Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“A man may know much about educating himself, and but little about the proper means for educating others.”
- Source
- Self-Made Men
- Date
- c. 1872
Meaning of “A man may know much about educating himself,…”
Douglass distinguishes learning independently from knowing how to teach someone else. He values self-education yet cautions that overcoming personal obstacles does not automatically make a person an expert in educational institutions or instruction.
Where does it come from?
Self-Made Men, in the section considering criticisms of successful self-educated people. This wording follows the Teaching American History transcript (1872 editorial date). Douglass delivered and revised the lecture over time; the precise wording is tied to this transcript and should not be silently projected onto every manuscript version.
