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All Quotes by author - Derek Bok

" Again and again, universities have put a low priority on the very programs and initiatives that are needed most to increase productivity and competitiveness, improve the quality of government, and overcome the problems of illiteracy, miseducation, and unemployment. "

" Although professors regard improving critical thinking as the most important goal of college, tests reveal that seniors who began their studies with average critical thinking skills have progressed only from the 50th percentile of entering freshmen to about the 69th percentile. "

" Apart from finding a first job, college graduates seem to adapt more easily than those with only a high school degree as the economy evolves and labor-market needs change. "

" As countries embrace mass higher education, the cost of maintaining universities increases dramatically relative to an elite system. "

Higher Education

" Colleges and universities, for all the benefits they bring, accomplish far less for their students than they should. Many students graduate without being able to write well enough to satisfy their employers... reason clearly or perform competently in analyzing complex, non-technical problems. "

" Colleges do not merely offer preparation for the future; they occupy four years of a student's life, and an institution should do what it can to make these years absorbing and enjoyable. "

" Critics of American colleges typically attribute the failings of undergraduate education to a tendency on the part of professors to neglect their teaching to concentrate on research. In fact, the evidence does not support this thesis, except perhaps in major research universities. "

" Despite the hours spent debating different models of general education, the choices faculties make rarely lead to any significant difference in the cognitive development of undergraduates. "

" Doctoral training is devoted almost entirely to learning to do research, even though most Ph.Ds who enter academic life spend far more time teaching than they do conducting experiments or writing books. "

" Early admission programs tend to advantage the advantaged. "

" Economists who have studied the relationship between education and economic growth confirm what common sense suggests: The number of college degrees is not nearly as important as how well students develop cognitive skills, such as critical thinking and problem-solving ability. "

" Education, and I regret to say this as an educator, but there's no indication that education has a direct effect on happiness. "

" Efforts to develop critical thinking falter in practice because too many professors still lecture to passive audiences instead of challenging students to apply what they have learned to new questions. "

" Ever since economists revealed how much universities contribute to economic growth, politicians have paid close attention to higher education. "

Higher Education

" Fewer than half of all university professors publish as much as one article per year. "

" For some students, especially in the sciences, the knowledge gained in college may be directly relevant to graduate study. For almost all students, a liberal arts education works in subtle ways to create a web of knowledge that will illumine problems and enlighten judgment on innumerable occasions in later life. "

" Freshly minted Ph.Ds typically teach the way their favorite professors taught. "

" Good teaching is creating really interesting generalizations out of war stories. "

" Greater inequality in Europe has made people less happy. "

" I believe that Harvard can have, and must have, a strong affirmative action program that reflects our commitment to equal opportunity while fully respecting the academic standards of the University. "

" I don't regard the fact that there's a disparity in test scores nearly as importantly as I do the need for diversity, because I know from long experience that test scores, though useful, are a very limited measure of things that matter in choosing students. "

" I don't think the alternative to Yale is jail by any means. On the other hand, there is a mass of research that does show that there are real advantages to your subsequent career in going to selective institutions. "

" If we are prepared to invest the necessary time and effort, affirmative action can contribute to Harvard's quality and not detract from it. "

" In 1968, the situation at Harvard was not one of which we can be proud. In that year, the proportion of minority persons in salary and wage positions was approximately 3 per cent. Virtually no minority workers were employed on Harvard construction projects. "

" I suspect that no community will become humane and caring by restricting what its members can say. "

" I think any self-respecting educational institution ought to judge its policies by its best estimate of what their long-term consequences for their students and for the society will be. "

" I think it's sort of an outrage that companies should have to hire firms to teach the college graduates they employ how to write. "

" I think it's very important to emphasize that there are many, many different educational institutions in what we call higher education, and they educate an enormous diversity of students. I think all of those institutions have to define particular roles for themselves; they can't do everything at once. "

" I think one thing that does cause unhappiness is protracted anxiety and worry. "

" I think the minority students that we admit to Harvard are every bit as meritorious as the white students that we admit. "

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