Deborah Meier Quotes

• There's a radical - and wonderful - new idea here... that all children could and should be inventors of their own theories, critics of other people's ideas, analyzers of evidence, and makers of their own personal marks on the world. Its an idea with revolutionary implications. If we take it seriously.

  Deborah Meier

  Children, Ideas, People

  Deborah Meier (2002). “The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America from a Small School in Harlem”, p.4, Beacon Press

  92 Copy quote

• Good schools, like good societies and good families, celebrate and cherish diversity.

  Deborah Meier

  Inspirational, Family, Education

  Deborah Meier (2002). “The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America from a Small School in Harlem”, p.38, Beacon Press

  63 Copy quote

• Teaching is mostly listening, and learning is mostly telling.

  Deborah Meier

  Teaching, Listening

  Deborah Meier (2002). “The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America from a Small School in Harlem”, p.12, Beacon Press

  13 Copy quote

• A passion for learning...isn't something you have to inspire with; it's something you have to keep from extinguishing.

  Deborah Meier

  Passion, Inspire

  33 Copy quote

• Only secretly rebellious teachers have ever done right by our least advantaged kids.

  Deborah Meier

  Teacher, Teaching, Kids

  21 Copy quote

• Teaching is listening, learning is talking

  Deborah Meier

  Teaching, Talking, Listening

  18 Copy quote

• It's the curiosity that drives me. It's making a difference in the world that prevents me from ever giving up.

  Deborah Meier

  Giving Up, Differences, Curiosity

  26 Copy quote

• If you define yourself as someone fixing education, there's nothing short-range you can do to fix education directly. It's labor intensive. You have to change the way people act. You have to convince people, and change people.

  Deborah Meier

  People, Way, Fixing

  Source: www.motherjones.com

  14 Copy quote

• The art of good teaching begins when we can answer the questions our students are really trying to ask us, if only they knew how to do so.

  Deborah Meier

  Art, Teaching, Trying

  13 Copy quote

• If you ask me, taking on risk and being more daring is a real important part of creativity.

  Deborah Meier

  Real, Creativity, Risk

  15 Copy quote

• The only thing they [government] want is better data. But data doesn't tell people someone is well educated. It's a vicious circle. There is some myth involved. Some of this attitude has a long history.

  Deborah Meier

  Attitude, Government, Data

  9 Copy quote

• We are all carriers of our own stories. We have never trusted our own voices. Reforms came, but we don't make them. They were presented by people removed from schools, by 'experts'. Such changes bi passes school. School by school changes, however slow, could make a powerful difference.

  Deborah Meier

  Powerful, School, Voice

  11 Copy quote

• I take enormous pleasure every time I see something that I've done that cannot be wiped out. In some way ... I guess it's a protest against mortality. But it's been so much fun! It's the curiosity that drives me. It's making a difference in the world that prevents me from ever giving up.

  Deborah Meier

  Giving Up, Fun, Differences

  9 Copy quote

• Mindset changes are not happening from change in legislation. Like desegregation. We legally got rid of legal segregation, but schools are still segregated. You can demand people have better math understanding, but it depends how you interpret math understanding, and what you want it for, and if you think everybody can and should have that.

  Deborah Meier

  School, Math, Thinking

  Source: www.motherjones.com

  9 Copy quote

• Some people thought that if you put pressure on kids, parents, and teachers and schools, the pressure alone would produce results. It appealed to people who think the quick fix for education is to threaten people. It's not a left-right division.

  Deborah Meier

  Teacher, Kids, School

  "Q&A: Deborah Meier". Interview with Gary Moskowitz, www.motherjones.com. September/October 2008.

  8 Copy quote

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