Sometimes the most brilliant and intelligent minds do not shine in standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds.
Diane RavitchRead
The greatest obstacle to those who hope to reform American education is complacency.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Complacency hinders efforts to improve and reform the education system.
Diane Ravitch highlights that the biggest barrier to reforming American education is the widespread sense of complacency among educators, policymakers, and the public. This complacency prevents critical reflection and proactive measures that are necessary for meaningful change in the education system, suggesting that a desire for improvement must be accompanied by a recognition of existing shortcomings.
Themes
EducationComplacencyReformChangeObstacle
In practice
Example use cases
During a seminar on education policy, I referenced Ravitch's quote to stress the need for urgency in reform efforts.
More from Diane Ravitch
All quotes βTeachers' working conditions are students' learning conditions
Diane RavitchRead
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.
Diane RavitchRead
Can teachers successfully educate children to think for themselves if teachers are not treated as professionals who think for themselves?
Diane RavitchRead
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.
Diane RavitchRead
Without knowledge and understanding, one tends to become a passive spectator rather than an active participant in the great decisions of our time.
Diane RavitchRead
Similar quotes
More money is put into prisons than into schools. That, in itself, is the description of a nation bent on suicide. I mean, what is more precious to us than our own children? We are going to build a lot more prisons if we do not deal with the schools and their inequalities.
Jonathan KozolRead
A newspaper consists of just the same number of words, whether there be any news in it or not.
Henry FieldingRead
In a high tech world the cure for the tragic shortcomings and perilous fallacies of human intuition is education, but education in economics, evolutionary biology, probability and statistics - unfortunately most High School and College curricula have barely changed since Medieval times!
Steven PinkerRead
Teaching is a distraction and a burden, but it's also an incredible stimulus. And a reprieve, in a way. When you're trying to work on something and it's not going anywhere, you can go to school and there's a two-and-a-half-hour block of time in which you can accomplish something.
Marilynne RobinsonRead
Boosting education will be a direct counterbalance to Boko Haram's appeal. In particular we must educate more young girls, ensuring they will grow up to be empowered through learning to play their full part as citizens of Nigeria and pull themselves up and out of poverty.
Muhammadu BuhariRead
You must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.
ConfuciusRead