Wendy Kopp Quotes

Teach For America was built on the idea that our best hope of reaching 'One Day' is to have thousands of alumni use their diverse experiences and ideas to effect change from inside and outside the education system.

The immediate future is going to be tragic for all of us unless we find a way of making the vast educational resources of this country serve the true purpose of education, truth and justice.

Teaching has always been, for me, linked to issues of social justice. I've never considered it a neutral or passive profession.

Until we get equality in education, we won’t have an equal society.

I see education in the U.K. as a civil rights struggle.

We are now operating a school system in America that's more segregated than at any time since the death of Martin Luther King.

The gap in education in this country, the unfairness of the schools, is one of the great unfairness in this society.

There's no reason why children in inner cities or rural areas do not receive the same quality education or opportunities as those in suburbs or wealthy neighborhoods. If we truly believe in giving all citizens a chance to pursue happiness and pursue their goals, then we cannot continue to marginalize entire groups of people.

If education does not create a need for the best in life, then we are stuck in an undemocratic, rigid caste society.

The lack of diversity in higher education is a problem we as a country must tackle if we're going to live up to our promise.

I grew up in a very progressive family and with a great educational system, and I asked myself, 'Why doesn't everybody have these opportunities for a good education? So why not give back to these kids who didn't grow up with the same privileges I had?'

Some people say that we will never fix education in America until we fix poverty. I think that they have it exactly wrong. We will never fix poverty until we fix education.

Tomorrow everybody--or practically everybody--will have had the education of the upper class of yesterday.

I remember I used to go school with guys who couldn't afford notebooks, pens, paper: the necessary tools needed in order to survive in school. It's a lot of kids in Gary who are at a disadvantage without that.

Let me ask you: Should only children of the wealthy have access to quality early education? Should only children of the wealthy have access to a college degree? The answer - the only answer - is: no.

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.

Latinos care about education, yes, so we need reform, not just money.

I believe we need a national amendment which will guarantee every child in America the promise of not just an equal education but a high-quality equal education.

I think the thing I'd like to do is just educate the people to some of the travesties they can end.

Teach For America provides one of the most critical pipelines for bringing new talent into public education.

If all the rich and all of the church people should send their children to the public schools they would feel bound to concentrate their money on improving these schools until they met the highest ideals.

We have a large underclass in Britain, and a fairly low standard of education. Our best universities are extremely good, but a very significant proportion of the British population that comes out of compulsory schooling with very low standards of education.

To pine for the days before public education became a practical reality is to pine for an America held back by mass ignorance and mass illiteracy.

I believe that education is the greatest equalizer; thus, I will continue to fight to equalize the playing field in an educational atmosphere that is not always level!