Quotes by Derek Bok

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

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

“I wont say there arent 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.”

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

“Independent and impartial exercise of judicial authority is an essential aspect of a free society. Instead of safeguarding judges from political pressures, most election systems invite such influence.”

“[Former Harvard University president Derek Bok lamented this very trend in his 2003 book,] Universities in the Marketplace: The Commercialization of Higher Education. ... one dubious venture after another in the hope of gaining added revenue.”

“In most of these programs, ... education is completely subordinate to the demands of the sport.”

“Laws are best explained, interpreted and applied by those whose interest and abilities lie in perverting, confounding and eluding them”

“Lawyers are men who hire out their words and anger.”

“Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing at pleasure”

If you think education is expensive - try ignorance.

I wont say there arent 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.