necessary part of school reform? if we have to acknowledge the whole child is somehow let down by what s happening outside the school? in a word yes. character education is terribly important. yes. number two, depending on what kids need to know. they need to think critically for themselves. problem solving. and when you teach to the test, this is my problem, kids don t learn how to think critically for themselves number on what they should also know quickly, thomas friedman said that the wor is flat, i m not so sure it s flat as tilting and it tilting more against us. that is to say we are in a global environment. a glob world. if we don t get this education right for our children, the country endsp being bearing the brunt of that. a renewed focus on children is a renewed focus on this country. just a word about the discipline in the global economy. a lot of outsourcing, which a lot of us regret, takes place not because wages are lower, but skills are better. people go to india be
teachers more. the other adult is the parent. it really does make a difference in a society when 30% of our kids don t live with their fathers. when there are a lot of people who can t go home and work with the kids on homework, all the research is clear. the teacher is the single most importt factor in the school. the most important part of education in a child s education is parent. parents interest in that child s education. i agree with that. in fairytales, the cldren are saved by caring adults. we need more caring adults in the lives of our children. it s not just formal teaching in the classroom. it s coaches. it s people that are involved in kids lives at every level and supporting their parents. their parents need better jobs so they can help them with their homework. and don t have to work two jobs. can i say one other thing, tavis. when we have a more muscular federal rule, to have this conversation, are you concerned and bill maybe you ll respond, that you ll have anoth
know? if you poll the parents, they think it s better. they love the choice we have. we are opening new schools and closing failing ones. we have raised salaries 45% over ten years to keep them from leaving the city. we increased the school budget by 105% in the last ten years. they love the fact we are focusing education on the kind of things that help kids get jobs. our objective is to make everybody college ready or career ready or both. today, we have design, art and graphics, medicine, law, computer science. we have adeal with ibm where we have a school that goes nine through 14 grades. nine through 12 in the public schools. you stay in and get a junior college associates degree and ib puts you on the list to hire
what should our graduating seniseen know in this economy in this role in time? it plays in the role of higher education. it does. clearly, they have to know how to read and write and speak. more than that, they have to know how to absorb new knowledge. we can t predict what they re going to need to know ten years from now. we know they have to have a set of skillso they can absorb new technology, understand the new things that are coming at them. th s very important. high education has a role. we need to drive down requirements for the schools. in the 19th century, we increased in the quality of the schools by higher education saying you can t come in unless you have these skills. unless you have taken these courses. we did that in wisconsin when i was there. it helped to transform the secondary school system. we gave the secondary schools seven years to meet the new requirements at the university of wisconsin madison. hier education has a role here. in demanding that kids be better
do you think the president can be reelected? yeah. the incumbents have an advantage. if i was the president, i was emphasize the things i have done. some things haven t worked, i apologize for that. the president is a viable candidate. let me spend a couple moments on education. it s been a top priority for you during your years as mayor. there s been criticism aut larger class sizes, holes indicating disapproval of you among new yorkers. what do you think is the one poll that said the public wasn t satisfied with the improvement in education. the intellectual dishonesty in the poll is mind boggling. there are only 10% of the people in the poll who were asked in the poll who send their kids to public schools. if you don t work in the public schools or send your kids to public schools, how would you