Those who can’t teach, pass laws about how to evaluate teachers.

Testing children until they cry is a bad idea. It is an educational malpractice.

The greatest obstacle to those who hope to reform American education is complacency.

American education has been littered with failed fads and foolish ideas for the past century.

Those who can’t teach, pass laws about how to evaluate teachers.

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.

Congress and state legislatures should not tell teachers how to teach, any more than they should tell surgeons how to perform operations.