English Chapter 3 of Walden, Thoreau Essay Example

In this chapter of Walden, Thoreau mainly analyzes the different aspects and interpretations of education. He begins by explaining that writing is the most mature form of communication and the most elegant. He then criticizes people for not taking the initiative to read the classics, such as Plato and Homer, which are the, as he says, the noblest recorded thoughts of man (80).

When people get out of grade school, they do not exercise their minds, and instead let their mental capacities that theyve hone throughout their schooling. They read newspapers and other easy reading pieces that would satisfy the intellect of children and morons. Even the supposedly educated fall pretty to this problem and dont read enough classics to be truly enlightened. Thoreau notes that most of the supposed intellectuals in