I’ve told you some of my views on education so that you know how I approach the
second position that I speak from today - as chair of the National Center for Public
Policy and Higher Education. The Center’s purpose is the same cause that we have
championed in North Carolina in our higher education efforts, in our efforts to achieve
excellent public schools, and in our efforts to give our children a Smart Start -
in other words, to emphasize learning all the way through. That cause - and it’s
one that all of you have devoted your lives to - involves opening the doors of opportunity,
the doors that lead to success and achievement and fulfillment in our country. The
doors that have led Americans to better lives.
Education generally, and higher education in particular, has several purposes
- and one of the most important is to promote citizenship. As I look at the political
scene today, having good citizens who care, who understand, who can ferret out truth
seems to me to be more and more important. And we ought to say it first when we talk
about our purposes.
A second purpose is preparing people to be good human beings, to be good members
of families, to be the kind of parents and spouses we ought to be in our families
and communities.
And of course a third purpose involves educating people with world-competitive
skills. One of the reasons I have always been very interested in education - I will
be frank about this, and many of your governors would say the same thing - is because
I want to help people have good jobs. Not just jobs, but good jobs that pay people
well, that enable them to provide for their families. Most governors work hard to
create jobs and would describe themselves as “economic development governors.” The
best strategy for doing that, I’ve come to realize, is to stress education - to educate
and train and motivate people so that they are bright and productive, so that they
can think for a living. And you try to do that for all of the people.
