Over the course of our lives we advance and improve, but a change made during youth is easier and more impactful than one made at a more advanced age. A small sapling that begins to grow crooked can be strengthened with a little effort, but a tree that has grown crookedly and is now mature and old is very hard to straighten.

“[Hillel said:] If not now, when?” (Avot 1:14) Included in this statement is: If not now during youth, then when? If he leaves it until old age, he will not be able to do it. This is what King David said: “…so that our sons will be like saplings tended in their youth” (Psalms 144:12). When a sapling is still small, a person can cultivate it so it grows into a straight tree and does not become crooked. But once it has grown crooked, it is difficult to fix. Similarly, when a person is still a youth it is easy for him to grow on a good path and to avoid evil. But if one grew old in his wickedness, it will be difficult for him to change. (Rabbeinu Yona Gerondi, Commentary on Pirkei Avot 1:14)

Further reading: For more on the importance of early education, see p. 15.

Education involves more than habituation, for an act done only out of habit is flawed. The Hebrew word for education, ĥinukh, means a new beginning, and in this sense means getting into the habit of personal renewal. If a person gets into the habit of renewing himself every day, he will continue to do so even in old age.

The mitzva of education is to become accustomed to doing mitzvot and learning Torah. Ostensibly, however, when a person becomes accustomed, his performance becomes “a commandment of men learned by rote” (Isaiah 29:13). As the mitzva of education necessarily involves habituation, he should be constantly advancing, viewing every day as new. This is [the meaning of the verse]: “Train the lad in accordance with his way; even when he grows old, he will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6). That is, he will not turn away from his training, for every day will be as a new beginning for him. (Rabbi Shmuel Bornsztain, Shem MiShmuel, Miketz 5672)

Though it is possible for an educator to set a variety of different goals, King Solomon teaches us to focus on one main one. When he said that education must bring a youth to a state where he will retain his education even in old age (see Proverbs 22:6), he seems to define education as “revealing the soul of the student.” When the student’s soul is revealed, he himself will want the Torah and its mitzvot. In order to reveal the soul, the educator must penetrate into the child’s own world with the knowledge that each person has a different inner makeup and different abilities – and he must work with those.

The goal of education is to reveal the soul of the student:

Since, even in his youth, a spirit from the Lord, a divine soul, is implanted and hidden within him, we must raise and educate him to bring it out, reveal it, and cause it to blossom, so he becomes a trustworthy Jew, a servant of God. He will want Torah from his inner being, and he will not veer from that path even when he grows old. But one who commands a youth, or even habituates him, cannot be sure that the child or student will continue to do what he was commanded when he grows up and is independent. Concerning this, Solomon commanded, “Educate the lad….” Educate him, penetrate his inner world and the Jewish holiness that is hidden within; reveal it, and only then “even when he grows old, he will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

The educator must “descend” to the student’s level:

But the educator who wants to reveal the soul of the student that is buried and hidden within, to cultivate it and fan its flames so it burns with a lofty and holy flame so the student’s complete being, even his physical powers, will grow in holiness and he will long for God’s Torah, must bend himself down to the student he is educating. He must penetrate the student’s childishness and lowliness, until he reaches the spark of his hidden – or even lost – soul and reveal it, cultivate it, and raise it.

Each individual student’s education must be based on the student’s own nature and personality:

Since this is so, education should not be identical for every youth. It is instead dependent on each youth according to his nature, mindset, and personality. And it is the educator’s responsibility to get to know the student. The educator cannot suffice with knowing only his own mind and personality, for education is dependent on the one being educated. It is not only his own mind and abilities that the educator must activate and use in order to command and instruct. He must also grasp, activate, and use the student’s mind and abilities. That which he commands and instructs one student should not be the same for another who is different from him in nature, will, and character traits. King Solomon has alluded this to us: “Educate the lad in accordance with his way” (Proverbs 22:6): each individual’s own way.

The focus of education should not be on pedagogy, but on revealing the student’s soul:

Our intent here is not to instruct in the art of pedagogy, how to work with the student’s mind and abilities in order to increase his understanding of the straightforward meaning of the Torah. We are not now seeking the mind of the student, but rather, we seek the entire student: the soul, spirit, and neshama of the Jewish child. (Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, Ĥovat HaTalmidim, Introduction)