Library Bulletin. She wanted her kid to be a scientist, partly because of her adoration for him. She once enquired with Dr. Einstein what kind of reading would best prepare the child for this line of work. She was shocked to hear the scientist advise, “Fairy stories and more fairy tales.” The mother objected, saying she was very serious about this and wanted a serious response, but Dr. Einstein persisted, pointing out that fairy tales serve as young children’s sources of inspiration for this quality and that creative imagination is a crucial component of the mental tools of a true scientist.
Once upon a time the famous physicist Albert Einstein was confronted by an overly concerned woman who sought advice on how to raise her small son to become a successful scientist. In particular she wanted to know what kinds of books she should read to her son.
“Fairy Tales,” Einstein responded without hesitation.
“Fine, but what else should I read to him after that?” the mother asked.
“More fairy tales,” Einstein stated.
“And after that?”
“Even more fairy tales,” replied the great scientist, and he waved his pipe like a wizard pronouncing a happy end to a long adventure.
While we might never know the full, accurate details for Einstein’s fairy-tale adage, embedded in it is something the celebrated physicist felt very strongly about: the importance of the liberal arts and humanities in education. The preface to Dear Professor Einstein: Albert Einstein’s Letters to and from Children — the same impossibly endearing volume that gave us his encouraging advice to a little girl who wanted to be a scientist and his answer to a child who asked whether scientists pray — features the following autobiographical reflection by Einstein:
This school left an indelible impression on me with its liberal atmosphere and professors’ plain earnestness and lack of reliance on outside authorities. I became acutely aware of how much better an education that emphasizes individual effort and personal responsibility is than one that depends on drill, external authority, and ambition while comparing it to six years of study at an authoritarian German Gymnasium.
