Education is not a product: mark, diploma, job, money-in that order; it is a process, a never-ending one.
BEL KAUFMANI like the word OLD. Not senior, that’s for proms. Older? Older than whom? ‘Old’ is honorable and ripe
More Bel Kaufman Quotes
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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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I want to point the way to something that should forever lure them, when the TV set is broken and the movie is over and the school bell has rung for the last time.
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To the young, cliches seem freshly minted.
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Mythology is studied in the school system because most of us come from it.
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Never mind the cream; it will always rise to the top. It’s the skim milk that needs good teachers.
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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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Time collapses and expands like an erratic accordion.
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My mother, for example, has the pleasant notion that my day consists of nodding graciously to the rustle of starched curtsies and a chorus of respectful voices bidding me good morning.
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When giving comes directly from the heart, it can never disappoint or embarrass.
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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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I’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.
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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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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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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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A teacher is frequently the only adult in the pupil’s environment who treats him with respect.
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