It is all about production and being efficient, there is absolutely no "play" involved.
The first character that is introduced to the story is Mr. Gradgrind, who believes firmly in the idea of utilitarianism. Everything about Mr. Gradgrind exemplifies his convictions, even his name. Grad and grind both suggest that he is "grinding" the facts into these children's minds. The children are mere "vessels" for transporting information. The man has even got a square finger. "The speaker's square forefinger emphasized his observations by underscoring every sentence with a line on the schoolmaster's sleeve. Gradgrind is described as having a "square wall of a forehead", and as having a " mouth, which was wide, thin and hard set". He also has a " voice, which was inflexible, dry, and dictatorial", and "hair, which bristled of the skirts of his bald head, a plantation of firs to keep the wind from its shining surface. All covered with knobs, like the crust of a plum pie, as if the head had scarcely warehouse-room for the hard facts stored inside. His tie exemplifies the system of education he so firmly believes in; "his very neckcloth, trained to take him by the throat with an unaccommodating grasp, like a stubborn fact". Obviously every feature of this man's countenance has a purpose; even his hair is present on his head because it has the task of keeping the wind from its surface. Even the classroom is an embodiment of fact and described as follows; "The scene was a plain, bare, monotonous vault of a schoolroom". .
Mr. Gradgrind is so convinced of the necessity of fact that he has raised his children exactly according to that conviction. They are not allowed to "wonder" and anything remotely connected to human emotion is discouraged. He does not intend any harm for them though. These are his best intentions. Gradgrind himself is very consistent in his lack of feeling and fancy and is the absolute personification of utilitarianism.