“

The trouble in school is that you can do so little to help kids because you come up against this dead end of the educational system. I think a comprehensive system is the only answer for these kids, if it is carried through properly. But education reflects the system, rather than changes it. People say it’s an instrument of social change; well, if it is, it’s a bloody slow one. I think education reflects the class system, and the system has to change before education can.

— Barry Hines

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The trouble in school is that you can do so little to help kids because you come up against this dead end of the educational system. I think a comprehensive system is the only answer for these kids, if it is carried through properly. But education reflects the system, rather than changes it. People say it’s an instrument of social change; well, if it is, it’s a bloody slow one. I think education reflects the class system, and the system has to change before education can." in the context of "" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

About Barry Hines

Melvin Barry Hines FRSL (30 June 1939 – 18 March 2016) was an English writer known for the novel A Kestrel for a Knave (which was adapted for the cinema as Kes) and scripts for television such as Threads.