November 23, 2009

Gov. Nixon's remarks to Missouri’s “Race to the Top” Forum

Good morning. Thank you, Commissioner Nicastro, for convening this outstanding group of educators, lawmakers, business leaders and citizens to help Missouri compete in the Race to the Top.

And thank all of you for making your way to Jefferson City today, bringing your best ideas and highest aspirations to this exciting and transformative work.

I know that time is short today, and you're eager to begin, so I'll get right to the point.

In our rapidly changing world, the education of America's children - and Missouri's children -- is a high-stakes enterprise.

There is no investment we can make that will have a greater impact on the future of our nation, or the quality of life for our children and grandchildren, than the one we make in their education today.

We have a unique opportunity to help Missouri compete for a share of the $4.3 billion that President Obama is investing in the schools of tomorrow - truly innovative, high-performing schools that will set the standard for the nation. The President has made it plain that the Race to the Top will be won by the swift and the bold. Commissioner Nicastro has made this her top priority for the coming months, and I commend her for doing so.

Like all of you here today, I am deeply committed to strong public education. I am a product of public education myself, as are all the members of my family. I've spent most of my life striving to surpass the expectations of my teachers, from kindergarten through law school.

And that includes all the teachers in my own family: my mother, my wife, and both of my in-laws. Talk about pressure.

Being an educator today - whether you are a teacher, a principal, a superintendent, or a state official - is a high-calling, and one that grows more challenging by the minute.

The world our children live in is radically different from the world we grew up in - and the pace of change is accelerating faster than any of us could have imagined. Just sit down at a computer with a 12-year-old sometime; it's an eye-opening experience.

The old paradigms have shifted, some say for good. The U.S. economy, once the strongest in the world, is under enormous pressure. Pressure from within, by inattention to common sense principles of lending and investing....

And pressure from without by the throbbing engines of global commerce in China and India.

The 6.7 billion of us who share the planet are more intimately connected than at any time in history. We are connected by technology, by popular culture, by global economic tides and by forces of nature thrown out-of-kilter by human activity. The so-called "butterfly effect" - the idea that the flap of a butterfly's wing in a rainforest in Brazil could trigger major changes in the weather in Berlin - no longer sounds like science fiction.

This past weekend, more than 700 members of the World Economic Forum gathered in Dubai to brainstorm innovative ways to manage complex and interconnected global risks. Next month, leaders from every nation will gather in Copenhagen to address the threat of global warming. But if the remedies for the world's problems are not yet clear, one thing is.

The only way to address these issues - from fighting terrorism to cutting carbon emissions - is through collaboration and innovation.

So what does that mean for Missouri, and for us here today?

It means that for Missouri's economy to remain viable in a global marketplace, and for Missouri's children to keep pace with their peers around the world, we have to dramatically ramp up the preparation and training we give them - from pre-school through graduate school.

President Obama has thrown down the gauntlet: When it comes to education, failure is not an option. Mediocrity won't cut it. Good isn't good enough. As every teacher and every parent knows, our children will rise to meet our expectations. That means we've got to aim high, and then work together to propel our schools, our teachers and our students over that high bar.

As you are preparing Missouri's entry for the Race to the Top, I'd like you to remember a fundamental lesson of American history.

Great American innovations - the light bulb, transistors, communications satellites, magnetic resonance imaging, polio vaccine, lasers, artificial hearts, the sequencing of the human genome, the Internet - were not the work of men and women who embraced the status quo.

The United States did not build a trans-continental railroad or land a man on the moon by thinking in increments. Our nation leapt to meet the high expectations of visionary leaders, and by God we hit the mark. What looks like destiny today, was mere aspiration yesterday.

To revive and harness the restless American spirit of innovation demands an educational system that is second-to-none. We can't settle for being 25th in math and 21st in science compared to other nations.

I want the little girl who someday cracks the code of cancer to be the product of Missouri schools. I want the boy who will invent the formula for clean fuel to heat our homes and power our cars to be a native son. And, I want those green machines and medicines manufactured here in Missouri, at a plant that employs cutting edge engineers and cutting edge technology.

Because we don't know where the seeds of innovation might sprout, we must see to it that all Missouri children have a superior education. We must make sure they have teachers who expect nothing less than excellence - from their students and from themselves.

We must redouble our commitment to turning around our lowest achieving schools, to improving high school graduation rates, to closing achievement gaps, and to preparing more high school students for college.

We must bring greater rigor to quantifying that progress, and hold teachers, principals, students and parents accountable for reaching quantifiable goals. If that makes some folks uncomfortable, so be it. But it reminds me of that old saw: "If you don't know where you're going, you'll never get there."

If educators are anything like politicians, reaching consensus can be just a little bit harder than it sounds. You may have to wade through some pretty nasty swamp water to reach common ground. But you can get there from here.

So set down your political baggage. Put aside your philosophical differences. Don't let the urge to protect the status quo, or the fear of change, prevent you from imagining a brilliant future.

The Race to the Top will not be won by the timid, the tentative or the traditional. Now is the time for bold thinking and brave steps forward.

Dream big. Pull together. Be bold.

The world is turning... The clock is ticking... The race is on.

Let's get started.

Thank you.