At the age of 15 a teacher had asked me what I wanted to do for a career and without knowing why or even how I replied that I wanted to be a poet.

Adele Adkins' retro-soul debut '19' was striking less for her songs than for that voice: a voluptuous slightly parched alto that swooped and fluttered like a Dusty Springfield student trying to upstage her teacher or at least update the rules.

The teacher who would be true to his mission and accomplish the most good must give prominence to moral as well as intellectual instruction.

When I was a child I used to read books by Gerald Durrell who founded Jersey Zoo. He had a job collecting animals for zoos and for a long time that is what I wanted to do. Later when I was a teenager I had a fantastic English teacher called Mrs. Stafford. Her enthusiasm made me decide to be a writer.

I stopped and gazed on the little dull man who was being paid to be a teacher of teachers. I turned and walked to the door slammed it closed with a bang and broken glass crashed to the floor. There was uproar behind me in the class which did not interest me at all.

I am a teacher and I am proud of it. At Cornell University I have taught primarily undergraduates and indeed almost every year since 1966 have taught first-year general chemistry.

I have good relationships with Hillary Clinton Joseph Biden and especially Richard Holbrooke - he is my teacher. I learned a lot of great things from him.

Far from wishing to awaken the artist in the pupil prematurely the teacher considers it his first task to make him a skilled artisan with sovereign control of his craft.

We're understanding what Obama is. He is the great teacher. He is this guy that stands above everybody. There's some condescension in it but he stands above everybody and says 'Now listen. You people have to stop blaming each other unreasonably. You have to get along here and I am going to show you the way.' It is a pretty brave role in many ways.

The teacher that I was for decades and that I still am in a certain way wondered what was meant by the word education. I was truly dumbfounded at the very thought of dealing with such an essential and extensive subject.