Theodore R. Sizer > Quotes

“You can't motivate a student you don't know.”
― Theodore Sizer

“Learning should not only take us somewhere; it should allow us later to go further more easily.”
― Ted Sizer

“To be useful, learning must have a worthy purpose and become a habit. A trip down this road starts with the questions “Why?” “How?” and “What?”—the major interrogatives in the English language. A wise person asks these questions virtually without thinking; a wise teacher guides his students to acquire the habit of asking them.”
― Ted Sizer, The New American High School

“Education jargon is the language of pedants; it identifies those who have so little confidence in themselves and their work that they seek to create a veil of words to hide them.”
― Ted Sizer, The New American High School

“the evidence is there. Thought control is, to a free people, a cardinal sin. It is dangerous because focused propaganda can be effective. This is why the best teachers insist on a broad range of learning, most especially including skepticism. We must teach our students to use caution when they are exposed to ideologies that have followers whose enthusiasm clouds their judgment.”
― Ted Sizer, The New American High School