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Compulsory education... It is a painful, continual, and difficult work; to be done by kindness, by watching, by warning, by precept, and by praise, — but above all — by example.
John Ruskin
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Compulsory education requires diligence and care, emphasizing the importance of leading by example.

In this quote, John Ruskin emphasizes that education is not merely a requirement but a challenging endeavor that demands compassion and active engagement from educators. He highlights the various methods, such as kindness and vigilance, that are essential in the process of teaching, ultimately asserting that the most powerful tool in educating others is to lead by example.

Themes

EducationExampleKindnessTeachingLearning

In practice

Example use cases

During a school assembly, a teacher could quote Ruskin to inspire fellow educators about their role.

More from John Ruskin

Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.
John RuskinRead
In health of mind and body, men should see with their own eyes, hear and speak without trumpets, walk on their feet, not on wheels, and work and war with their arms, not with engine-beams, nor rifles warranted to kill twenty men at a shot before you can see them.
John RuskinRead
You talk of the scythe of Time, and the tooth of Time: I tell you, Time is scytheless and toothless; it is we who gnaw like the worm - we who smite like the scythe. It is ourselves who abolish - ourselves who consume: we are the mildew, and the flame.
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To be able to ask a question clearly is two-thirds of the way to getting it answered.
John RuskinRead
See that your children be taught, not only the labors of the earth, but the loveliness of it.
John RuskinRead
A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.
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