Diane Ravitch Teacher Quotations

Can teachers successfully educate children to think for themselves if teachers are not treated as professionals who think for themselves?

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

Teachers' working conditions are students' learning conditions

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

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.

Going to school is not the same as going shopping. Parents should not be burdened with locating a suitable school for their child. They should be able to take their child to the neighborhood public school as a matter of course and expect that it has well-educated teachers and a sound educational program.

The foundations demand that public schools and teachers be held accountable for performance, but they themselves are accountable to no one. If their plans fail, no sanctions are levied against them. They are bastions of unaccountability.