Richard Mitchell

Richard Mitchell
Dr. Richard Mitchellwas a professor, first of English and later of classics, at Glassboro State College in Glassboro, New Jersey. He gained fame in the late 1970s as the founder and publisher of The Underground Grammarian, a newsletter of opinion and criticism that ran until 1992, and wrote four books expounding his views on the relationships among language, education, and ethics...
ProfessionTrumpet Player
Date of Birth13 March 1930
ability attitudes considered emotional however knowledge literacy mind portion pursue received values
Literacy is not, as it is considered in our schools, a PORTION of education. It IS education. It is at once the ability AND the inclination of the mind to find knowledge, to pursue understanding, and out of knowledge and understanding, not out of received attitudes and values or emotional responses, however worthy, to make judgments.
attitudes beliefs bring cannot christian education existence fact feelings freedom mind modified needs precept pure rather service socialist teach testimony work
There is only one Education, and it has only one goal: the freedom of the mind. Anything that needs an adjective, be it civics education, or socialist education, or Christian education, or whatever-you-like education, is not education, and it has some different goal. The very existence of modified educations is testimony to the fact that their proponents cannot bring about what they want in a mind that is free. An education that cannot do its work in a free mind, and so must teach by homily and precept in the service of these feelings and attitudes and beliefs rather than those, is pure and unmistakable tyranny.
attitudes beliefs bring cannot christian education existence fact feelings freedom mind modified needs precept pure rather service socialist teach testimony work
There is only one Education, and it has only one goal: the freedom of the mind. Anything that needs an adjective, be it civics education, or socialist education, or Christian education, or whatever-you-like education, is not education, and it has some different goal. The very existence of modified educations is testimony to the fact that their proponents cannot bring about what they want in a mind that is free. An education that cannot do its work in a free mind, and so must teach by homily and precept in the service of these feelings and attitudes and beliefs rather than those, is pure and unmistakable tyranny.
exercise thinking mind
Some minds, at some point, discover that they can not make sense of their own predications without attention to grammar, although they do not ordinarily think of what they are doing as an exercise in grammar.
children mind littles
If you should prefer to understand that children are those human beings who have not yet found the grasp of their own minds, then the task you have given yourself, that task of rearing a child wisely and well, is suddenly transformed from indoctrination to education, in its truest sense, and made not only possible but even likely--provided, to be sure, one little prerequisite, which is that you are not a child, that you have come into the grasp of your mind.
judging mind way
There is no other way to judge the work of a mind except through its words.
writing brain mind
A mind can be overthrown by words; that's the point. What is happening to the brain of a person who uses the passive, who writes, 'Delay should not be allowed to take place' instead of 'Hurry'? The user of the passive verb doesn't want a universe in which responsible agents do their acts. You see? Bad language ultimately is IMMORAL.
mind use jargon
His jargon conceals, from him, but not from us, the deep, empty hole in his mind. He uses technological language as a substitute for technique.
shooting
We had to take it inside. The first half, we were all shooting up 3s and they weren't going in.
positive
We're working on a positive leaflet to give to adults, but nothing grim.
agreement interface january signed
We have a 15-year contractual agreement that was negotiated with Interface in 2001, ... I think the agreement was signed in January of 2002.
assume building county dirt impact land moving parts people start street touching turn
It's going to turn the land into a marsh for the people who live on the end of the street touching the river. We already get wetter than what other parts of the county are used to, but once you start building and moving all that dirt around I can only assume its going to impact those houses.
confront decided overly
We decided if they would let us march, we wouldn't overly confront them.
both clear foolish habit heart line loose mouth runs talk unclear until words
A line runs from the meditations of the heart to the words of the mouth. Themeditations are not clear to us until the mouth utters its words. If what the mouthutters is unclear or foolish or mendacious, it must be that the meditations are thesame. But the line runs both ways. The words of the mouth will become themeditations of the heart, and the habit of loose talk loosens the fastenings of ourunderstanding.