10 Awe-Inspiring Quotes for Teachers and Parents

Most back-to-school articles focus on children returning to classrooms. But what about teachers and parents? Shouldn’t we spend time getting prepared, inspired, and motivated for the school year? When adults are equipped with a mindset to facilitate learning, kids have a fighting chance of getting a good education.

“Upon the subject of education,” Abraham Lincoln firmly stated, “I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in.” In fact, research suggests that adult support may be the single most important aspect of how children succeed in school and life.

Each year, I update my list of the 55 Best Back-to-School Articles for Parents (and teachers) with some of the finest insights on learning, achievement, and parent engagement on the web. These articles, widely shared by schools and parents, are sure to educate and inspire. But sometimes a quick shot of inspiration can keep us focused on the goal of education and motivated to play our respective part.

We must view parents and teachers as partners in education. Why? As philosopher George Santayana simply said, “A child educated only at school is an uneducated child.” When both groups are inspired to facilitate learning, children are the winners.

Quotes that Hold the True Meaning of Education

Great quotes make complexity simple. The following have three themes in common:

1) They speak to parents and teachers.
2) They support research in youth development and education.
3) They provide impetus toward adult actions that support learning.

1. “Education...is painful, continual and difficult work to be done in kindness, by watching, by warning, by praise, but above all, by example.” — John Ruskin
2. “The job of an educator is to teach students to see the vitality in themselves.” — Joseph Campbell
3. “There are two kinds of teachers: the kind that fills you with so much quail shot that you can't move, and the kind that just gives you a little prod behind and you jump to the skies.” — Robert Frost
4. “The greatest sign of success for a teacher ... is to be able to say, ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist.’” — Maria Montessori
5. “Education...is not to reform students, or to amuse them, or to make them expert technicians. It is to unsettle their minds, widen their horizons, inflame their intellects, and teach them to think straight, if possible.” — Robert M. Hutchins
6. “It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it. “ — Jacob Bronowski
7. "They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel." — Carl W. Buehner
8. "Tell me and I forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I understand." — Chinese proverb
9. “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” — Anonymous
10. “Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers.” — Josef Albers

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©2013 Marilyn Price-Mitchell. All rights reserved. Please contact for permission to reprint.