Education needs to work by pull, not push.

The aphorism contrasts two models of learning: “push” education, driven by external compulsion (standardized curricula, coercive instruction, compliance), versus “pull” education, driven by learners’ intrinsic motivation and curiosity. To “work by pull” suggests designing environments that attract students toward knowledge—through relevance, choice, mentorship, and meaningful problems—so that effort arises from desire rather than pressure. The line also implies a critique of one-size-fits-all schooling: when education is pushed, it can produce resistance or superficial performance; when pulled, it can foster deeper engagement, self-direction, and durable understanding. In a broader sense, it frames education as cultivation rather than manufacture.