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.
BEL KAUFMANEducation is not a product: mark, diploma, job, money-in that order; it is a process, a never-ending one.
More Bel Kaufman Quotes
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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 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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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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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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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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People ate bread made of the shells of peas because there was no flour.
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To the young, cliches seem freshly minted.
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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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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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Time collapses and expands like an erratic accordion.
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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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“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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Education can’t make us all leaders, but it can teach us which leader to follow.
BEL KAUFMAN