Whatever may be the merits of a religious system, its effects upon the mass of mankind must depend in an important degree upon its teachers. All instruction and all truth, except simple mathematical truth, is modified by the medium through which it is conveyed.
Interpretation
The effectiveness of any religious teaching is largely influenced by the teachers themselves.
This quote emphasizes that while a religious system may have inherent value, its true impact on people largely depends on the quality and approach of its teachers. It suggests that the communication of ideas, whether religious or otherwise, is shaped by the individual's ability to convey those truths and that all forms of instruction come with an inherent bias from the teacher's perspective.
In practice
During a seminar on religious education, one could quote this to emphasize the role of teachers.
No government can be strong and flourishing while the national character is weak and degraded. A government must flourish and decay with its subjects; and, when a prince makes a law or performs an action which has a tendency to injure the character or prosperity of the nation, he injures himself.
There are many causes why a people politically ignorant cannot be roused to action. Perfect political ignorance must be accompanied by indifference to the general interests of society, and thus one of the most powerful motives which can act on the human mind is totally destroyed.
I believe a kid who is playing is not alone. There is something brought alive during play, and this something, when played with, seems to play back.
A quality education grants us the ability to fight the war on ignorance and poverty.
Knowledge without understanding is useless.
The new American dream is one of responsibility. What is the bottom-line number that you're going to be able to pay back toward a student loan responsibly if you're doing it yourself after you have a job? That dictates the amount of money you can borrow. That dictates the school you can go to, if you can even go to a four-year college at all.
My modus operandi hasn't really changed that much from when I was an English teacher. I wanted my students to leave my classroom loving reading and wanting to read more, and if they left my classroom thinking that reading is boring, then I haven't done my job.
Education is a beautiful, liberating thing, but I think that tying in education and status, and the need to do well at every cost, is toxic.
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