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.
Compulsory education... It is a painful, continual, and difficult work; to be done by kindness, by watching, by warning, by precept, and by praise, β but above all β by example.
It's the way I study - to understand something by trying to work it out or, in other words, to understand something by creating it. Not creating it one hundred percent, of course; but taking a hint as to which direction to go but not remembering the details. These you work out for yourself.
In our country today, very few children are raised to believe that their principal destiny is to serve their family, their country, or God.
I much prefer working with kids whose life could be completely upended by a reading of a book over a weekend. You give them a book to read - they go home and come back a changed person. And that is so much more interesting and exciting.
If you wish to learn swimming you have to go into the water and if you wish to become a problem solver you have to solve problems.
My happiest hours are spent in school, surrounded by those I hope to benefit.
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