James S. Coleman Quotes

Children learn and remember at least as much from the context of the classroom as from the content of the coursework.

The single most important thing in a child's performance is the quality of the teacher. Making sure a child spends the maximum amount of time with inspirational teachers is the most important thing.

The educational resources provided by a child's fellow students are more important for his achievement than are the resources provided by the school board.

If a teacher does not involve himself, his values, his commitments, in the course of discussion, why should the students?

Teachers shape so much of what a kid's upbringing can be.

The idea that children are passive repositories to be shaped by their parents has been massively overstated. A child's peer group is a far greater determinant of its development and achievements than parental aspiration.

Every child grows; everything depends on the teacher.

Good teachers know how to bring out the best in students.

We expert teachers know that motivation and emotional impact are what matter.

Teachers are unparalleled in the role they play in children's lives.

The great want of our race is perfect educators to train new-born minds, who are infallible teachers of what is right and true.

Knowing what to expect from a teacher is a really good thing, of course: It lets you get the right answers more quickly than you would otherwise.

We all know—not just from common wisdom but from hard research—that all children benefit from being in smaller classes.

The single most important factor in determining [student] achievement is not the color of skin or where they come from. It is not who their parents are or how much money they have. It is who their teacher is.

The true teachers and educators are not those who have learned pedagogy as the science of dealing with children, but those in whom pedagogy has awakened through understanding the human being.

Parents and teachers, learn to listen, then listen to learn from children.

Going to talk to my little girl's teacher is a far cry from what people probably think I spend my time doing.

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

Back in the class room, open your books, keep up, the teacher don't know how mean she looks.

Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that was called cheating. The curriculum sent the clear message to me that learning was a highly individualistic, almost secretive, endeavor. My working class experience...was disparaged.

Physical development fosters learning.

When I got to 10th grade at Booker T. Washington High, I had a teacher, Miss Geraldine Nesbitt. I think she came from New York. She helped me begin to question things.

The child-teacher relationship is crucial.

Wherever there are beginners and experts, old and young, there is some kind of learning going on, some kind of teaching. We are all pupils and we are all teachers.

I am inclined to think that one's education has been in vain if one fails to learn that most schoolmasters are idiots.