8 Quotes & Sayings By Derek Bok

Derek Bok is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. He was previously Dean of Harvard Law School, having served since 1993. Earlier in his career, he was Chairman of the University of Chicago Board of Trustees. A native of Brookline, Massachusetts, he received his A.B Read more

cum laude from Harvard College (1961) and his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School (1966), where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.

1
If you think education is expensive - try ignorance. Derek Bok
2
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
3
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. Derek Bok
4
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
5
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. Derek Bok
6
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
7
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