“Most people are mirrors, reflecting the moods and emotions of the times; few are windows, bringing light to bear on the dark corners where troubles fester. The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.”–Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author (1917-1986).

Don Hewes [Fred Astaire]: “Aha, that’s the trouble with college—you’ve been reading books! [Raises his glass] There’s more sense in one of these than in a whole library, right Mike?”

Mike [the bartender]: “Oh, education is all right; it’s the people who spoil it.”

–Easter Parade, 1948.

“For a decade, the Bush-era federal law called No Child Left Behind has required the nation’s public schools to test every student in grades 3-8 in reading and mathematics. Now, the Obama administration is pressuring the states to test every grade and every subject. No student will be left untested. Every teacher will be judged by his or her students’ scores. Cheating scandals will proliferate. Many teachers will be fired. Many will leave teaching, discouraged by the loss of their professional autonomy. Who will take their place? Will we ever break free of our national addiction to data? Will we ever stop to wonder if the data mean anything important? Will education survive school reform?”–Diane Ravitch, The New York Review of Books