Barack Obama

“ I am also eager to apply some of the lessons we have learned here in Chicago to help school districts all across our country. We have worked with a tremendous sense of urgency because we can't wait.
Our children have just one chance to get a quality education. And they need and deserve the absolute best. While there are no simple answers, I know from experience that when you focus on basics, like reading and math, and when you embrace innovative new approaches and when you create a professional climate, to attract great teachers, you can create great schools. ”

“ As the husband and brother of educators, the vice president-elect and I know this won't be easy. We've seen how hard Jill and Maya work every day.
And we know it's going to take all of us, working together, because in the end, responsibility for our children's success doesn't start in Washington, it starts in our homes and our families.
No education policy can replace a parent who makes sure a child gets to school on time, or helps with homework and attends those parent-teacher conferences. No government program can turn off the TV or put away the video games and read to a child at night. ”

“ Because at a time when companies can plant jobs wherever there's an Internet connection, and two-thirds of all new jobs require a higher education or advanced training, if we want to outcompete the world tomorrow, then we're going to have to outeducate the world today.
Unfortunately when our high school dropout rate is one of the highest, in the industrialized world, when a third of all 4th graders can't do basic math, when more and more Americans are getting priced out of attending college, we're falling far short of that goal. ”

“ President, are the kite strings that lift our national ambitions aloft. These kids are, as you said, our kids.
And Arne Duncan, as the secretary of Education, is going to expect a great deal of our children and, I expect, Arne, maybe of our parents, as well. And that's a really very, very good thing because if our children are going to succeed, if our economy is going to thrive, we have to have an education system that's second to none in the world. That's the only way our children and our nation are going to be able to compete in today's global economy. ”

“ And the results aren't just about test scores or statistics, but about whether our children are developing the skills they need to compete with any worker in the world for any job.
When faced with tough decisions, Arne doesn't blink. He's not beholden to any one ideology, and he doesn't hesitate for one minute to do what needs to be done. He's worked tirelessly to improve teacher quality, increasing the number of master teachers who've completed a rigorous national certification process from just 11 to just shy of 1,200, rewarding school leaders and teachers for gains in student achievement. ”

“ Well, first of all, I think Arne, Joe, myself all agree that the Chicago public schools aren't as good as they need to be, and that the vast majority of schools that are under-performing can do better. That's our job, to raise expectations for parents, for students, for teachers, for principals, for school administrators. ”

“ But education is not just about competing, as any teacher within the walls of this school fully understands. It's about changing lives. As was referenced by the president-elect, his sister and my wife, who are educators, they understand that -- that they need also -- the very good teachers are inspirations to their children. Education systems are inspiration to children. ”

“ And my economic team, which I'm going to be meeting with today, is helping to shape what is going to be a bold agenda to create 2.5 million new jobs, to start helping states and local governments with shovel-ready projects, rebuilding our roads, our bridges, making sure that schools, like this one, are energy-efficient; putting people back to work, getting businesses to start seeing some increase in demand so that we can get, instead of a downward spiral, start getting on an upward spiral. ”

“ Any nation, as -- to paraphrase what the vice -- the president- elect just said -- any nation that outcompetes us -- out-educates us will out-compete us. It's that basic. And that means a stronger commitment to our high schools, our elementary schools, but also our community colleges, and it means college degrees must be within the reach of all -- all -- of our children, for nothing less is good enough. ”

“ They will determine not just whether our children have the chance to fulfill their God-given potential or whether or workers have the chance to build a better life for their families but whether we as a nation will remain, in the 21st century, the kind of global economic leader that we were in the 20th. ”

“ But look, we are going through the toughest time economically since the Great Depression, and it's going to be -- it's going to be tough, and we're going to have to work through a lot of these difficulties, these structural difficulties that built up over many decades, some of it having to do with the financial industry and the huge amounts of leverage, the huge amounts of debt that were taken on, the speculation and the risk that was occurring, the lack of financial regulation ”

“ They're getting to be about as low as they can go. And although the Fed is still going to have more tools available to it, it is critical that the other branches of government step up, and that's why the economic recovery plan is so absolutely critical. ”

“ And one of the things that Arne and I share, I think, is a deep pragmatism in terms of how we go about this. If -- if pay for performance works, and we can work with teachers so they don't feel like it's being imposed on them, but instead they've got an option for different compensation mechanisms, in order for us to encourage high performance, then that's something that we should explore. ”

“ And finally, education is going to be a -- play a critical role in this. You know, what the Fed does or what our administration does in terms of short-term emergency action is obviously going to be important to people's everyday lives. ”