Diane Ravitch
Diane Ravitch
Diane Silvers Ravitchis a historian of education, an educational policy analyst, and a research professor at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Previously, she was a U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth1 July 1938
CountryUnited States of America
teacher children educational
Going to school is not the same as going shopping. Parents should not be burdened with locating a suitable school for their child. They should be able to take their child to the neighborhood public school as a matter of course and expect that it has well-educated teachers and a sound educational program.
running powerful common-purpose
There is something fundamentally antidemocratic about relinquishing control of the public education policy agenda to private foundations run by society's wealthiest people; when the wealthiest of these foundations are joined in common purpose, they represent an unusually powerful force that is beyond the reach of democratic institutions.
change reform irony
One of the persistent ironies of reform is the impossibility of predicting the full consequences of change ...
complacency reform obstacles
The greatest obstacle to those who hope to reform American education is complacency.
children educational ideas
Testing children until they cry is a bad idea. It is an educational malpractice.
goal accountability
Accountability makes no sense when it undermines the larger goals of education.
teacher hurt children
What is happening to teachers now across this nation is a disgrace. The attacks on them are a blot on our nation. Teachers and students are not different interest groups. Anyone who demeans teachers demeans education and hurts children.
decision understanding passive
Without knowledge and understanding, one tends to become a passive spectator rather than an active participant in the great decisions of our time.
teacher law teach
Those who can’t teach, pass laws about how to evaluate teachers.
wise book pressure-groups
When you realize that your history books and your science books and your literature books are not the result of experts sitting down and making it a wise decision, but of political pressure groups coming to the state textbook hearings, this is wrong.
past ideas fads
American education has been littered with failed fads and foolish ideas for the past century.
school way succeed
When you succeed at keeping almost everyone in school, you must figure out ways to educate everyone you keep in school.
teacher teaching working-conditions
Teachers' working conditions are students' learning conditions
running thinking views
What should we think of someone who never admits error, never entertains doubt but adheres unflinchingly to the same ideas all his life, regardless of new evidence? Doubt and skepticism are signs of rationality. When we are too certain of our opinions, we run the risk of ignoring any evidence that conflicts with our views. It is doubt that shows we are still thinking, still willing to reexamine hardened beliefs when confronted with new facts and new evidence.