Quotes from Richard D. Kahlenberg

Republicans don't want to 'save the world'; they want to save the country from those who would 'save the world.

My larger point is that since each of us struggles daily with good and bad impulses, we might want to restructure our social institutions in order to make it a little easier to be good.

Education has long been viewed in American society as "the great equalizer." But in practice, American schools are highly segregated by race and socioeconomic status, which defeats the equality goal. Research dating back five decades shows one of the most powerful ways to improve the life chances of disadvantaged students is giving them the opportunity to attend high-quality schools that educate rich and poor students under a single roof.135

Low-income students stuck in schools located in high-poverty areas are surrounded by peers who, because they have had less opportunity, are typically less academically engaged and more likely to act out than those in schools in higher-income neighborhoods.

For me, the other compelling thread, which dates back to my college days in the 1980s, has been my growing recognition that liberalism—the political ideology I was raised in and still am most generally attracted to—has a serious elitism problem that needs correcting.

Especially troubling for me is the research that finds that liberal communities actually engage in higher rates of exclusionary zoning than conservative ones.