Bill Bennett: “Today in Utah, memorial services will be held in Salt Lake City for Terrel Howard Bell, who passed away on Saturday.…”

“Today in Utah, memorial services will be held in Salt Lake City for Terrel Howard Bell, who passed away on Saturday. Since I cannot be there, I would like to make a few remarks to honor him. While he is best known inside the beltway as the Secretary of Education in the Reagan Administration, his time in Washington comprised only a small period of a lifetime of dedication to education. The words, "A Nation at Risk" mark the legacy of T.H. Bell. Commissions come and commissions go in Washington. Most have long been forgotten. However, I believe most of us would recognize the blunt assessment of American education contained in the report by The National Commission on Excellence in Education, the creation of then Secretary T. H. Bell: Our Nation is at risk. Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world. . . . . .[T]he educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people. . .. If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves. This warning got the attention of America and started the wheels of reform moving. The life of T.H. Bell was marked by an interest and passion for education.”