It's not by Socrates.
If you look in Google Books ( http://books.google.co.uk/books?client=firefox-a&lr=&as_brr=0&q=education+%22kindling+of+a+flame%22+vessel&btnG=Search+Books&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=1900&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=2000 ) you find there are absolutely no citations before about 1997, and none of those few citations are credible sources about Greek literature. It looks like a variant on an older saying:
"The understanding is not a vessel which must be filled, but firewood, which needs to be kindled; and love of learning and love of truth are what should kindle it."
This first turns up in American educational books in the early 1860s attributed to Plutarch http://books.google.co.uk/books?q=%22learning%20and%20love%20of%20truth%20are%20what%20should%20kindle%22&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB
fficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wp but guess what? - t's nowhere in Plutarch.
In short, fake classical attribution to add weight to recently-coined sayings.
If you look in Google Books ( http://books.google.co.uk/books?client=firefox-a&lr=&as_brr=0&q=education+%22kindling+of+a+flame%22+vessel&btnG=Search+Books&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=1900&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=2000 ) you find there are absolutely no citations before about 1997, and none of those few citations are credible sources about Greek literature. It looks like a variant on an older saying:
"The understanding is not a vessel which must be filled, but firewood, which needs to be kindled; and love of learning and love of truth are what should kindle it."
This first turns up in American educational books in the early 1860s attributed to Plutarch http://books.google.co.uk/books?q=%22learning%20and%20love%20of%20truth%20are%20what%20should%20kindle%22&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB
fficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wp but guess what? - t's nowhere in Plutarch.In short, fake classical attribution to add weight to recently-coined sayings.