Diane Ravitch

“The arts are not a frill. They are a necessity.”

“Standardization is the enemy of creativity and imagination.”

“Privatization is a neoliberal and conservative strategy that has intentionally starved public schools of resources.”

“You can't fire your way to the top.”

“In a democratic society, a public school is a public trust.”

“Charter schools have become a way to privatize public education.”

“The best predictor of low academic achievement is poverty.”

“We have a national goal of improving education, but we have neglected to gain national agreement on what we mean by 'education.'”

“Poverty is not an excuse for low performance. It is a condition that must be addressed and overcome.”

“The great failure of American education is that we have not yet found a way to release the full potential of every child.”

“Data can be useful, but it should not be a weapon to punish and reward.”

“Testing is not a substitute for curriculum and instruction. Good education cannot be achieved by a strategy of testing children, shaming educators, and closing schools.”

“Sometimes, the most brilliant and intelligent students do not shine in standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds.”

“Accountability is a good thing, but privatization is not a route to accountability.”

“Choice is the slogan of the seller, not the buyer.”

“Teaching is a profession, not a technical skill. It is a blend of art and science.”

“Let us remember that the central purpose of education is to teach children to think and to learn for themselves.”

“We are destroying our public schools with a mania for testing.”

“The business model of education is 'the Walmart model.' It's not about quality.”

“American education has been littered with failed fads.”