Saint Augustine’s Confessions book 1 sections 16 and and 17


In section 16 Augustine thanks God for rescuing him from his wicked ways and also brining him joy. He also thanks God for letting him learn how to read and write. He admits that he should have put his learnings of reading and writing to better use. In section 17 Augustine talks about how schoolchildren are taught about Roman gods to help them learn language. He believes that some of those gods set bad examples of behavior. Augustine says “don’t blame the words, blame the system that praises the kids who can commit this stuff to memory.”

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