It's a failure of national vision when you regard children as weapons, and talents as materials you can mine, assay, and fabricate for profit and defense.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the misguided priorities of society that see children as tools for exploitation rather than nurturing their potential.
John Hersey's quote emphasizes the tragic failure of societal values when children are viewed merely as instruments for gain or instruments of power, rather than as individuals with unique potentials that need to be nurtured. By comparing children to weapons and talents to materials, it criticizes systems that prioritize profit and defense over the holistic development of future generations, urging a shift in perspective that recognizes the intrinsic worth of every child and their capabilities.
In practice
In a speech about educational reform, one might quote this to highlight the importance of prioritizing child development over profit.
Do not work primarily for money; do your duty to patients first and let the money follow; our life is short, we don't live twice; the whirlwind will pick up the leaves and spin them, but then it will drop them and they will form a pile.
To be a writer is to throw away a great deal, not to be satisfied, to type again, and then again and once more, and over and over.
The crux of the matter is whether total war in its present form is justifiable, even when it serves a just purpose. Does it not have material and spiritual evil as its consequences which far exceed whatever good might result? When will our moralists give us an answer to this question?
Journalism allows its readers to witness history; fiction gives its readers an opportunity to live it.
You don't teach information in a writing workshop.
After years of finding mathematics easy, I finally reached integral calculus and came up against a barrier. I realized that this was as far as I could go, and to this day I have never successfully gone beyond it in any but the most superficial way.
Good teaching must be slow enough so that it is not confusing, and fast enough so that it is not boring.
I was the youngest girl among my siblings, a simple village girl, who perhaps was luckier than other siblings as I have the chance to go to school.
Whoever touches the life of the child touches the most sensitive point of a whole which has roots in the most distant past and climbs toward the infinite future.
Privilege is not in and of itself bad; what matters is what we do with privilege. I want to live in a world where all women have access to education, and all women can earn PhDβs, if they so desire. Privilege does not have to be negative, but we have to share our resources and take direction about how to use our privilege in ways that empower those who lack it.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.