Jacques Barzun

The recurrent hardening of the arteries and this periodic denunciation of it explain why, for instance, learning poetry by heart is suddenly deemed wicked; why lecture courses become an abomination; why diagramming sentences is assailed as a violation of natural rights. Someone discovers, quite simply, that the point of doing these things has been lost. Originally they were sensible devices; now they are administered in a dull mechanical way, because the teacher has lost the sense of their novelty and difficulty. Few things retain their significance when they are done without difficulty or at least a dash of inexperience.