Public Education Quotes

• If we get public education right, everything else will follow. But if we get it wrong, not much else will matter.

  Steve Kagen

  Matter, Ifs

  "Problems We Face Together". Representative Steve Kagen, United States House of Representatives, July 21, 2007.

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• Those of us who believe in the right of any human being to belong to whatever church he sees fit, and to worship God in his own way, cannot be accused of prejudice when we do not want to see public education connected with religious control of the schools, which are paid for by taxpayers' money.

  Eleanor Roosevelt

  Religious, Believe, School

  Eleanor Roosevelt, Allida Mae Black (2013). “Courage in a Dangerous World: The Political Writings of Eleanor Roosevelt”, p.253, Columbia University Press

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• Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength of the nation.

  John F. Kennedy

  Education, Dream, Teacher

  Proclamation 3422 at the American Education Week, www.presidency.ucsb.edu. July 25, 1961.

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• The path to a better future goes directly through our public schools. I have nothing against private schools, parochial schools and home schooling, and I think that parents with the means and inclination should choose whatever they believe is best for their children. But those choices cannot compete, and cannot come at the expense of what has been -- and what must always be -- the great equalizer in our society, a free and equal public education.

  Howard Dean

  Children, Believe, Home

  Howard Dean's speech on the Future of the Democratic Party at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., www.c-span.org. December 8, 2004.

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• We have always believed that our people can stand on no higher ground than the school ground, or can enter any more hopeful room than the classroom. We blend time and faith and knowledge in our schools - not only to create educated citizens, but also to shape the destiny of this great Republic.

  Lyndon B. Johnson

  Education, School, Destiny

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• Think about every problem, every challenge, we face. The solution to each starts with education.

  George H. W. Bush

  Education, Thinking, Presidential

  Address to the Nation on the National Education Strategy, www.presidency.ucsb.edu. April 18, 1991.

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• In the U.S., we believe the best way to improve lives is to improve public education.

  Bill Gates

  Believe, Way, Life Is

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• Choosing education is a very good decision, not only good for the student, but also for our country. The United States was the first nation in history to recognize that public education for every citizen, regardless of class or station, was vital to its future . . .

  Mitt Romney

  Country, Class, Decision

  Mitt Romney (2010). “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness”, p.196, Macmillan

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  Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.

  Horace Mann

  Education, Men, Balance

  Horace Mann (1872). “Annual Reports on Education”, p.669

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• Widespread public access to knowledge, like public education, is one of the pillars of our democracy, a guarantee that we can maintain a well-informed citizenry.

  Scott Turow

  Guarantees That, Democracy, Pillars

  "Let-Them-Eat-Cake-Attitude Threatens to Destroy a Network of Public Assets" by Scott Turow, www.huffingtonpost.com. February 15, 2011.

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• Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in. That every man may receive at least a moderate education...appears to be an object of vital importance...

  Abraham Lincoln

  Education, Teacher, Teaching

  Abraham Lincoln's Address Delivered in Candidacy for the State Legislature, March 9, 1832.

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• The best means of forming a manly, virtuous, and happy people will be found in the right education of youth. Without this foundation, every other means, in my opinion, must fail.

  George Washington

  Education, Mean, People

  George Washington, Stephen Lucas (1999). “The Quotable George Washington: The Wisdom of an American Patriot”, p.28, Rowman & Littlefield

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• Public education is an investment in our future.

  Matt Blunt

  Stupid, Investment, Our Future

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• In the government schools, which are referred to as public schools, Indian policy has been instituted there, and its a policy where they do not encourage, in fact, discourage, critical thinking and the creation of ideas and public education.

  Russell Means

  School, Thinking, Government

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• Reforming public education, cutting property taxes, fixing adult and child protective services and funding our budget can all occur when Democrats and Republicans engage in consensus and cooperation - not cynicism and combat.

  Rick Perry

  Children, Cutting, Fixing

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• Humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries – but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity – reducing inequity is the highest human achievement.

  Bill Gates

  Strong, Opportunity, Discovery

  Bill Gates' Commencement Address at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, news.harvard.edu. June 7, 2007.

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• Public education is a great instrument of social change. Through it, if we so desire, we can make our country more nearly a democracy without classes. To do so will require the efforts of us all-teachers, administrators, taxpayers and statesmen. Education is a social process, perhaps the most important process in determining the future of our country; it should command a far larger portion of our national income than it does today.

  James Bryant Conant

  Education, Country, Teacher

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• Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Education, Teacher, Teaching

  "Lincoln's Inaugurals, Addresses and Letters".

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• The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed a standard citizenry, to put down dissent and originality.

  H. L. Mencken

  Education, Learning, Liberty

  The American Mercury Magazine, April 24, 1924.

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• Rather than squander the surplus on tax breaks for the rich, we should add a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare program, shore up Social Security, fortify our defense, provide a quality public education and offer economic assistance to rural areas.

  Bennie Thompson

  Education, Drug, Quality

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• The whole idea of a public education was to train young people about how our system of government works, so they could be good citizens and be part of it. We're not doing that today.

  Sandra Day O'Connor

  Ideas, Government, People

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

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• If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Education, Freedom, War

  Letter to Colonel Charles Yancey, 6 January 1816

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• Laws for the liberal education of youth, especially of the lower class of people, are so extremely wise and useful, that, to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant.

  John Adams

  Education, Wise, Learning

  John Adams (1841). “Letters of John Adams: Addressed to His Wife”, p.284

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• We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know a thing.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Education, Learning, School

  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt McLaughlin (2010). “The Laws of Nature: Excerpts from the Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson”, p.34, North Atlantic Books

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• The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one.

  Malcolm Forbes

  Inspirational, Education, Travel

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