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
thinking law people
In DC, policymakers think that if we can only have high enough standards, tough enough tests, and hold people accountable, we can close the achievement gap. And it hasn't happened. Yet the new law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, is based on the same test-based and market-driven framework and ideology, except it lets the states do it.
troops our-troops ifs
You can't lead your troops if your troops do not trust you.
civilization taught students
Of course, all students should learn African history, as they should learn the history of other continents and major civilizations. But this history should be taught accurately and based on the best scholarship, not ideology or politics.
rainbow gold pot
We will continue to chase rainbows unless we recognize that they are rainbows and there is no pot of gold at the end of them
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.
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.