Nel Noddings Quotes

United States, Feminist
January 19, 1929

Nel Noddings is an American feminist, educationalist, and philosopher best known for her work in philosophy of education, educational theory, and ethics of care.

Also known as Educationalist, Philosopher

What sort of god would deliberately create a world in which his creatures must eat one another to live?

Nel Noddings
My contention is, first, that we should want more from our educational efforts than adequate academic achievement and, second, that we will not achieve even that meager success unless our children believe that they themselves are cared for and learn to care for others.

Nel Noddings

I do not need to establish a deep, lasting, time-consuming personal relationship with every student. What I must do is to be totally and nonselectively present to the student-to each student-as he addresses me. The time interval may be brief but the encounter is total.

Nel Noddings
The student is infinitely more important than the subject matter.

Nel Noddings
We will not find the solution to problems of violence, alienation, ignorance, and unhappiness in increasing our security, imposing more tests, punishing schools for their failure to produce 100 percent proficiency, or demanding that teachers be knowledgeable in the subjects they teach. Instead, we must allow teachers and students to interact as whole persons, and we must develop policies that treat the school as a whole community.

Nel Noddings
- Problem
- Teacher
- Students