0 and that all begins with the education that we give young people. because all of you are growing up in changing times, especially for the economy. the world you're growing up in is different than the one the previous generations here in bro brookl brooklyn knew and all across country knew. in the old days, a young person, they might just have followed their parents' footsteps, gotten a job in their parents' line of work, keep that job for 30, 40 years. if you were willing to work hard, you didn't necessarily need a great education. if you just had gone to high school, you might get a job at a factory or in the garment district. or you might be able to just get a job that allowed you to earn your wages, keep pace with people who had a chance to go to college. but those days are over. and those days are not coming back. we live in a 21st century global economy. and in a global economy, jobs can go anywhere. from ibm, citi tech, citi university of new york. citi department of education, everybody is pulling together to make sure a high school education puts young people on a path to a good job. so you guys have opportunities here that you don't find in most high schools yet. you can take college-level courses in math and science. you can work with mentors from ibm so you're learning specific skills that you know leads to a good job. and, most important, you'll graduate with a high school diploma, and an associate's degree in computer systems or electro and mechanical engineering. and that means you'll be in demand. companies will want to hire you. ibm has even said that p-tech graduates will be first in line when you apply for jobs once you graduate. and at a moment when the cost of higher education keeps going up and arne and i are working hard to make sure we are doing everything we can to reduce the burden of student loans on young people, here is how much two years of college will cost p-tech students and their families. zero. nothing. nothing. i noticed some of the parents were the first to clap. they're all like, yeah. they like that. but that's a huge burden. i mean, that's -- that's thousands of dollars that you're saving, and that means when you start working, you're going to have that much less of a burden in terms of debt. which means you can afford to buy a house sooner. you can afford to start your business sooner. radcliffe was saying how he's thinking about, you know, starting his own business. and that kind of attitude is a lot easier when you're not burdened with a lot of student loans. so this is a ticket into the con-ed and cisco, they saw what ibm is doing, and they said this is a good idea, we can do this too. so they're working with educators and states to replicate what you're doing here and you guys should feel good about that. you're starting something. all across the country. so as a country, we should all want what all of you are receiving right now. the same chance. for a great education. here's what i think we should do as a country. to make sure they've got the same opportunity as you do. first of all, we've got to give every child an earlier start at success by making high-quality preschool available to every 4-year-old in america. we should give every student access to the world's information. when i went into the classroom today, you know, young people were working off computers, and the problem is, a lot of places, even if they've got computers, they're not hooked up to wireless. so what we're doing is, having the federal agencies moving forward on a plan to connect 99% of america's students to high-speed internet within five years. we were already moving on that front. we need to bring down the cost of college and give more young people the chance to go to college. so a couple months ago, i put forward an ambitious plan to do that, to reduce the cost of college. we need to redesign more of our high schools so that they teach young people the skills required for high-tech economy. so i've been meeting with business leaders and innovative educators to spread the best ideas. and i also want to congratulate governor cuomo and all of you in new york for having the courage to raise your standards for teaching and learning to make sure that more students graduate from high school ready for college and a career. it's not easy, but it's the right thing to do. it's going to prepare more young people for today's economy. we should stay at it. and here's one more thing we should do. and that is just remember none of this works unless we've got outstanding teachers. which means we've got -- we've got to make sure -- we've got to make sure that we're funding education so that teachers have the support that they need, so that they can support their own families, so that they're not having to dig into their pockets for school supplies. and we've got to show them the respect and provide pathways of excellence for teachers so that they're treated like the professionals they are. it is a hard job and we've got to make sure we're investing in them. now, some of these ideas i've laid out before. some of them i'm just going ahead and doing on my own. some of them do require congress to do something. and one way we can start is by congress passing a budget that reflects our need to invest in our young people. i know the budgets aren't the most interesting topic for a friday afternoon. even in a school where young people like math. and, by the way, i just sat in on a lesson called real world math, which got me thinking whether it's too late to send congress here. for a remedial course. but -- but a budget is important. because what a budget does is it sets our priorities. it tells us what we think is important. what our priorities are. and the stakes for our middle class could not be higher. if we don't set the right priorities now, then many of you will be put at a competitive disadvantage compared to other countries. if you think education is expensive, wait until you see how much ignorance costs. so we've got to invest. so we need a budget that is responsible, that is fiscally prudent. but a budget that cuts what we don't need, closes wasteful tax loopholes that don't create jobs, freeing up resources to invest in the things that actually do help us grow. things like education and design scientific research and infrastructure. roads, bridges, airports. they should not be an ideological exercise. we should use some common sense. what's going to help us grow? what's figure going to create jobs, what's going to expand our middle class, what's going to give more opportunity to young people. those are the thing we should be putting money into. that's what we need to do. and we've got enough resources to do it if we stop spending on things that don't work, and don't make sense. or if we make sure that people aren't wiggling out of their taxes. through these corporate loopholes that only a few people at the very top can take advantage of. if we just do everything in a fair, common sense way, we've got the resources. to be fiscally responsible and invest in our future. and this obsession with cutting just for the sake of cutting hasn't helped our economy grow. it's held it back. it won't help us build a better society for your generation. and, by the way, it's important to remember for those who are following the news, our deficits are getting smaller. they have been cut in half since i took office. all right? so -- so that gives us room to fix longer-term debt problems without sticking it to your generation. we don't have to choose between growth and fiscal responsibility. we've got to do both. and the question can't just be how much more we can cut. it got to be how many more schools like p-tech we can create. that should be our priority. you know, after the manufactured crises that congress -- actually, a small group in the house of representatives just put us through, shutting down the government and threatening to potentially default on our debt, i don't want to hear the same old stuff about how america can't afford to invest in the things that have always made us strong. don't tell me we can afford to shut down the government, which costs our economy billions of dollars, but we can't afford to invest in our education systems. because there is nothing more important than this. in fact, what i would like to do is have every member of congress, maybe chuck can arrange -- and the congressional delegation can arrange some tours for some of their colleagues. come here. come to brooklyn. meet some of these young people. they ought to meet some of the young people here. meet somebody like leslie ann john, a young woman who sang the national anthem this afternoon. you know, leslie ann is in the 11th grade, she is already taking -- she's already taken eight college classes, which is about as many as i took when i was in college. she knows she has a great opportunity here. she is working hard to make the most of it. eventually, she plans to become a lawyer. and leslie ann is right about the challenges the students here face. you know, she put it, you know -- in a way that a lot of people can relate. she said we see a whole bunch of craziness going on in the streets of crown heights sometimes. it's what she said. but she also said that being here at p-tech taught her something important. there is more for us than just the streets. and she said that at the end of the day, we've got to make something of ourselves. and that's important -- that's important. it's not just what the government or adults can do for you. it's also what you can do for yourselves. and that sense of responsibility -- that sense that you set the bar high for yourself, that's what america is all about. that's been the history of new york. people working hard, but also working together to make sure that everybody has got a fair shot. to make sure you don't have to be born wealthy. you don't have to be born famous. that if you have got some drive and some energy, then you can go to a school that teaches you what you need to know. you can go to college, even if you don't have a lot of money. you can start your own business. even if you didn't inherit a business. making something of ourselves. that's what we do in this country. that's a message we're sending to washington. no more games, no more gridlock. no more gutting the things that help america grow and give people the tools to make something of themselves. that's what this is about. that's what p-tech represents, that's what brooklyn represents. and as long as i have the privilege to be your president, i'm going to keep fighting to make sure that no matter who you are, where you come from, what you look like, this country will always be a place where you can make it if you try. so thank you, brooklyn. god bless you. god bless america. ♪ >> we've been listening to the president speaking of brooklyn's p-tech high school about the importance of ensuring the next generation has the skills to compete and succeed in a dynamic global economy. the president first mentioned p-tech in his state of the union address in january this year. students at the six-year high school graduate with not only a diploma, but with an associate's degree in a high-tech concentration like computer science or engineering. and the president said it would be a model for the kind of opportunity that every single student deserves. >> we have to educate our young people, every single person here, but also all the young people all across brooklyn, all across new york city. all across new york state and all across this country. so that you're ready for this global economy. and schools like p-tech will help us do that. >> for more, i'd like to bring in msnbc contributor, professor james peterson. with us from raleigh, north carolina. professor, you heard the proe president say, if you think education is expensive, wait till you see how much ignorance costs. >> i love that. one of my favorite parts of the speech. the cost of ignorance. it's long-term understanding. and his conversation about the budget serves us, as well. part of the process is understanding our priorities. if we're spending so much of our budget on defense or spending so much on tax loopholes for the rich, we're not prioritizing education, which is the safety and future of this nation. so i like that part. there are other good things here, as well, martin. i'm not a fan of the sort of these exceptional models for schools because i want to think about how you bring things to scale, right? >> yes. >> but the president was clear we need classrooms of the future. that we need to be technologically advanced. and while i'm a little skeptical of private investment and public education, because i think sometimes people on the right would love to see that kind of justice and equity. but the president made it clear, the federal government is going to make 99% of our students connected to the worldwide web. to me that's scale. and i think if you think about this speech, he sort of gives the shoutouts to the private investment and also talks about the role of the federal government. so there is some balance there. even though i don't agree with everything he is talking about, i certainly agree with the federal government's role with thinking about the future and understanding the ways in which the budgetary process is a reflection of our priorities and nation. >> and also, professor peterson, he made no bones about going back to this issue of congress. and saying we live in a 21st century global economy. the jobs can go elsewhere. without a good education, you'll be left behind. and then he said, we have a choice to make. we either adapt and invest or shrug our shoulders and when i listen to what republicans -- what have they said about this kind of issue? very little. >> nothing. nothing. i mean, in the past, you would hear republicans talk about school choice and vouchers. we've heard very little from them about education. part of the things -- and this is really important to understand. we can't respect teachers, pay teachers better, bring our classrooms in the 21st century at the same time that we're defunding government. we can't lower the cost for college education unless we restore the rates with which the federal government supports higher education. and so what he's saying quietly and directly to his republican colleagues there is listen, we have to think about the future and we have to understand what our priorities are. we can't cut, cut, cut, cut and expect to have a robust public education system. >> and finally, professor peterson, is it not the case that the man himself knows what he's talking about, because he himself has been through that position as someone who has cared for in a single-parent family who relied on assistance, who worked hard, and is now the president of the united states. there is a sense in which this is a personal issue for him. >> it is. it is. and the point has to be clear, that in this nation, we consider it a right to learn how to read, to learn how to write, to learn how to earn a job and get a job in the economy of your time. that requires us to double down on the ways in which we invest in education at every level. so, again, i'm a little bit skeptical of private investment, because it's very difficult to bring that to scale. but where he's talking about the federal government's role in insuring the rights for people to become educated is powerful, important and timely. >> professor james peterson, as ever, your thoughts are timely and powerful. thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> coming up, trial by fire for the president's health care law. but could we be glitch-free by thanksgiving? congressman elijah cummings joins us next. stay with us. 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