Literate

The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. - Mark Twain

Anybody can watch TV; no intelligence required.

Flunking

The teacher pretended that algebra was a perfectly natural affair, to be taken for granted, whereas I didn't even know what numbers were. Mathematics classes became sheer terror and torture to me. I was so intimidated by my incomprehension that I did not dare to ask any questions. - Carl Jung

Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. - Robert Heinlein

Going

I don't know where I'm going but I know no one is going to stop me. - Ariel Tweto


Sometimes you just go full speed ahead.

Try, Try Again

If at first you don't succeed, before you try again, stop to figure out what you did wrong. - Leo Rosten


If you continue to think what you thought you will continue to get what you got.

Diminished Enthusiasm

To receive applause for works which do not demand all our powers hinders our advance towards a perfecting of our spirit. It usually means that thereafter we stand still. - Georg Christoph Lichtenberg


Be sure your praise is well placed and proportionate.

Precious Minds

Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training. - Anna Freud


Maybe, but don't count on it; it's too important.

Sounds Good

Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good. In area after area - crime, education, housing, race relations - the situation has gotten worse after the bright new theories were put into operation. The amazing thing is that this history of failure and disaster has neither discouraged the social engineers nor discredited them. - Thomas Sowell

..... Only education can make what used to sound good, sound bad.

Memory Matters

Memory depends very much on the perspicuity, regularity, and order of our thoughts. Many complain of the want of memory, when the defect is in the judgment; and others, by grasping at all, retain nothing. - Thomas Fuller

..... I can't remember what I was going to say......

Size Doesn't Matter

The size of your audience doesn't matter. What's important is that your audience is listening. - Randy Pausch


All things considered.

Here, Tommy

What we learn with pleasure we never forget. - Alfred Mercier


That is pleasure of the mind, not of the senses. This is often confused - hence treats for performance. It works on dogs, not kids.

Perfect Bureaucrats

The perfect bureaucrat everywhere is the man who manages to make no decisions and escape all responsibility. - Brooks Atkinson


Remember, public school teachers are essentially bureaucrats.

Educational Problem Solving

Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve. - Roger Lewin


And then they can't reason.

Enthusiasm in Education

Tell me....And I Forget, Teach me....And I Learn, Involve me....And I Remember. - Benjamin Franklin

  Too bad the public schools can't see the validity in this.

Newton Paraphrased

For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert. - Arthur C. Clarke

Beware of so-called experts.

Communicate

It is the responsibility of the sender to make sure the receiver understands the message. - Joseph Batten

Which is why you should never stop working on your communication skills.

The True Meaning of Life

I got to thinking of my friend, Larry, who I worked with in the drafting department of a steel construction business while I was going to college. Larry and I would play cribbage at lunchtime and swap stories. One day I told him of a story I had read for Religion class. It was the story of the old Buddhist monk who was teaching the young monks. He ask them to tell him the meaning of life, and to each explanation he said "No, that is not the meaning of life."  Another old monk had joined them during this questioning and was asked the same question. He put his sandals on top of his head, rose and walked off. The teacher then said "He is right."

A few days later the head engineer came in and gave us a glowing report on a project we had completed. He commended us on our fine work which we received with appreciation because it was an uncommon occurrence at this firm. A few minutes later the head draftsman returned from an install of another project.  He stood in front of the room and read us the riot act for what seemed a very long time. He told us how  no-good, lazy, stupid, and worthless we were. I have to pause here and tell you that this was before the advent of computers and we used pencils and pens on our drawings. We all kept a roll of toilet paper at our tables for wiping up spills. Well after the head draftsman finished chewing us out, I looked over at Larry. He reached for his roll of toilet paper and put it on top of his head. It stuck me as so funny I burst out in laughter. I didn't get fired but probably only because we were so short handed.

I really miss Larry,. He died of multiple sclerosis a year of two later.

Enemy of Knowledge

The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. - Stephen Hawking


Just because you have read a synopsis doesn't mean you know the subject.

Difficult Children

The difficult child is the child who is unhappy. He is at war with himself; and in consequence, he is at war with the world. - A. S. Neil


Happiness comes from being excited about something - find it.

Laden With Books

In education of children there is nothing like alluring the interest and affection, otherwise you only make so many asses laden with books. - Michel de Montaigne


Kids need to see that learning is what you do forever, not just when in school.

Languor of Idleness

A well-informed mind is the best security against the contagion of folly and vice. The vacant mind is ever on the watch for relief, and to plunge into error, to escape from the languor of idleness. - Ann Radcliffe


Teach your children well and keep them busy.