Adam Cohen Quotes

These day schools did invaluable service in the days of the Colony and Commonwealth, and, indeed, in the early days of the Republic; but to their continuation must undoubtedly be ascribed the tardy recognition of the government and people of the fact that no agency for the education of the masses is as effective as the public school.... There is not one public school building owned by the government or by any city or township.

Charter schools are public schools that operate, to a certain extent, outside the system. They have more control over their teachers, curriculum and resources. They also have less money than public schools.

As education and employment secretary in 1997, I inherited hundreds of schools where the roofs leaked, the windows rattled, and they relied entirely on outside toilets.

It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights ... at the school house door.

When people lose faith in a system as they have in the public school system, they no longer want to support it.

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

This question of free text books in public schools seems to me one that should be given more consideration than has been done in the past. New York City provides them, individual towns and villages do the same, but the vast number of rural schools, particularly in poorer districts, put the burden on the parents to buy the books the children need.

There's no silver bullet when it comes to helping all children achieve. Great public schools are our best shot.

The vast majority of students in this country will continue to attend public schools.

Charter schools in particular have proven a lifeline for millions of children stuck in chronically failing schools.

A great economy requires great public schools.

It's not who you're going to sit beside at school that matters now: it's what resources will your school have.

We used to have superb public schools. I guess we don't anymore, but, boy, the public schools were really something and I am a product of those in Indianapolis.

You can’t reform education without spending some money.

I'm not knocking private schools, but I owe it to my kids to let them grow up in a place where private school isn't required. They're only in school 6-8 hours a day; they have to live in their neighborhood 24 hours a day. I didn't want them growing up in a place where anybody with the means had abandoned their public schools.

In some of our public schools drugs are easier to obtain than text books.

To restore our public schools, we must put an end to the selfish agenda of the union bosses.

I grew up in the public schools, my mom taught in them, and then my daughter is in them.

If, as the popular saying goes, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, the people who run our public schools fit that description.

We know that there will never be a great Newark unless there is a great public school system for our city.

It's hard to improve public education - that's clear.

On the surface, public schools can seem egalitarian, especially with their websites' emphasis on words such as 'connection,' 'community,' and 'choice.' Yet despite this democratic vocabulary, money makes a big difference.

No family should feel they need to leave San Francisco to find a great public education.

Failing to appropriately fund our schools creates more pressure on local communities who are forced to make up the state's shortfall by increasing property taxes.

We should have better schools.