“Children must be under authority, and are themselves aware that they must be, although they like to play a game of rebellion at times. The case of children is unique in the fact that those who have authority over them are sometimes fond of them. Where this is the case, the children do not resent the authority in general, even when they resist it on particular occasions. Education authorities, as opposed to teachers, have not this merit, and do in fact sacrifice the children to what they consider the good of the State by teaching them "patriotism," i. e., a willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.”

— Bertrand Russell

Source: 1920s, Sceptical Essays (1928), Ch. 13: Freedom in Society

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Bertrand Russell 562

logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and politi… 1872–1970

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Bertrand Russell 562

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