Derek Bok Quotes

I tell young teachers who are determined to dissent from some of the Draconian aspects of the current orthodoxy that the best form of protection is to be incredibly good at what you do and keep good discipline in class.

I'd like to think I'm a great teacher.

I think a lot of teachers want to talk about how to continually improve performance.

There is no recipe to be a great teacher, that's what is unique about them.

My attitude toward graduate students was different, I must say. I used graduate students as colleagues: I gave them the best problems to work on, and I encouraged them.

We're not trying to be the only route into teaching. We do put enormous energy into understanding what differentiates the most successful teachers.

I'm just not a natural teacher.

Teacher compensation isn't the only factor in cultivating great teaching. Other important priorities include changing how we measure student performance, providing more flexibility to teacher-preparation programs, and improving how we train and support principals.

I do think we know that a teacher who knows what he or she is doing, knows their subject matter, and knows how to impart knowledge to kids is a critical piece of closing the achievement gap.

I don’t believe curriculums are the key to education, I believe teachers are.

Sure, just like there are bad lawyers, bad doctors and bad politicians, there are people who aren't cut out to be teachers. But by and large, the people who are called to be teachers are passionate about the profession.

When you have teachers saying, 'I don't have enough time for hands-on activities,' we need to rethink the way we do education.

We have become unable to think of better education except in terms of more complex schools and of teachers trained for ever longer periods.

Most teachers in America could dramatically improve their teaching if they just made every second count.

I don't envy my teachers. I used to preach to them.

You have to have teachers who are empowered to facilitate great teaching.

When you empower and teach a teacher how to break down barriers, bring innovation and excitement to the classroom, every student in that classroom learns.

Teachers know how to improve education.

The quality of an education system can never exceed the quality of its teachers.

America's best teachers are always looking for new ways to bring learning to life.

Committed teachers know their students' needs better than anyone in the system. Traditionally, however, teachers have little control over the purchase of student materials.

I really love teaching; I was actually studying to be a preschool teacher.

I'm a good teacher and am great at observation and picking out what's wrong and fixing it.

Every dollar spent on education should go toward helping our teachers teach and our students learn.

By continuing to increase teacher recruitment and training - and ameliorating wages and working conditions - we will be able to shore up the weaknesses of the French education system.