James M. Jeffords: “I want to briefly comment and first commend the Senator from Massachusetts for outlining the things that are good about…”

“I want to briefly comment and first commend the Senator from Massachusetts for outlining the things that are good about our educational system. The problem is that the things that are good only affect a small percentage of our students, and that is why we are still on the pessimistic side; 13 out of 15 countries that are competitors of ours in the world market as far as math and science and those critical areas. As much as we are doing for those few, we are doing so very, very little for many. It is now time when we establish the goals to be sure we find the resources to replicate and duplicate and bring to the attention of the school districts around this country of those things which are good and which need to be replicated. That is not going to be an easy task, but tomorrow I will spend some time outlining the cost to this Nation of not doing it for the cost of not reaching these goals far exceeds whatever resources will be necessary to reach those goals. Let me just give you a couple of examples to start you off. It is costing our businesses about $200 billion a year in remedial education. That is to provide education to repair the damage or the problems that were created by an ineffective educational system. We lose about $225 billion due to a lack of productivity of those who have been school dropouts. We spend about $25 billion a year for incarcerated criminals who are school dropouts. I can go on and on and on, and I will tomorrow.…”