Quotes & Sayings About Student Participation

The collective benefits of higher education will not be asserted unless the public can be engaged in defining them. A student's future returns on his or her personal investment of time and money will seem more critical than the public benefits to be derived from ensuring that all students become people of character as well as of competence. An institution's prowess in potentially lucrative lines of scientific research will seem more essential to its mission than its participation in the development of an aesthetically engaged and broadly humane society. Unless there is public discussion that can help support the balancing of public and private priorities, colleges and universities will dance only to the private ambitions that ensure continuing high levels of enrollment and high ratings in the various surveys of satisfaction that give institutions a boost in national rankings. — Ellen Condliffe Lagemann

The solution to the problem of poor performance scores had been a new system of grading that would encourage students to stay in school as well as improve their self-esteem. Beyond these important, admirable goals, it also had a more immediate purpose: it would undoubtedly reduce the school's notoriously high failure rate, which had become an embarrassment to the school and to the school board. Under the plan, equal weight was given to class participation (which to some teachers meant simply showing up, because how on earth were you supposed to quantify participation?), homework, weekly tests, and a final exam at the end of every six-week period. A student could flunk every weekly test as well as the final exam and still pass a course for that period. — H. G. Bissinger

For the past three years, the CIVIX Student Budget Consultation has helped us to better understand the most pressing national issues for young Canadians. I am delighted to note that on key issues, such as balancing the budget, debt reduction, and lowering taxes, we stand in step with the thousands of students who participated in this initiative from coast to coast to coast. I want to thank the students and teachers for investing their time and energy in this worthwhile initiative. Their enthusiastic participation inspires great hope for Canada's future. — Kevin Sorenson

The teacher calls on the first student whose hand went up, and everybody else understands that their participation is no longer required, and so they may immediately disengage. — John Hunter

It is our hope that the AP program can serve as an anchor for increasing rigor in our schools. Rigor can be maintained while increasing student participation. — Gaston Caperton