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
Diane Ravitch quotes about
complacency reform obstacles
The greatest obstacle to those who hope to reform American education is complacency.
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
school fire police
Privatizing our public schools makes as much sense as privatizing the fire department or or the police department
teacher children thinking
Can teachers successfully educate children to think for themselves if teachers are not treated as professionals who think for themselves?
intelligent shining mind
Sometimes the most brilliant and intelligent minds do not shine in standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds.
school ideas long
American Education has a long history of infatuation with fads and ill-considered ideas. The current obsession with making our schools work like a business may be the worst of them, for it threatens to destroy public education. Who will Stand up to the tycoons and politicians and tell them so?
children school curriculum
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.
children school responsibility
Unless the schools provide our children with a vision of human possibility that enlightens and empowers them with knowledge and taste, they will simply play their role in someone else's marketing schemes. Unless they understand deeply the sources of our democracy, they will take it for granted and fail to exercise their rights and responsibilities.
school ladders path
The ladder was there, from the gutter to the university, and for those stalwart enough to ascend it, the schools were a boon and a path out of poverty.
teacher should congress
Congress and state legislatures should not tell teachers how to teach, any more than they should tell surgeons how to perform operations.
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.