What Is Lao Tzu's Argument Against Traditional Education

This is not to say that Lao Tzu believes education is bad. What he does believe, however, is that learning in the typical Confucian style restricts man and causes him to work against the harmonious nature of earth. Chuang Tzu said, ‘A well-frog cannot imagine the ocean, nor can a summer insect conceive of ice. How then can a scholar understand the Tao? He is restricted by his own learning’ (Hoff 24). This idea is key. According to Taoism, traditional education constrains man’s thinking by dividing the world into individual ideas and concepts. In doing so, scholars ignore the fact that the world is one entity in which everything and everyone is connected. And like a string of Christmas lights, if one bulb is removed, the rest stop working. When