A teacher who cannot explain any abstract subject to a child does not himself thoroughly understand his subject; if he does not attempt to break down his knowledge to fit the child’s mind, he does not understand teaching. Fulton J Sheen, Life is Worth Living
Do not believe anything merely because you are told it is so, because others believe it, because it comes from Tradition, or because you have imagined it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect. Believe, take for your doctrine, and hold true to that, which, after serious investigation, seems to you to further the welfare of all beings. Jean-Yves Leloup, Compassion and Meditation
This irritated or puzzled such students of literature and their professors as were accustomed to ‘serious’ courses replete with ‘trends’ and ‘schools’ and ‘myths’ and ‘symbols’ and ‘social comment’ and something unspeakably spooky called ‘climate of thought’. Actually these ‘serious’ courses were quite easy ones with the students required to know not the books but about the books. Vladimir Nabokov
I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. John Steinbeck
One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child. Carl Jung
A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instil a love of learning. Brad Henry
I had a terrible education. I attended a school for emotionally disturbed teachers. Woody Allen
Those who can’t do, teach. And those who can’t teach, teach gym. Woody Allen
We discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. Maria Montessori
O ye! who teach the ingenious youth of nations,
Holland, France, England, Germany or Spain,
I pray ye flog them upon all occasions,
It mends their morals, never mind the pain. Lord Byron, Don Juan
The very corner-stone of an education intended to form great minds, must be the recognition of the principle, that the object is to call forth the greatest possible quantity of intellectual power, and to inspire the intensest love of truth: and this without a particle of regard to the results to which the exercise of that power may lead, even though it should conduct the pupil to opinions diametrically opposite to those of his teachers. We say this, not because we think opinions unimportant, but because of the immense importance which we attach to them; for in proportion to the degree of intellectual power and love of truth which we succeed in creating, is the certainty that (whatever may happen in any one particular instance) in the aggregate of instances true opinions will be the result; and intellectual power and practical love of truth are alike impossible where the reasoner is shown his conclusions, and informed beforehand that he is expected to arrive at them. John Stuart Mill, Civilization
You will never be life’s elite. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie I ***** starring Geraldine McEwan & Amanda Kirby & Lynsey Baxter & Vivienne Ross et al, Brodie to class
I have failed on that. That incubator for housewives. I am the object of ignorance and suspicion because I want more than that for my girls. ibid.
It is my mission to open windows on the world. To illuminate young lives. ibid.
I do not think the Empire will fall if a modest per cent of its females are taught to think for themselves. ibid.
I glory to be banded radical. ibid.
To art and beauty and truth. ibid.
I cheerfully leave common sense to common people. ibid. Brodie to George
A renaissance if you will – today I am forty years old. ibid.
The beginning. The beginning of my prime. ibid.
Da Vinci was a great Italian painter but not the greatest. The greatest is Giotto. He is my favourite. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie II starring Geraldine McEwan & Amanda Kirby & Lynsey Baxter & Vivienne Ross et al, Brodie to class
My first precept is loyalty: you will be loyal to me because I will be loyal to you. You are my girls. ibid.
Garibaldi united Italy into one country. Garibaldi was as great in his day as Mussolini is in ours. ibid.
Surely, Miss Gaunt, church service is a form of theatre. ibid.
Prime is the moment one is born for. ibid.
Give me a girl at an impressionable age and she is mine for life. ibid.
Good morning, little girls. Sit down. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie III starring Geraldine McEwan & Amanda Kirby & Lynsey Baxter & Vivienne Ross et al, Brodie to class
I was engaged to a young man at the beginning of the great war ... Hugh was one of the flowers of the forest ... ‘Autumn and death’. ibid.
I would make of you la crème de la crème. ibid. Brodie to class
The French are not noted for their sense of humour. ibid. Brodie with lasses in art gallery
I am in the business of putting old heads on young shoulders. ibid.
It’s horrible here. The winter never ends. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie IV starring Geraldine McEwan & Amanda Kirby & Lynsey Baxter & Vivienne Ross et al, Italian lass to mother
Fascism is a mental infection. ibid. Uncle Archie
For the moment you will receive the fruits of my prime. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie V starring Geraldine McEwan & Amanda Kirby & Lynsey Baxter & Vivienne Ross et al, Brodie to class
Great art, Miss Campbell, needs no propaganda. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie VI starring Geraldine McEwan & Amanda Kirby & Lynsey Baxter & Vivienne Ross et al, Brodie
I am never mistaken in my girls. ibid. Brodie
You are all approaching womanhood. It is time you learnt to make the most of yourselves. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie VII starring Geraldine McEwan & Amanda Kirby & Lynsey Baxter & Vivienne Ross et al, Brodie to class
You must keep your bodies fit ... When I pass by, men look at me. ibid.
I am putting old heads on your young shoulders ... all my pupils are the crème de la crème. Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
One’s prime is elusive. You little girls, when you grow up, must be on the alert to recognise your prime at whatever time of your life it may occur. ibid.
To me education is a leading out of what is already there in the pupil’s soul. To Miss Mackay it is a putting in of something that is not there, and that is not what I call education, I call it intrusion. ibid.
A firestorm of controversy is brewing in Kearny’s New Jersey’s school district ... a teacher began preaching about God in class. In God We Teach 2011
The Kearny Board of Education officially reprimanded Paszkiewicz according to law. He continues to teach at Kearny High School. ibid.
Ideally, what should be said to every child, repeatedly, throughout his or her school life is something like this: ‘You are in the process of being indoctrinated. We have not yet evolved a system of education that is not a system of indoctrination. We are sorry, but it is the best we can do. What you are being taught here is an amalgam of current prejudice and the choices of this particular culture. The slightest look at history will show how impermanent these must be. You are being taught by people who have been able to accommodate themselves to a regime of thought laid down by their predecessors. It is a self-perpetuating system. Those of you who are more robust and individual than others will be encouraged to leave and find ways of educating yourself – educating your own judgements. Those that stay must remember, always, and all the time, that they are being moulded and patterned to fit into the narrow and particular needs of this particular society. Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook