bipartisanship to fix what's failing so many america's children. michelle, the floor is yours. >> thanks. tonight president obama addresses the nation and will touch on issues important to all of us. particularly the economy and jobs. but the truth is we can discuss job creation and economic recovery until we're blue in the face but until we're willing to take a hard look at how we educate our children in this country, it's a complete waste of time. overall the unemployment rate is still hovering between 9% and 10%. the unemployment rate among minorities is much higher around 14.8% for blacks and similar number for latinos. these along with people living in rural areas are the ones most often stuck in failing schools. american exceptionalism and competitiveness have absolutely no future if we're not willing to reevaluate 0-mere educating our children now. according to the department of education, as of 2008 more than 1700 dropout factories or high schools in which less than 60%