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.

Without knowledge and understanding, one tends to become a passive spectator rather than an active participant in the great decisions of our time.

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

One of the persistent ironies of reform is the impossibility of predicting the full consequences of change.

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.

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

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