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At Normal School she learned a lot about Shakespeare, but most of all about the profound importance of education—especially, for a people trying to move up from slavery. "What you put in your head, boy," she once said, "can never be pulled out by the Ku Klux Klan, the congress or anybody."
在師范學院的時候，貝茜老師讀了很多莎士比亞的作品，但更重要的是她認識到教育的深遠意義——尤其對于一個想擺脫奴役的民族極其重要。她曾經說過：“你學過的知識，一旦記在腦海里，就永遠不會被那些三K黨、國會或任何其他人掠奪走。”
Miss Bessie's bearing of dignity told anyone who met her that she was "educated" in the best sense of the word. There was never a discipline problem in her classes. We didn't dare mess with a woman who knew about the Battle of Hastings, the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights—and who could also play the piano.
貝茜小姐端莊的舉止讓所有認識她的人都覺得她是受過最好教育的人。在她的課堂上從來沒有人搗亂。我們都不敢給一個既了解黑斯廷斯戰役、大憲章和《權利法案》，又會彈鋼琴的人惹麻煩。
This frail-looking woman could make sense of Shakespeare, Milton, Voltaire, and bring to life Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois. Believing that it was important to know who the officials were that spent taxpayers' money and made public policy, she made us memorize the names of everyone on the Supreme Court and in the President's Cabinet. It could be embarrassing to be unprepared when Miss Bessie said, "Get up and tell the class who Frances Perkins is and what you think about her.
這位看似弱不禁風的女人竟然能讀懂莎士比亞、彌爾頓和伏爾泰的作品，并且把布克·T. 華盛頓和W. E. B.杜波伊斯講述得栩栩如生。她認為記住那些花納稅人的錢并制定國家政策的官員的名字是非常重要的，因此她讓我們記住最高法院和總統內閣全體成員的名字。要是貝茜老師說：“站起來，告訴大家誰是弗朗西斯·珀金斯，并談一下你對她的看法”，而你對此毫無準備，那就太丟臉了。
