Like its politicians and its war, society has the teenagers it deserves.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Society's treatment of teenagers reflects the values and failures of its political and social structures.
- In plain terms
- The way society treats young people mirrors the quality of its leaders and conflicts.
- What can you take from it?
- Critique of society through the lens of youth outcomes.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How does your community treat its youth?
- What does this say about current leadership?
Another view
It assumes all teenagers are shaped equally by society without accounting for individual agency.
More from Joseph Priestley
It is no use speaking in soft, gentle tones if everyone else is shouting.
Permalink to quote #6 Living in an age of advertisement, we are perpetually disillusioned. The perfect life is spread before us every day, but it changes and withers at a touch.
Permalink to quote #8 I never read the life of any important person without discovering that he knew more and could do more than I could ever hope to know or do in half a dozen life…
Permalink to quote #5
Related quotes
As Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Oregon National Guard - with more than 1300 Guard troops and many other Oregon soldiers deployed overseas - it is my …
Ted KulongoskiTed Kulongoski quote #2 Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die. And it is youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow and the triumphs that are the afte…
Herbert HooverHerbert Hoover quote #8 The pinning on of stars reaches its full cynical significance when sanctified valour and bereaved families are used to lend dignity to wars stupidly fought. Th…
John Ralston SaulJohn Ralston Saul quote #11