Diane Ravitch Quotes

College education is the engine of social mobility in this country.

Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university?

Michelle and I—we’re where we are today only because scholarships and student loans gave us a shot at a great education.

When I left Stockton and went to Stanford, I felt I hit the lotto. I did not think I was coming back.

John Edwards comes from working folk, just like me. John Edwards worked hard and excelled to get his education, just like me.

I grew up believing in meritocracy and the American dream. My parents came here from India. They had no connections. My brother and I went to public schools, and both of us succeeded.

Outside of the family, education is the greatest determinant of social mobility.

I went to school and made good grades and went to college. So I was afforded an opportunity through my parents' hard work that most people don't have.

A lot of kids spent more time out of school than in, but I always loved school and thought it was my way out of Cleveland, and out of poverty.

In America, as opposed to the old country, success was based on merit.

I believe that it is higher education's purpose and calling to keep open the door to the American dream.

I got into Goldman really by acquisition because I had gone - I grew up in east New York in the Linden Projects - I did go to fancy schools, but my resume wasn't up to a Wall Street set of resumes. I went to college. I went to law school and practiced for a while.

It isn't the rich people's fault that poor people are poor. Poor people who get an education and work hard in this country will stop being poor. That should be the goal for all poor people everywhere.

My parents came from a poor background and worked their way up because of education. They saw it as a way to succeed. So they cared about me getting straight A grades when I was growing up.

In America today, a young person needs more education after high school just to have a chance to make it in the middle class. Not a guarantee, just a chance to make it.

There are 4 billion cell phones in use today. Many of them are in the hands of market vendors, rickshaw drivers, and others who've historically lacked access to education and opportunity. Information networks have become a great leveler, and we should use them together to help lift people out of poverty and give them a freedom from want.

My parents were the first in our family to go to grammar school. My grandparents were in service.

The son of the coarsest man in the country, if he attends to his learning may become President.

Because of the British Welfare State …, I was never hungry…. The schools I attended were free and actually acted as ladders of mobility for those randomly given the skills in the genetic lottery of life to climb them.

My dad got a job as a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. He teaches biology and genetics. My dad has been obsessed with science his whole life. Both my paternal grandparents were illiterate bamboo farmers, so he really worked his way up and then got a Ph.D., full ride and everything, from universities in America.

I had come to college believing in a story that if you worked hard, the American dream was reachable.

That is what made America great: that everyone had the opportunity to be a winner. And I think it's still there. I'm certainly a beneficiary of it.

The opportunities of America opened out to me the public schools. They carried me to the professional training of an American university. I began by working with my own hands for my daily bread.

If you get better educated, you might yourself higher up the ladder, but the ladder will still be there.

The American Dream is that any man or woman, despite of his or her background, can change their circumstances and rise as high as they are willing to work.