I believe that a child going without an education is a crime.

The words of Kamala Harris, “I believe that a child going without an education is a crime,” ring like the voice of a guardian speaking to the conscience of a nation. It is not merely a statement of policy; it is a moral declaration. Harris calls us to see ignorance not as misfortune, but as injustice — not as an accident of fate, but as a wound inflicted upon the innocent. For when a child is denied education, the future itself is robbed. Knowledge is the birthright of every human being, and to withhold it is to steal light from the eyes of tomorrow.

In the spirit of the ancients, we may say that education is the sacred fire Prometheus brought down from the heavens. It is the flame by which humanity rose from darkness into civilization. The crime that Harris speaks of is not written in law books, but in the suffering of societies that forget this truth. A nation that neglects the minds of its children builds its own ruin, for ignorance multiplies faster than any army and strikes deeper than any sword. Thus, her words are both warning and invocation — a call to remember that education is not a privilege, but a duty owed to every soul born into the world.

The origin of this quote lies in Harris’s long service as an advocate for children, families, and justice. As a prosecutor and later as a public leader, she saw firsthand how the lack of education chained the poor to cycles of crime and despair. She understood that when schools fail, prisons fill; when minds are neglected, societies fracture. Her words are born not from theory, but from experience — from witnessing the tragedy of potential wasted and dreams extinguished before they began. In this, she speaks with the authority of one who has walked among the consequences of neglect.

History, too, bears witness to her truth. Consider the story of Frederick Douglass, who as a slave was forbidden to learn to read. When he secretly grasped the meaning of letters, he discovered the power of freedom within them. “Once you learn to read,” he said, “you will be forever free.” It was education, not rebellion, that first broke his chains. And through his wisdom, countless others found liberation. Douglass’s life is a living testimony to Harris’s words: that to deny a child education is not only to imprison the body, but to enslave the mind.

The crime of ignorance, however, is often hidden behind indifference. It is not always deliberate cruelty, but neglect — the slow forgetting that every child is a seed of greatness. The ancients taught that justice means giving each their due. What, then, is more just than giving a child the tools to rise, to think, to become more than their circumstance? To educate is to awaken the divine image within man; to neglect is to let it fade. Education is the ladder that allows the human spirit to climb from dust toward the stars.

Harris’s quote also speaks to the shared responsibility of a people. No parent, no teacher, no government stands alone in this duty. It is the covenant of civilization itself — to pass on wisdom, to build bridges of understanding across generations. When one child goes without learning, the whole community is diminished, for the potential of that mind — its song, its invention, its compassion — is lost to all. Thus, every act that strengthens education strengthens humanity; every neglect of it weakens the fabric of the world.

Let this, then, be the lesson: that education is the greatest act of justice, and ignorance the subtlest form of violence. To live rightly, one must fight not only for food and shelter, but for knowledge — for it is knowledge that nourishes the soul and builds peace among men. Let every teacher be honored as a guardian of civilization, and every classroom be treated as sacred ground. For to teach a child is to protect the future itself, and to abandon that duty is, indeed, the gravest of crimes.

So remember Kamala Harris’s words, O children of the light: do not permit any child to walk in darkness. Wherever there is ignorance, bring learning; wherever there is despair, bring understanding. For when a nation ensures that every child learns, it commits not only to progress, but to justice — the highest form of love made manifest through knowledge.