Education is not about thinning the herd. Education is about

When Andrew Ng, the scientist, teacher, and pioneer of artificial intelligence, said, “Education is not about thinning the herd. Education is about helping every student succeed,” he spoke as one who has seen both the light and the shadow of modern learning. His words strike at the very heart of what it means to teach — and to be human. Too long has education been treated as a race, a narrow gate through which only the few may pass. But Ng’s declaration reminds us that true education is not a contest of elimination, but a covenant of enlightenment. The purpose of teaching is not to weed out the weak, but to raise up the willing, to nurture potential wherever it blooms.

The origin of this quote lies in Ng’s deep experience as both an educator and innovator. As a professor at Stanford and co-founder of Coursera, he opened the doors of learning to millions around the world, many of whom had been told they were unworthy of success. He saw firsthand how traditional systems often prided themselves on selectivity — on how few could survive the challenge — rather than on how many could truly learn and grow. To him, this was not progress but pride. Ng understood that in an age where knowledge can travel the globe in an instant, the duty of the teacher has evolved. It is no longer to guard knowledge like treasure, but to share it like light, until every mind that seeks it may be illuminated.

When Ng says education should not be about “thinning the herd,” he speaks against the ancient illusion that excellence is born from exclusion. In too many schools and universities, failure is treated not as a step toward growth but as a judgment of worth. The slow learner is dismissed; the struggling student is forgotten. But Ng’s wisdom echoes the insight of the ancients — that the true teacher, like a gardener, does not abandon a seed because it grows slowly. He waters it, tends it, and trusts the season. Education, he reminds us, must be measured not by how many are cast aside, but by how many are uplifted.

History offers its testimony to this truth. Consider the story of Maria Montessori, who, in an era when children with learning challenges were discarded by the system, believed that every mind had its own rhythm of discovery. She created methods that honored curiosity over conformity, and her students — once deemed hopeless — began to thrive. Her revolution in teaching did not come from punishing weakness, but from believing in potential. Like Ng, she proved that when education becomes inclusive, society itself becomes wiser, kinder, and more powerful.

Ng’s words also hold a mirror to the spirit of our times. In a world obsessed with rankings and competition, the notion of success has grown narrow and cold. Students are taught to compare, not to understand; to survive, not to explore. Yet in doing so, we lose something sacred — the joy of learning itself. Ng’s philosophy calls us back to the ancient understanding that knowledge is not a privilege, but a shared inheritance. Every human being, no matter how humble their beginnings, carries within them the spark of intelligence, waiting only for the right teacher, the right moment, to ignite it.

There is also a profound moral dimension to Ng’s quote. To educate is to care — to see the divine possibility in another person and to labor for its unfolding. The teacher who delights in failure has forgotten their purpose; the system that celebrates exclusion has lost its soul. To teach is an act of hope, a rebellion against despair. It says to every student: You are capable of growth. It believes that even the most fragile mind, when met with patience and faith, can bloom into brilliance.

The lesson of Ng’s words is both simple and sacred: never measure education by scarcity, but by transformation. The purpose of teaching is not to test the endurance of the few, but to awaken the greatness of the many. Let the teacher be a guide, not a gatekeeper; a light, not a wall. Let the classroom become a place of belonging where curiosity is not punished, and where mistakes are not marks of failure, but steps toward wisdom. For in truth, every learner is a vessel of potential, and every act of teaching is a seed of eternity.

So let these words be carried forward as a vow for all who teach and all who learn: Education is the art of unlocking, not excluding. The teacher’s task is not to thin the herd, but to reveal the strength within it — to see in each mind a possibility worth nurturing. For when even one student rises from ignorance to understanding, from doubt to confidence, the whole world rises with them. And in that rising, we fulfill the truest purpose of knowledge — not to divide, but to enlighten all of humankind.