Geoffrey Canada Quotes

• I want to be a children’s hero… Children need heroes because heroes give hope; without hope they have no future.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Children, Hero, Giving

  48 Copy quote

• You have to be prepared to think outside the box...Stand back and think about what we could do creativity. We've got to do that to push the field forward.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Creativity, Thinking, Fields

  43 Copy quote

• When you see a great teacher, you are seeing a work of art.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Education, Teacher, Art

  "The Real Problem With Waiting for 'Superman'" by Aaron Swartz, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 7, 2010.

  65 Copy quote

• One of the saddest days of my life was when my mother told me Superman did not exist. I was like what do you mean he's not real. And she thought I was crying because it’s like Santa Claus is not real and I was crying because there was no one coming with enough power to save us.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Mom, Mother, Real

  "Waiting for 'Superman'". www.imdb.com. January 22, 2010.

  47 Copy quote

• When kids know that you refuse to let them fail ... they don't give up as easy. So sometimes they don't have it inside, [but] they're like,'You know, I don't want to do this, but I know my mother's going to be mad.'That matters to kids, and it helps get them through.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Mother, Giving Up, Don't Give Up

  39 Copy quote

• Education is the only billion dollar industry that tolerates abject failure.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Dollars, Billions, Tolerate

  "Geoffrey Canada warns Michael Gove teaching unions 'kill' innovation" by Jeevan Vasagar, Allegra Stratton, www.theguardian.com. October 5, 2010.

  33 Copy quote

• Over the past five years, I've met several presidents, several secretaries of education ... and there is no plan. If you want to save your children, you're going to have to do it yourself. It's just us.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Children, Past, Years

  39 Copy quote

• When the safety of America is threatened, we will spend any amount of money. The real safety of our nation is preparing this next generation so that they can take our place [in] thinking and technology and democracy.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Education, Real, Technology

  42 Copy quote

• Build an organization that can tackle the tough things and keep moving.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Moving, Organization, Tough

  34 Copy quote

• Boys want to grow up to be like their male role models. And boys who grow up in homes with absent fathers search the hardest to figure out what it means to be male.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Growing Up, Father, Home

  29 Copy quote

• It's easy to have faith when everything is going great. The real test of faith is when you're facing something that only your faith in God will get you through.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Real, Have Faith, Tests

  42 Copy quote

• Osama Bin Laden is not going to come here and destroy America. Our education system is doing that just fine.

  Geoffrey Canada

  America, Osama Bin Laden, Fine

  30 Copy quote

• Let's stop teaching to the middle and start teaching to the student.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Teaching, Students, Middle

  26 Copy quote

• Why is it that when we had rotary phones, when we were having folks being crippled by polio, that we were teaching the same way then that we're doing right now?

  Geoffrey Canada

  Educational, Teaching, Phones

  22 Copy quote

• Many schools today are sacrificing social studies, the arts and physical education so children can cover basic subjects like math, English and science.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Art, Children, School

  27 Copy quote

• An extended school day gives administrators the ability to ensure children get a well-rounded education.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Children, School, Giving

  19 Copy quote

• I graduated from Bowdoin College and went to the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Then I left and took a job teaching really poor inner-city white kids in Boston. It was interesting to me because I'd never been around poor whites before.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Jobs, Teaching, School

  17 Copy quote

• There is an educational cliff we are walking over right this very second.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Educational, Cliffs, Walking

  10 Copy quote

• Middle-class families know education begins at birth.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Class, Birth, Middle

  16 Copy quote

• Monsters work seven days a week and don't take vacations.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Vacation, Seven Days, Monsters

  9 Copy quote

• The rates of soda consumption in our poorest communities cannot be explained by individual consumer preferences alone, but rather are linked to broader issues of access and affordability of healthy foods in low-income neighborhoods, and to the marketing efforts of soda companies themselves.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Issues, Effort, Community

  "NYC’s SNAP Sugary Beverage Ban Is the Right Idea" by Geoffrey Canada, www.huffingtonpost.com. July 18, 2011.

  9 Copy quote

• One of the things that sells music is when the artist is looked at as someone who's come up from the streets. Not just any streets, but the toughest, meanest streets of the urban ghetto. And that's called 'street credibility'.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Ghetto, Artist, Urban

  "The Stop Snitchin' Crisis; Did U.S. Military Choose Public Relations Over Truth in Tillman Death?; War of Words Over Iraq Funding Escalates". "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees", April 24, 2007.

  11 Copy quote

• If you raise a child, there's no time, you can't be a great parent.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Children, Parent, Raises

  5 Copy quote

• When I was growing up, kids used to talk about snitching... It never extended as a cultural norm outside of the gangsters.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Growing Up, Kids, Snitch

  "Stop Snitchin'". "60 Minutes" with Anderson Cooper, www.cbsnews.com. April 22, 2007.

  29 Copy quote

• Movies portray men as tough guys.

  Geoffrey Canada

  Men, Guy, Tough

  5 Copy quote

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