I am writing this during my lunch period, because I need to reach towards the outside world of sanity, because I am overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the clerical work still to be done, and because at this hour of the morning normal ladies are still sleeping.
BEL KAUFMANNever mind the cream; it will always rise to the top. It’s the skim milk that needs good teachers.
More Bel Kaufman Quotes
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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 suggest just Good and Bad at the end of the term on report cards. Or maybe nothing. Frank Allen
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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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… good teachers, like Tolstoy’s happy families, are alike everywhere.
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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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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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Education is not a product: mark, diploma, job, money-in that order; it is a process, a never-ending one.
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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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The heart has its reasons; it’s the mind that’s suspect.
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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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Time collapses and expands like an erratic accordion.
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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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Education can’t make us all leaders, but it can teach us which leader to follow.
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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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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.
BEL KAUFMAN