David Brinkley Quotes

Growing up, I was always in normal public school which is very important in my eyes.

I really don't think our school system is an evil borg force. It's sort of like the government. It's not even efficient enough to be a borg of total evil, even if it wanted to be.

We have done a poor job educating people about education. Only when we have clarified that can we talk about how best to achieve it.

I'll tell you what the real problem is: These people are working under the assumption that they know better about what is good for kids, what kids need to learn to get ahead in this world.

Equal access to public education has been achieved. But what is the good of access to a failing school?

I actually support President Obama's initiatives on early childhood. He has appointed me as a commissioner to consult his administration on educational excellence for Hispanics in the U.S. We try to find ways to improve the education system for Hispanics in America, to achieve excellence.

I am pro-education. I'm just anti the system.

People say, 'Are you going to be beating up one side or the other side?' It's everybody. It's the entire education establishment that is in power.

The problem is, education in America is sub-optimal because it is an impossible thing to optimize. It necessarily has to be local because different schools face different problems. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions.

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

A core part of Teach For America's mission has always been affecting positive change in the traditional public school system.

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

Children themselves know they are being cheated. Ultimately we owe it to our children. They are in school for 190 days a year. Every moment they spend learning is precious. If a year goes by and they are not being stretched and excited, that blights their life.

I believe the government should ensure all children are provided with a good education.

I have maintained a passionate interest in education, which leads me occasionally to make foolish and ill-considered remarks alleging that not everything is well in our schools.

Good schools underpin not only our economy, but the social fabric of our lives.

Public schools were designed as the great equalizers of our society - the place where all children could have access to educational opportunities to make something of themselves in adulthood.

Very likely education does not make very much difference.

You know, there are some areas of the state that are providing enormous help to their students; there are others where they're not doing what they can.

Reared in rural southern Alabama, we enjoyed an idyllic Huck Finn boyhood. But education there was casual at best. Our mother and father were high school teachers and challenged the pervasive easy-going ignorance.

You've got to have a good public education system so small-business owners, when they locate to an area, are confident their kids are getting the best education possible. I feel strongly about local control in school districts.

Over-reliance on strictly economic justifications has already begun to hurt the quality and range of education at every level of American life.

America's public schools have served their purpose. Free and compulsory education was good for a somewhat unpromising young nation.

I am the product of the American education system. It is a system that has always been on the lookout for bright boys and girls. It spotted me when I was 14, and I owe a tremendous debt to my alma mater.

My husband and I are both proud public school graduates.