To the young, cliches seem freshly minted.
BEL KAUFMANI’ll never retire as long as I live—that’s like retiring from life! I’ll never stop writing, teaching, lecturing. If you’re in good health, living is exciting on its own.
More Bel Kaufman Quotes
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And that’s it; that’s why I want to teach; that’s the one and only compensation: to make a permanent difference in the life of a child.
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I suggest just Good and Bad at the end of the term on report cards. Or maybe nothing. Frank Allen
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Children are the true connoisseurs. What’s precious to them has no price, only value.
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Learning is a process of mutual discovery for teacher and pupil. Keep an open mind to their unexpected responses.
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A teacher is frequently the only adult in the pupil’s environment who treats him with respect.
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Time collapses and expands like an erratic accordion.
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I so enjoy being old because for the first time I don’t have to do anything-work, teach, study. I feel very good about myself-and at my age I can say no to anything now if I don’t want to do it. What a liberating word.
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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.
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Mythology is studied in the school system because most of us come from it.
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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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I like the word OLD. Not senior, that’s for proms. Older? Older than whom? ‘Old’ is honorable and ripe
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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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Teachers try to make us feel lower than themselves, maybe because this is because they feel lower than outside people. One teacher told me to get out of the room and never come back, which I did.
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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!
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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.
BEL KAUFMAN