School

Posted byRandall 230 Comments on School

Just a note: thank you to everyone who made it to the events. We raised enough money to build a school!  It’ll be in the Salavan Province, on Road No. 13 South.  We’re not going to torment the kids’ ability to learn phonetics by calling it The XKCD School, but we will be writing a dedication which will go on a plaque.  You guys made this happen — does anyone have any suggestions for what it should say?

Also, I’m currently happily hiding out for a while working on drawing and other projects, but I’ll hopefully be doing some less fundraise-y free signing events around Boston in the next month or two.  I’ll let you know once we have any places or dates!

230 replies on “School”

  5. Congratulations! What a great thing to do.

    I also like Schwal’s suggestion.

    How old are the students at the school going to be? If they’re old enough, the plaque could (also?) contain a coded message that some curious student would be very proud to decipher some day.

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  6. I’m think maybe something from Pink Floyd.

    Or perhaps one of these:

    “Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.”
    — Plato

    “I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand.”
    — Chinese Proverb

    “Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.”
    — W. B. Yeats

    “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”
    — Albert Einstein

    “Only the educated are free.” — Epictetus

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  7. A lesser known Mark Twain quote:

    “First, God created idiots. That was just for practice. Then He created school boards.”

    And I’ve always liked this Aristotle quote:

    “All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.”

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  8. “No creationism allowed within a 3km radius of this school.”
    It’s necessary, Mr. Munroe. It really is.

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  12. I like “Only the educated are free” and “Reason over authority”. I don’t think it’s a good idea to put a quote that bashes education. Many of those children can’t attend school, a plaque that says “Ehy, education is stupid” has its meaning in western countries, but it could not be the best thing there.

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  15. RS is right that the plaque shouldn’t bash education.

    I also like Nat’s idea of a coded message that encourages the students’ curiosity.
    That’s the kind of thing I’d expect when xkcd builds a school!

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  17. I suggest “No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.” – Richard P. Feynman.
    Maybe also the Schröedinger equation…

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  18. I agree with RS. While Schwal’s quotation is very nice and can be understood by those for whom education is taken for granted, for these kids it will be a true privilege. It would be inappropriate.

    I also agree that a coded message would be excellent. xkcd should leave its mark on it in some small but meaningful way. By no means should be all over the place, but in one small, unobtrusive place, certainly.

    I quite like “only when the last tree has been cut down, and the last fish has been caught, and the last river has been poisoned, will we realise we cannot eat money”. Apparently by a Cree indian.

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  20. Wow. Just wow. Congratulations!

    I hope you will come up with an xkcd-style plaque with a puzzle built in. It would be a waste not to embed a riddle in the shcool plaque for hundreds of students to see.

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  22. “The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.”
    Herbert Spencer (1820 – 1903)

    I think it’s quite fitting for the situation, we don’t want to build a school in order to fill their heads with random facts, we want to educate to help these people improve their standard of living.

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  23. “Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one” – Malcolm Forbes.

    We had that up in our English classroom and I always liked it.

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  26. “Things growing are not ripe until their season;
    So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason.”

    Shakespeare

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  28. Being that it comes from XKCD, I’d like: “The infinite possibilities each day holds should stagger the mind.”

    By the time they learn it in context, they’re ready.

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  30. All your school are belong to us?
    I can haz edumacation?
    As for the hidden message, what about something regarding raptor/bird of prey and raptor/velociraptor, say, starting like this: “Like a raptor swooping down on it’s prey…”

    Elizabeth’s is also an excellent choice.

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  32. “There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere.”

    Isaac Asimov

    “Science and art belong to the whole world, and before them vanish the barriers of nationality.”

    Goethe

    “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”

    Epictetus

    “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

    Nelson Mandela

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  34. “A true gentleman leaves no puzzle unsolved” – Prof. Hershel Layton

    Also, did a quick google search on “awesome science quotes”

    Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science. ~Edwin Powell Hubble, The Nature of Science, 1954

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  36. I like electricbuddha’s Mandela quote (“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

    Nelson Mandela)

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  37. “Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army. ”
    – Edward Everett

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  39. Maybe somethin Carl Saganly

    “I don’t know what you’re doing here but I wish I was with you”

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  40. I particularly liked some of Dennis’s:
    “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”
    – Albert Einstein
    “Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.”
    – W. B. Yeats

    and this one from Alexis:
    “All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.”
    – Aristotle

    As for the coded message, that should definitely be placed somewhere, but not on the plaque.

    I also really liked this one:
    “The infinite possibilities each day holds should stagger the mind.”
    – xkcd

    electricbuddha also had some good one:
    “Science and art belong to the whole world, and before them vanish the barriers of nationality.”
    – Goethe
    “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”
    – Epictetus
    “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
    – Nelson Mandela

    It would be funnyif the coded message was hidden somewhere in plain sight, by appearing as a decoration when it actually held this message:
    “We did not invent the algorithm. The algorithm consistently finds Jesus. The algorithm killed Jeeves.
    The algorithm is banned in China. The algorithm is from Jersey. The algorithm constantly finds Jesus.
    This is not the algorithm. This is close.”

    And a few no-one has mentioned yet:
    “I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” – Albert Einstein
    “I need you to be clever, Bean. I need you to think of solutions to problems we haven’t seen yet. I want you to try things that no one has ever tried because they’re absolutely stupid.” – Ender Wiggin, Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
    “Sickness and healing are in every heart. Death and deliverance are in every hand.” – Andrew Wiggin, Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card
    “Ignorance and deception can’t save anybody. Knowing saves them.” – Andrew Wiggin, Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card

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  41. You should have several plaques around the school, each one being part of a larger puzzle.

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  42. ?Science and art belong to the whole world, and before them vanish the barriers of nationality.?

    Goethe

    ^ Endorse this one. Especially since you’re going international to do this.

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  43. How about:

    “Underground Lair Access Panel 3”

    It’ll keep them wondering for years where the other 2 are, and how to use it.

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  44. “The world is a thing of utter inordinate complexity and richness and strangeness that is absolutely awesome.”

    “Let’s think the unthinkable, let’s do the undoable, let’s prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.”
    Douglas Adams

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  49. With life comes math,
    With school comes language,
    with language comes sarcasm,
    with time comes romance,
    with all of the above comes raptors.
    Oh, and xkcd.”

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  50. They should call it the ‘munroe institute’
    or something inspired by one of your comics.

    But i think you’ll have a new market to buy your xkcd college style shirt- it could be their official schools shirt

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