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Good morning. Thank you Secretary Rice for your kind introduction. I'm happy to join you in hosting the U.S. University Presidents Summit on International Education.

Since becoming secretary of education, I've spent a lot of time with members of the higher education community. But these last few months have been the most extraordinary. After seeing firsthand the impact the hurricanes Katrina and Rita had on your community, I was thrilled—but not surprised—by the outpouring of support from many of you in this room to your colleagues in the Gulf region. I especially want to recognize Norm Francis from Xavier University, who lost his home and personal belongings to Katrina but never stopped working to save his university. I'm sure he's looking forward to welcoming students and parents back to his campus next week.

Our higher education system has given millions of Americans the chance to realize their potential, live the American dream, and contribute in the public and private sectors. It has spread our democratic ideals abroad and strengthened them here at home. And it has helped our country become the center of innovation and the world's leading economic and political power.

In the last 50 years, American ingenuity has put a man on the moon, a rover on Mars, and computers in our businesses, our homes, and even our pockets. Research at universities like yours launched the World Wide Web, mapped the human genome, and developed life-extending drugs and treatment for AIDS. It also accounted for major growth in our gross domestic product.

The last half-century has reminded us how American innovation can spread democracy, freedom, and hope. Those who founded and those who have led our nation through the centuries understood that education is the essential foundation for a thriving, inventive democracy. Before founding the University of Virginia in 1819, Thomas Jefferson noted that "nothing [has advanced] the prosperity, the power, and the happiness of a nation" more than education, and he was right.

As Secretary Rice mentioned last night, many of us grew up in the shadow of the Cold War. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, the year I was born, which, by the way, makes me a little younger than lots of people in this room! In response, former Columbia University President Dwight Eisenhower launched a historic national investment in math and science. He understood that education was the best weapon he had.

Between 1958 and 1968, American universities reacted to Sputnik with an extraordinary display of ingenuity. Within a decade, our country tripled the number of science and engineering PhDs awarded every year. More importantly, we turned the threat of Soviet competition into proof of our ability to improve the quality of life for our citizens and countless others worldwide.

Today, we have no symbol as obvious as a Russian satellite streaking through the sky to remind us of our global competitors, but there are many smaller signs fast approaching on the horizon. The world is changing at a rapid pace, and many of our students lack the skills to succeed in the global knowledge economy.

As you know, we face a severe shortage of Americans who speak languages that are critical to our national security. While only 44 percent of our high school students are studying any foreign language, learning a second or even a third foreign language is compulsory for students in the European Union, China, Thailand, and many other countries, including those you might not expect, like Kazakhstan. Many begin learning before they're even 10 years old. And as fluent, accent-less adults, they will have a strong advantage over monolingual Americans in developing new relationships and businesses in countries other than their own.

As President Bush said yesterday, "Learning somebody else's language is a kind gesture, and a gesture of interest. It is a fundamental way to reach out to somebody and say, 'I care about you.' I want you to know that I'm interested in not only how you talk but how you live."

This is not just an education issue; it's an economic issue, a civic issue, a social issue, a national security issue, and it's everybody's issue.

To prepare American students for the future, we must follow the example that school districts are beginning to set. Chicago public schools are teaching Chinese to nearly 3,000 K-12 students, including fourth-grader Raul Freire, who says he enrolled because—and I quote, "I think about being a traveler when I grow up, so I have to learn as many languages as I can." He's got the right idea, and so does Corey Eby, a high school sophomore in Minneapolis who is learning Arabic because, as he says, "there's a huge demand for translators."

In Portland, students can begin learning Chinese in kindergarten and continue all the way through college at the University of Oregon. Under the proposal President Bush announced yesterday, the Department of Education would support more partnerships between universities and local school districts. We will help more K-12 schools adopt effective programs to teach Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Hindi, and other critical languages. We will offer Americans who already speak these languages the opportunity to teach in elementary or secondary schools. And we will provide teachers with intensive, research-based training.

We will also develop an online clearinghouse for foreign language study. We're already supporting projects like Outreach World dot org, which collects research from 120 federally funded National Resource Centers. The new clearinghouse would serve as a one-stop shop, combining knowledge from the public, private, and higher education sectors to provide an inventory of foreign language programs that have been proven to work.

But languages are only one part of preparing students for our ever-changing world. Growing up in the shadow of Sputnik, who would have imagined that people in Bangalore would be tutoring our children online or solving our computer problems by phone?

As Tom Friedman says in his bestseller The World Is Flat, U.S. high-tech companies are seeking employees abroad, not just because they can be paid less, but because they are often more skilled and more motivated. These companies are not just following the money. They're also following the brains. Our students are facing an education and ambition gap, and they're on the wrong side.

And as Norm Augustine, head of the National Academies Gathering Storm committee and former chairman of Lockheed Martin, recently told the Congress, "Americans find themselves in competition for their jobs not just with their neighbors but with individuals around the world." The committee's number-one recommendation for improving the situation is to strengthen the K-12 pipeline, especially in math and science.

This is not to say that in the post-9/11 world, we shouldn't be looking at the process for awarding visas to students from other countries. As Secretary Rice said last night, "We in government will continue to take new action as you voice your concerns." But at this summit, I hope we will spend more time talking about how to improve our entire education system—from K to grade 16—than about the issue of visas for international students.

In this world where what you know means much more than where you live, we all have a responsibility to make sure America's education system gives students the chance to succeed. Preparing our students for the future begins long before college. It starts with high standards, accountability, annual measurement, and disaggregated data to show which students need help and whether some groups of students are falling behind their peers. These principles are the pillars of our nation's commitment to leave no child behind.

Thanks to the No Child Left Behind Act, students' scores are rising, and more minority students are catching up to their peers than ever before, especially in the early grades. But we still have a long way to go.

Less than half of high school students graduate ready for college-level math and science. And a recent adult literacy study showed that 11 million Americans—that's 5 percent of our adult population—are unable to read.

The president and I think that's simply unacceptable. So, we're supporting high school reform that focuses on core subjects like reading, math, and science to help more students graduate ready for college.

But we can't do it alone. As you know, about 80 percent of the fastest-growing jobs require postsecondary education. And, on average, college graduates earn almost twice as much as workers with just a high school diploma. Unfortunately, less than a third of Americans have bachelor's degrees—and less than 20 percent of African-Americans and Hispanics.

In other words, a college degree is more important than ever. And too few Americans have one. To start a national discussion on how we can meet rising enrollment numbers and new economic demands, in September I launched the Commission on the Future of Higher Education. I'm happy to see four of its members here today:

• My friend Charles Miller, who chairs the commission, is former chairman of the University of Texas Board of Regents.
• Chuck Vest is president emeritus at MIT.
• David Ward is president of the American Council on Education.
• And Bob Mendenhall is president of Western Governors University.

I look forward to reading the Higher Education Commission's report next summer. And I'm pleased to be working with the Congress to create new SMART grants for college students who major in math, science, or critical foreign languages. By providing up to $8,000 during their junior and senior years—for a total of more than two billion dollars over the next five years—these grants will encourage more students to go into fields that increase America's security and continue our fine tradition of innovation.

I'm also counting on you to join in a united effort to better align dollars with our shared priorities so that our entire K-16 system remains the best in the world.

For example, how well are you working with your local school systems? Is your state's high school curriculum aligned with your entrance exam? How many of you have considered implementing an early assessment program with your local school district, like Chancellor Charles Reed has done at California State? Are you encouraging your students, especially those with critical math, science, and foreign language skills, to become teachers?

Or maybe you're researching the best ways to get federally funded research and tools into the hands of the language teachers who need them, like the Center for Language Education and Research at Michigan State is doing. Or developing a video-based curriculum that can be used in any K-12 setting, like the Doorway into Hindi project at North Carolina State. Or connecting K-12 students with scholars through live interactive video, like the Center for the Study of Global Change at Indiana University.

I hope you will also think about how well you're preparing students to understand the global economy and what resources you're devoting towards this goal. Are you offering classes? A chance to hear from international speakers? Scholarships for students who study critical languages, or travel to regions beyond Western Europe, such as the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Central and South America?

Half a century ago, a Russian satellite drove American educators from all levels to work together to prepare a new generation of innovators. Every day, all of us benefit from that collaboration in technology, medicine, industry, and commerce, and so do billions worldwide.

Today, from kindergarten through college, our students are counting on you to prepare them for a whole new world. And our nation is counting on you to share your expertise with the K-12 system. I'm truly looking forward to working with you today and in the days and years ahead, to continue America's legacy of innovation, security, hope, and opportunity.

Thank you.

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