John W. Gardner
Educator
1912-10-08
Quotes by John W. Gardner
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But a society in which pluralism is not undergirded by some shared values and held together by some measure of mutual trust simply cannot survive. Pluralism that reflects no commitments whatever to the common good is pluralism gone berserk... ..Leaders unwilling to seek mutually workable arrangements within systems to their own are not surviving the long-term interest of their constituents
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When one may pay out over two million dollars to presidential and Congressional campaigns, the U.S. government is virtually up for sale.
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Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.
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When one may pay out over two million dollars to presidential and Congressional campaigns, the U.S. government is virtually up for sale.
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But a society in which pluralism is not undergirded by some shared values and held together by some measure of mutual trust simply cannot survive. Pluralism that reflects no commitments whatever to the common good is pluralism gone berserk... ..Leaders unwilling to seek mutually workable arrangements within systems to their own are not surviving the long-term interest of their constituents
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Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.
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The hallmark of our age is the tension between aspirations and sluggish institutions.
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It's a staggering transition for high school students that found they could study five hours a week and make As and Bs.
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The idea for which this nation stands will not survive if the highest goal free man can set themselves is an amiable mediocrity. Excellence implies striving for the highest standards in every phase of life.
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Some people have greatness thrust upon them. Very few have excellence thrust upon them.
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I am entirely certain that twenty years from now we will look back at education as it is practiced in most schools today and wonder that we could have tolerated anything so primitive.
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Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all.
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The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.
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The ultimate goal of the educational system is to shift to the individual the burden of pursing his own education. This will not be a widely shared pursuit until we get over our odd conviction that education is what goes on in school buildings and nowhere else.
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Whoever I am or whatever I am doing, some kind of excellence is within my reach.
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The ultimate goal of the educational system is to shift to the individual the burden of pursuing his education.
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Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all.
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All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.
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History never looks like history when you are living through it. It always looks confusing and messy, and it always feels uncomfortable.
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Men of integrity, by their very existence, rekindle the belief that as a people we can live above the level of moral squalor. We need that belief; a cynical community is a corrupt community.
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