Derek Bok

The vast majority of students probably emerge from college with an adequate grasp of no more than a single method of inquiry. Even this capacity may erode over time if it does not relate to experiences and problems that recur in the student's later life.

Colleges do not merely offer preparation for the future; they occupy four years of a student's life, and an institution should do what it can to make these years absorbing and enjoyable.

I believe that Harvard can have, and must have, a strong affirmative action program that reflects our commitment to equal opportunity while fully respecting the academic standards of the University.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Education, and I regret to say this as an educator, but there's no indication that education has a direct effect on happiness.

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

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.

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