I had used my sense of humor; I had called it proportion, perspective. But perspective is distance.
BEL KAUFMAN“Language Arts Dept.” is the English office; “literature based on child’s reading level and experiential background” means that’s all they’ve got in the Book Room; “non-academic-minded” is a delinquent; and “It has come to my attention” means you’re in trouble.
More Bel Kaufman Quotes
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The clerical work is par for the course. “Keep on file in numerical order” means throw in wastebasket. You’ll soon learn the language.
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The preciousness of every moment is emphasized with every tick of the clock. Isn’t it a magnificent day today?
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“Language Arts Dept.” is the English office; “literature based on child’s reading level and experiential background” means that’s all they’ve got in the Book Room; “non-academic-minded” is a delinquent; and “It has come to my attention” means you’re in trouble.
BEL KAUFMAN -
To the young, cliches seem freshly minted.
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“Let it be a challenge to you” means you’re stuck with it; “interpersonal relationships” is a fight between kids; “ancillary civic agencies for supportive discipline” means call the cops.
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Best marks go to cheaters and memorizers. Marks depend on memorizing and not on real knowledge. When you cram into your head for a test you may get a high mark but forget it the next day. That’s not an education.
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To the outside world, of course, this job is a cinch: 9 to 3, five days a week, two months’ summer vacation with pay, all legal holidays, prestige and respect.
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The heart has its reasons; it’s the mind that’s suspect.
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I feel no different than I felt at 99, 98 or 97. Just because you live a long time, you get all this attention. Just because you survived? Of course, I survived a lot.
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People ate bread made of the shells of peas because there was no flour.
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One of my students had written wistfully of a dream-school that would have “windows with trees in them.
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When giving comes directly from the heart, it can never disappoint or embarrass.
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Children are the true connoisseurs. What’s precious to them has no price, only value.
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You can’t laugh and be angry, you can’t laugh and feel sad, you can’t laugh and feel envious.
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If a teacher wants to know something why doesn’t she look it up herself instead of making we students do it? We benefit ourselves more by listening to her, after all she’s the teacher!
BEL KAUFMAN