A child who is protected from all controversial ideas is as vulnerable as a child who is protected from every germ. The infection, when it comes- and it will come- may overwhelm the system, be it the immune system or the belief system.
Interpretation
Children need exposure to diverse ideas to develop resilience and critical thinking.
This quote emphasizes the importance of exposing children to a variety of controversial ideas, suggesting that just as being shielded from germs can weaken their immune systems, shielding them from differing viewpoints can weaken their belief systems. The message is clear: encountering challenges and differing opinions strengthens a child's ability to think critically and adapt to the complexities of the world.
In practice
In a parenting workshop, a speaker could use this quote to advocate for open discussions about controversial topics with children.
I say, when your hair turns gray and your children think they know who you are, do the thing that shakes up who you think you are, even who you had prided yourself on being. When all those around you say they simply don't recognize you any longer, that's the real compliment.
When a novel has 200,000 words, then it is possible for the reader to experience 200,000 delights, and to turn back to the first page of the book and experience them all over again, perhaps more intensely.
Not every novel that wants to be a tragedy gets to be one.
When I went to first grade and the other children said that their fathers were farmers, I simply didn't believe them. I agreed in order to be polite, but in my heart I knew that those men were impostors, as farmers and as fathers, too. In my youthful estimation, Laurence Cook defined both categories. To really believe that others even existed in either category was to break the First Commandment.
I was depressed, but that was a side issue. This was more like closing up shop, or, say, having a big garage sale, where you look at everything you've bought in your life, and you remember how much it meant to you, and now you just tag it for a quarter and watch 'em carry it off, and you don't care. That's more like how it was.
Somehow, knowing that Alzheimer's is coming mocks all one's aspirations - to tell stories, to think through certain issues as only a novel can do, to be recognised for one's accomplishments and hard work - in a way that old familiar death does not.
I Used the Word 'Negro' and I was Firmly Corrected
It isnβt what the book costs. Itβs what it will cost you if you donβt read it.
What a blessing it is to love books as I love them;- to be able to converse with the dead, and to live amidst the unreal!
Boys do not evaluate a book. They divide books into categories. There are sexy books, war books, westerns, travel books, science fiction. A boy will accept anything from a section he knows rather than risk another sort. He has to have the label on the bottle to know it is the mixture as before.
We in the media have been guilty about not doing a better job of making people understand how really simple cooking is. We've made everyone feel like they have to be a chef.
Many people are in the dark when it comes to money, and I'm going to turn on the lights.
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