I am opposed to the use of public funds for private education.

If you could lead through testing, the U.S. would lead the world in all education categories. When are people going to understand you don't fatten your lambs by weighing them?

Children are not simply commodities to be herded into line and trained for the jobs that white people who live in segregated neighborhoods have available.

I always want to tell these young idealists that the world is not as dangerous as many in the older generation want them to believe...The [people] for whom I feel the greatest sadness are the ones who choke on their beliefs, who never act on their ideals, who never know the state of struggle in a decent cause, and never know the thrill of even partial victories.

We know that segregation is evil. We know that the sickest children should not go to the worst hospitals.

The contrasts between what is spent today to educate a child in the poorest New York City neighborhoods, where teacher salaries are often even lower than the city averages, and spending levels in the wealthiest suburban areas are daunting challenges to any hope New Yorkers might retain that even semblances of fairness still prevail.

A dream does not die on its own. A dream is vanquished by the choices ordinary people make about real things in their own lives.