Create Yours

Top 25 Derek Bok Quotes (2025 Update)

Derek Bok Quote: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”

1. “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”

Featured in: Learning Quotes, Intelligent Quotes, Smart Quotes, Teaching Quotes, College Quotes

Derek Bok Quote: “The first country to adopt happiness as an official goal of public policy is the tiny little country of Bhutan in Asia near China and India.”

2. “The first country to adopt happiness as an official goal of public policy is the tiny little country of Bhutan in Asia near China and India.”

Derek Bok Quote: “I won’t say there aren’t any Harvard graduates who have never asserted a superior attitude. But they have done so to our great embarrassment and in no way represent the Harvard I know.”

3. “I won’t say there aren’t any Harvard graduates who have never asserted a superior attitude. But they have done so to our great embarrassment and in no way represent the Harvard I know.”

Derek Bok Quote: “There is far too much law for those who can afford it and far too little for those who cannot.”

4. “There is far too much law for those who can afford it and far too little for those who cannot.”

Derek Bok Quote: “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.”

5. “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.”

Derek Bok Quote: “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.”

6. “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.”

Derek Bok Quote: “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.”

7. “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.”

Derek Bok Quote: “There are no tests similar to SATs to tell us how much undergraduates know. State legislators, who appropriate billions of dollars each year to higher education, are naturally interested in finding out what they are getting for their money.”

8. “There are no tests similar to SATs to tell us how much undergraduates know. State legislators, who appropriate billions of dollars each year to higher education, are naturally interested in finding out what they are getting for their money.”

Derek Bok Quote: “The oldest of the arts and the youngest of the professions.”

9. “The oldest of the arts and the youngest of the professions.”

Derek Bok Quote: “Ever since economists revealed how much universities contribute to economic growth, politicians have paid close attention to higher education.”

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

Derek Bok Quote: “There’s a great deal of difference between thinking reflectively about moral issues and achieving higher standards of ethical behavior.”

11. “There’s a great deal of difference between thinking reflectively about moral issues and achieving higher standards of ethical behavior.”

Derek Bok Quote: “The most obvious purpose of college education is to help students acquire information and knowledge by acquainting them with facts, theories, generalizations, principles, and the like. This purpose scarcely requires justification.”

12. “The most obvious purpose of college education is to help students acquire information and knowledge by acquainting them with facts, theories, generalizations, principles, and the like. This purpose scarcely requires justification.”

Derek Bok Quote: “I think one thing that does cause unhappiness is protracted anxiety and worry.”

13. “I think one thing that does cause unhappiness is protracted anxiety and worry.”

Derek Bok Quote: “I think the minority students that we admit to Harvard are every bit as meritorious as the white students that we admit.”

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

Derek Bok Quote: “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.”

15. “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.”

Derek Bok Quote: “Universities are institutions run by amateurs to train professionals.”

16. “Universities are institutions run by amateurs to train professionals.”

Derek Bok Quote: “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.”

17. “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.”

Derek Bok Quote: “If we are prepared to invest the necessary time and effort, affirmative action can contribute to Harvard’s quality and not detract from it.”

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

Derek Bok Quote: “The college that takes students with modest entering abilities and improves their abilities substantially contributes more than the school that takes very bright students and helps them develop only modestly.”

19. “The college that takes students with modest entering abilities and improves their abilities substantially contributes more than the school that takes very bright students and helps them develop only modestly.”

Derek Bok Quote: “Good teaching is creating really interesting generalizations out of war stories.”

20. “Good teaching is creating really interesting generalizations out of war stories.”

Derek Bok Quote: “Early admission programs tend to advantage the advantaged.”

21. “Early admission programs tend to advantage the advantaged.”

Derek Bok Quote: “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.”

22. “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.”

Derek Bok Quote: “Greater inequality in Europe has made people less happy.”

23. “Greater inequality in Europe has made people less happy.”

Derek Bok Quote: “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.”

24. “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.”

Derek Bok Quote: “I suspect that no community will become humane and caring by restricting what its members can say.”

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

Derek Bok Quote: “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.”

26. “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.”

Derek Bok Quote: “As countries embrace mass higher education, the cost of maintaining universities increases dramatically relative to an elite system.”

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

Derek Bok Quote: “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.”

28. “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.”

Derek Bok Quote: “Fewer than half of all university professors publish as much as one article per year.”

29. “Fewer than half of all university professors publish as much as one article per year.”

Learning Quotes

Learning Quotes

Intelligent Quotes

Intelligent Quotes

Teaching Quotes

Teaching Quotes

Learning Quotes

Learning Quotes

Intelligent Quotes

Intelligent Quotes

Teaching Quotes

Teaching Quotes

Ignorance Quotes

Ignorance Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes

INSPIRATIONAL SUCCESS MOTIVATIONAL

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS INSPIRATIONAL

Positive Quotes

Positive Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS INSPIRATIONAL

Steve Jobs Quotes

Steve Jobs Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS APPLE

Save image...
Permalink
Open in new tab
Copy quote text

Beautiful Wallpapers and Images

We hope you enjoyed our collection of 25 Derek Bok Quotes.

All the images on this page were created with QuoteFancy Studio.

Use QuoteFancy Studio to create high-quality images for your desktop backgrounds, blog posts, presentations, social media, videos, posters, and more.

Thank you!

Please check your email.