Edwards Speech on Education

This really is a beautiful speech. Even if you aren't an Edwards fan, it is good stuff.

>>At the heart of the American dream there's a simple bargain; if you work hard and play by the rules, America will give you the opportunity to build a better future for you and your children.

For our parents and grandparents, that often meant starting on the bottom-rung in the local company and working your way up the ladder. You might move around, you might get transferred, but you pretty much knew your course once you set out on it. Your neighbors often lived a pretty similar life, and your community was a support network.

Today, we live in a vastly different world. You can't just work your way up the company ladder for the rest of your life. More and more children live in single-parent families, or families where both parents work. Communities aren't as connected anymore, and they aren't as insulated anymore.

Now, as never before, education is the key to opportunity.

For me that's not an abstraction. My parents didn't go to college. Because of their love and hard work, and with the help of some good schools and great teachers, I was able to go to Clemson University. I played football there but didn't get a scholarship, and I had to leave after my first semester because I couldn't afford it. I was able to transfer to a great public university, North Carolina State, and I worked my way through school there on a road crew, in a mill, and at UPS unloading trucks for a while. I graduated from State, went to law school at our rival, UNC, and eventually built a life I frankly never dreamed I'd have.<<

The rest of the speech:

http://www.johnedwards2004.com/page.asp?id=61

Good speech on high school and college education, but I would like to hear more about how he would fix No Child Left Behind and continue Head Start.

www.johnedwards2004.com

"Senator Edwards called for a major new effort to get quality teachers into every classroom. He called for more funds for quality teachers, and better pay, scholarships, and tax credits for teachers who go to the schools that are hurting most. While stressing the need to pay teachers better, the Senator also insisted that teachers hold up their part of the bargain. The Senator also proposed a return to smaller schools, where teachers know all their students, and large expansions in courses to prepare disadvantaged students for college."

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Edwards is a fantastic, moving speaker.

is one of the reasons he is my #2. As a teacher, I'd love to see him be able to implement his ideas.

I missed him the first time out, but by God, this man has CLASS!

I love it, "ban on hiring permanent replacements for striking workers", "I am proud that Dennis Kucinich and I have the highest AFL-CIO voting records!", "College education for all"....

He gave a hell of a speech!

He gets better and better with every speech, every appearance. I hope his campaign catches fire.

Sorry, but Kucinich speaks every thought in my head. Edwards comes close, but not quite all the way.;-)

Still, I'd love to see Kucnich and Edwards as running mates, in either order. Both of them have extremely strong records of fighting hard for the working people, and the poor/indigent. We're going to need that and, sadly, as the numbers of poor and homeless go up and more soldiers die in Iraq, people are going to have to admit I'm right.

Let more people see him and hear him. Every person in the crowd just knows he is talking to THEM. And it isn't just that he has charisma, which he has in spades, it is that his message RESONATES. And he sells it without going after anybody except Dubya.