conference. this gop presidential hopefuls compete for the party's nomination, notably absent are mitt romney of massachusetts and tim pawlenty of minnesota, saying they had scheduling conflicts. and also this afternoon, current texas governor rick perry will be there to give a speech. christine romans talking about the best minds about your child's education with "your bottom line." i'll be back at the top of the hour with more live news. zero. that's how many times the word education came up during cnn's two-hour republican presidential debate. good morning, everyone, i'm christine romans. maybe it is just too early in the campaign season to be fair, all the focus is on debt, jobs, and health care, but on "your bottom line" it remains our priority. we've got some of the best minds debating how to fix america's schools here. also ahead, for your college graduates moving back home, the parent trap. and parenting and money lessons from a man who went from

homeless to the boardroom, an amazing father's day story. but, first, a fascinating first look at the 2012 presidential race. this week with seven republican candidates participating in the first new hampshire debate, hosted by cnn. debt, deficits, war, medicare, social security, all tackled, but education reform wasn't mentioned once by the candidates. maybe it's just too early in the campaign season, but candidates weren't asked about it. white house press secretary jay carney said president obama did not watch this debate, but carney told reporters on air force one this week he did, and said he, quote, was struck by the fact that over the course of two hours, the phrase middle-class and the word education did not pass anyone's lips that i heard. he says education is still a priority for this president. bill bennett, cnn political contributor, former education secretary, where is education on the agenda for republicans? >> well, there are a lot of ideas. i've spoken to many of them

about education. maybe cnn and john king and everybody realized that the president doesn't have a lot to do it. that's not how schools become good. we know it's local action to connect up education, however, christine, with the economic issues, we have estimated a lot of studies have estimated that if you replace the bottom 5% of performing teachers, teachers who perform at the bottom 5%, you could increase the gdp by about a trillion dollars a year. over 10 or 15 years. that's a significant number. so, there are connections. i'm sure the issue will come up. but, you know, i have to say when you hear the debate, you realize how many important issues there are. >> and, you know, i agree with you there, because there are so many different things that connect to our economy and our personal economy. i wonder if the connection wasn't really made or hasn't been made in a broader political discussion yet about connecting education to all of these other issues, debt, jobs, our role in

the world in the global marketplace? >> absolutely. i mean, i sat there and i was shocked. in fact, i got on my twitter account and tweeted over and over again, how can we continue to talk about job creation and innovation and not discuss education? i sat there and i listened to newt gingrich talk about nasa and not bring up education. i mean, i just saw a total disconnect between how as important it is that we shore up our education system that's going to lead to job creation to the future that's going to lead to the innovation that everyone keeps talking about. i think the simple fact that you didn't hear it prompted by the candidates themselves, tells you that they didn't see the connection themselves. >> in the audience members, it was mentioned in the context of an illegal immigration question. pedro, an nyu education professor, do you think it's a local issue, or do you think it will be more important for candidates to stake out about themselves as the campaign season wears on? >> all the polls show that the public really is concerned about the state of education.

i think that we have a bigger problem in that republicans and democrats really don't have many answers for the problems, and they're very similar in their policy approaches. and the fact is that all the data shows we're falling further and further behind in the international comparisons, the recent scores which monitor the national progress in education, and i think it's a reflection of the fact that we are stuck on certain approaches, which highly emphasize testing and don't focus enough on real skills like writing ability, math and science, that we know we need. >> you mentioned the nape skills, make a look at this picture, you know this face, it's abraham lincoln, when asked for two reasons why he's historically important, only 9% of fourth graders got it right. it's part of the national education progress. it's a u.s. history test. 12% of 12th graders are at or above proficiency. i asked a teacher about this,

though, pedro, and she told me i can't spend two more minutes having someone memorize a picture of the president in the 1800s. i've got a lot of other things going on in the classrooms. they've got a lot of challenges. >> absolutely. >> what are we supposed to do about it? >> what's on the test in most tests in elementary school is math and literacy. where does social study fit? where does science fit in? where was the foreign language fit in? what gets tested is what goes into the classroom. we can't allow a test to drive instruction. assessment should be used to diagnose needs and not rank kids. policymakers who don't under the issue who continue to focus narrowly on tests even while the evidence shows our kids aren't being well educated. >> bill, i want to read you what arne duncan said, the results tell us as a country we are failing to provide children with high quality, well-rounded education, that's why we're putting greater emphasis on art,

drama, and music in an emphasis to fix no child left behind. what do you think? >> yeah, well, i think that's fine, except, again, this underscores that you cannot do it from the federal government. you cannot do it with that lever. what happens at the federal government, you can end the no child end behind, you get race to the top, you say the money is there, you emphasize math and reading and you wonder why everyone is making up tests for math and reading because you're tilting the boat to one side. so, a thing can be a national problem without a federal solution, often when the federal government gets involved, it makes things worse. sings the creati since the creation of the department of education, the scores have gotten worse. there are some things the federal government should do and when it comes to history, you know, for one thing we can start with these textbooks. that's how the federal government can help, but it could point out just how important the books are, how boring they are and how kids don't want to study history. that's a major problem as well.

>> bill bennett, i'm sorry about your audio problems, i hope everyone bears with us, thank you very much, bill, and also pedro and l.c. granderson. graduates across the country moving back in with mom and dad but before they crowd the nest, you need a plan, which we're going to give you next. you can find awesome deals for places nearby. interesting... wow, i'm blown away. you look great. hotels.com summer sale, save up to 30%. and get a free kindle. hotels.com. be smart. book smart.

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after the ceremony tens of thousands of college graduates will hang up their cap and gowns in their old bedrooms. in his address to the 2011 dartmouth university class, conan o'brien gave this sage advice to the parents in the audience as well. >> many of your children, you haven't seen them in four years, well, now, you're about to this see them every day when they come out of the basement to tell you the wi-fi isn't working. if your child majored in fine arts or philosophy, you have good reason to be worried, the only place they are now really qualified to get a job is ancient greece.

>> pedro noguera, nearly 60% of parents who have financially supported their students after school, how most of them by letting them move home, a 65% of 18 to 39-year-olds feel their financial pressures are tougher than in previous generations and 32% of their parents agreed. welcome to the new normal, i guess. >> i agree. >> what are we going to for the class of 2011? they're moving home. >> it's tough. and it's a reflection of the fact that we haven't been as practical as we should be about making choices about what to study in school and how to think about the next phase in life and i think too many students have chosen to do things they think they're interested in and not enough about thinking what i'll do next in life, and they need a lot of help, and the colleges need to step up and provide them some more guidance in helping students think about life after college. >> that's right. i think it's something that has to start in high school and it has to start in home what you're deciding to take in college. there's not a lot of room for

error. l.c., you said when you left home for college, you told your mom you weren't coming back. you say a lot of the drives for many students is -- moving home may be the easy way out i guess for some. >> well, you know, it all depends upon this type of drive you have and what you want to do. you're absolutely correct. i told my mom when she dropped me off, i wasn't coming back, and i didn't. it took me six-plus years to graduate from college, but i did it. and i was able to find a way to make it on my own, by taking odd jobs, working third shifts and things like that, but those are the values my mom gave me, go out and try to make it on your own. and that's what the expectation is for my son as well. he knows he's not moving back to my basement. >> to be fair, i did move home for maybe two or three months after i graduated from college, but that was to pay off, you know, the obligatory trip to europe that my friends took that i didn't have the money to do, but i did anyway. that was the 1990s, that was

generation-x where we created 24 million jobs and there were jobs waiting for everyone. you can see from the 1988 to 1998, the latest data available, median income, $33,000, but look at college tuition and fees, they've more than doubled. our friends at cnn money point out that if the earnings had kept up with costs, the average american would be making 77 grand a year. is college worth the cost if you make the right choices? >> it's worth the cost in the long term, it's certainly worth the investment, but what we have to ask whether or not the increases in college tuitions, what are they based on, and why do they go up every year the way they do? i say this as a college professor who earns my living at a very expensive private university. >> nyu. >> nyu, had is rigwhich is righ top, but it's a question we have to ask as a society that we're saddling our youth with the huge debts that the they have to pay off and it undermines their ability to lead independent

lives. >> the housing market allowed the whole tuition inflation, because middle-class parents could take money out of their house, they could suck the money out of their house because they know they want their kid to have a well-roundedcati education be that's the best way to get ahead. and now the house is worth less and they can't do it anymore. >> right, what needs to happen especially at high school, people start look at college differently. don't look at it as a four or five-year route, but look at how their going to save money. if you're going to stay home, take classes, and take the lower-level classes from the two year colleges. there are other things parents need to look at in order to help their kids get through school without being saddled with tremendous debt. >> when i speak to young people, you guys, i say over and over again, you don't have the luxury to switch majors three times and no other country in the world

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a weak economy, high jobless rate and worries about europe's debt and ours conspiring to take stocks lower for seven weeks in a row. if you're checking your retirement portfolio, you've likely noticed, that's why we need doug flynn on give us a pep talk. he's a certified planner, first of all, what's going on here,

and what does it mean for our retirement? >> there's a lot of concerns globally in europe and asia and it's weighing down the markets. the markets had a nice run if you look at it from the low, and there's an opportunity to take profits if you were investing throughout all of this. the last time it was really low people said i should invest and they did invest, and you are up big on that part. if you're a short-term investor, these are concerns, if you're a long-term investor, it might be an opportunity. >> somebody who is 25 or 35 years old, landed their first job or getting under way. >> sure, what you want to do, if you are moderate, you need to add or subtract accordingly. you need as much money in stocks as you can afford to handle or sleep comfortably with in the long term, because if you're in your 20s or early 30s, the money will be invested for decades, have alternatives in a period of high volatility, things are going on up and down or if we're in a sideways market, the

commodities and the things that go in there a way to take advantage even if stocks aren't the best performer. >> in your 30s and 40s, you talk about having children, saving for, you know, their education. you've got a mortgage, maybe, how should it be allocated if you get into your 35 to 44 range? >> generally you'll back off a little tiny bit on stocks? >> what you'll bring in more here off a tiny bit on stocks and bring in more bonds. bonds can be a dirty word if you don't know what you're doing in a rising rate environment. but each of these periods, each of these areas, the stocks, bonds, and, you want to have a large diversity. >> so large, mid, and small-cap companies so they get different kind of exposure to whatever's happening in the economy. >> and 45 to 54, the moderate investor, that's the person who's looking at seven weeks of down moves and they're a little bit more concerned. >> right. a little closer to retirement. but even retirement, you think, 65, if i'm in my 40s and 50s,

it's not just about having all my money available on the day i retire. that money has to take care of you for the rest of your life. you can probably have a little bit more in stocks than you might think, but your fixed income has to be even more diversified. it's not just a matter of buying treasuries or something like that, you want to be a diversified portfolio or fixed income investments, and that's the research you want to do or have someone do this for you. and you have to have alternatives in all these different categories, especially if inflation kicks up. >> especially if inflation kicks up. if you're talking about a 55 to 64-year-old investor, someone who's getting closer to trying to decide when they're going to enjoy their retirement, they should be about half in stocks. >> they should. and again, it's because the day you retire, people think, okay, i have to have all my money available. it's just not true. what if you live 20 or 30 years in retirement? you're still accumulating. hopefully, this is the time when you're in your highest earning years and putting the most money away that you can. you're still accumulating, you still want to consider yourself an accumlater. at that point, you're still trying to get as many shares as you can, and that's why this

shouldn't worry you. >> doug flynn is always a voice of reason. when the stock market is up or down, he's always there. if you're disciplined and you know what your risk tolerance is and your asset allocation, you'll be fine. my next guest went from homeless to the head of the boardroom all while being a single parent. the financial lessons he's learned along the way. oh, and did we mention, will smith played him in movie.

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>> all right. >> you got a dream, you got to protect it. >> that scene gives me goose bumps every time. it's a scene from the movie in 2006 "the pursuit of happyness." that was based on my next guest, he's not struggling anymore. christ gardner. he's the author of two books and also owns his own investment firm. chris, happy father's day. welcome to the program. don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do it, not even me. is that your message for dads and kids on father's day? >> you know what, i have to tell you something, i actually wrote that scene for the film, and i believe that with every fiber of my being, and that's also the lesson, christine, i've taught both of my children. and as a result of that, they've gone on to do things with their lives that frankly are phenomenal. >> you're such an incredible

inspiration. you went from homeless, without a job, trying to take care of your son to a position where you are a success in the board room, an amazing trajectory, and your children have watched this all along the way. so just living your life is such an amazing, i guess, role model, quite frankly, and role models, interestingly, in money and finance, according to a recent survey by the national foundation for credit counsel g counseling, 42% of people polled said they learned about money, personal finance, from their parents. that is kind of a terrifying statistic. i'm going to tell you why. because we kind of work so hard at our day-to-day job, trying to be good moms and dads, i don't know if we put a lot of effort into teaching personal finance. >> well, this is a great time to be doing it. this is an environment that requires it. and the truth of the matter is, so many young with people today -- i've spoken at a number of colleges and universities around the country, recently. so many people young people

today are frightened to death, and one of the major reasons they're frightened is they've seen their parents become decimated. so, talking about money and finances at home should be part of the dinner table conversation. >> i absolutely agree. and i think there's also, outside of the dinner table conversation, i think our kids are watching us. they're watching our own spending habits, they're watching what our priorities are with our money. so we might be teaching them, just like everything, not just money, parents teach their kids by the way they live their lives, every minute of the day. >> you know what, i learned so much about money from my mom, who often said, son, i have done so much with so little for so long, that i can do anything with nothing. and it wasn't just something catchy that she said, i got to see her do it. so i couldn't agree with you

more. our children are always watching. and, again, this is the time to be teaching, perhaps, some very, very important lessons about money and beyond. >> do you worry at all, ever, that because your kids don't have to struggle now like you did before, that maybe they're missing out on an important lesson? are you worried that you're sometimes, maybe -- i don't know, i'm worried that i talk about this all day long, and i'm very worried that i'm not getting it across to them very well. >>ion whyou know what, i have t say this. i, for a long time, i like every parents, made the effort to give my children all the things i didn't have as a young person, thinking i was giving them a better life. what you learn, christine, is you're just giving them better stuff. and as a result of that, there was a point in time when my children, honestly, my children became like the little chocolate