Deborah Meier Quotes & Sayings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Teaching is mostly listening, and learning is mostly telling. — Deborah Meier

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

Only secretly rebellious teachers have ever done right by our least advantaged kids. — Deborah Meier

There's no way to guarantee that any particular system will work, will work forever, or will not need endless revising. But until we get over the idea that there is a one-size-fits-all solution to schools, above all for schools that are trustworthy enough to do the job well, we won't allow ourselves to do the difficult long-term work of redesigning the system, not just the schools. — Deborah Meier

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

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

Teaching is listening, learning is talking — Deborah Meier

Good schools, like good societies and good families, celebrate and cherish diversity. — Deborah Meier