Standards are always out of date. That's what makes them standards.
Alan BennettRead
Have you ever thought, headmaster, that your standards might perhaps be a little out of date? Of course they're out of date. Standards are always out of date. That is what makes them standards.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Standards evolve over time, and clinging to outdated ones limits progress. Embracing change in standards is essential for growth.
This quote by Alan Bennett emphasizes the idea that standards, which are often seen as benchmarks for quality or behavior, can become obsolete as society changes. It suggests that adhering strictly to outdated standards can hinder innovation and adaptation, highlighting the need for flexibility and reevaluation in the face of new information and circumstances.
Themes
StandardsChangeEducationProgressInnovation
In practice
Example use cases
During a staff meeting about curriculum changes, this quote could encourage teachers to reconsider their approaches.
More from Alan Bennett
All quotes →To begin with, it's true, she read with trepidation and some unease. The sheer endlessness of books outfaced her and she had no idea how to go on; there was no system to her reading, with one book leading to another, and often she had two or three on the go at the same time.
Alan BennettRead
A book is a device to ignite the imagination.
Alan BennettRead
Those who have known the famous are publicly debriefed of their memories, knowing as their own dusk falls that they will only be remembered for remembering someone else.
Alan BennettRead
To read is to withdraw.To make oneself unavailable. One would feel easier about it if the pursuit inself were less...selfish.
Alan BennettRead
The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours
Alan BennettRead
Similar quotes
It is possible to take a population of students who are failing and whose schools are failing them, who are being written off as not being college material, and if they have the right support, they can all go to college and succeed.
Mitch KaporRead
Emotional 'literacy' implies an expanded responsibility for schools in helping to socialize children. This daunting task requires two major changes: that teachers go beyond their traditional mission and that people in the community become more involved with schools as both active participants in children's learning and as individual mentors.
Daniel GolemanRead
Some students start thinking of their intelligence as something fixed, as carved in stone. They worry about, 'Do I have enough? Don't I have enough?'
Carol S. DweckRead
The most significant visions are not cast by great orators from a stage. They are cast at the bedsides of our children. The greatest visioncasting opportunities happen between the hours of 7:30 and 9:30 PM Monday through Sunday. In these closing hours of the day we have a unique opportunity to plant the seeds of what could be and what should be. Take every opportunity you get.
Andy StanleyRead
In nine months, a group of children left alone with a computer in any language will reach the same standard as an office secretary in the West.
Sugata MitraRead
Literature - novels, plays, and poems - can have an uncanny dual life, where they simultaneously represent something eternal and something historical, and this is often how they are taught in school.
Jane SmileyRead