Better guide the young than reclaim them when old For the voice of true wisdom is calling "To rescue the fallen is good, but tis best To prevent other people from falling" Better close up the source of temptation and crime Than deliver from dungeon or gallery Better put a strong fence round the top of the cliff Than an ambulance down in the valley.
Interpretation
It's better to prevent problems than to deal with their consequences later.
This quote emphasizes the importance of proactive measures in education and social responsibility. Rather than focusing solely on rescuing those who have fallen into trouble, we should prioritize preventative strategies that keep individuals from facing those challenges in the first place, thus creating a safer and healthier society.
In practice
During a seminar on youth development, one could use this quote to stress the importance of early intervention programs.
Years should not be devoted to the acquisition of dead languages or to the study of history which, for the most part, is a detailed account of things that never occurred. It is useless to fill the individual with dates of great battles, with the births and deaths of kings. They should be taught the philosophy of history, the growth of nations, of philosophies, theories, and, above all, of the sciences.
Public libraries are the sole community centers left in America. The degree to which a branch of the local library is connected to the larger culture is a reflection of the degree to which the community itself is connected to the larger culture.
Cramming seeks to stamp things in by intense application immediately before the ordeal. But a thing thus learned can form but few associations.
But with the library, it's like catnip, I suppose: you begin to run in circles because there's so much to look at and read.
Students deserve great teachers. And teachers deserve the support they need to become great.
My generation's parents told their children, "Become an accountant, a lawyer, or an engineer; that will give you a solid foothold in the middle class." But these jobs are now being sent overseas. So in order to make it today, you have to do work that's hard to outsource, hard to automate.
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