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.
BEL KAUFMANLearning is a process of mutual discovery for teacher and pupil. Keep an open mind to their unexpected responses.
More Bel Kaufman Quotes
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People ate bread made of the shells of peas because there was no flour.
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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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Love is the ultimate giving, an expression of one’s best self.
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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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Laughter keeps you healthy. You can survive by seeing the humor in everything. Thumb your nose at sadness; turn the tables on tragedy.
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I had used my sense of humor; I had called it proportion, perspective. But perspective is distance.
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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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Mythology is studied in the school system because most of us come from it.
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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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To the young, cliches seem freshly minted.
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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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“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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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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Never mind the cream; it will always rise to the top. It’s the skim milk that needs good teachers.
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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