the college and universities do very little. in ohio that ged programs are now under the board of regents. so they have taken a step to try and pull those people into the system. they have taken that step but that's been left out of your of the conversation. thank you for letting have so much time. >> guest: it's interesting i wrote a story not along that long ago about a project called the talent dividend price. .. the rate around the country, communities in ohio were the winners. schools around ohio, they had made a big effort to get more students to graduate and get college degrees. there are efforts in communities to improve this college going rate in some cases. >> jim also bringing up the topic again about switching majors, taking a longer time to graduate college.

eric talked about students switching majors and taking a long time as the cause of increasing student that when we visited and eight as pt of our here's a bit of what he had to say. >> but if you dig a little bit deeper, you see that there are really two problems that i think have an enormous impact. one of those is that we have too many students going into years five and six. and going years five and six borrowing money to do it. so they are not completing as fast as they can. a large number of them are students that are not as well off financially and what they end up doing is creating a cycle of working too many hours taking fewer classes perhaps not doing quite as well as their talent would allow because they are working. and then they go forward and take more time to graduate.

some of them give up. this is the group of people for which i believe we have too many people that don't complete. and then in years five and six they are borrowing more money because that is what it takes to get that degree if they are going to complete. i would say those things -- the total cost for a degree, which is i think unfortunately reflective of the year five and six and this notion that you can't quite afford it so you don't graduate at the same high rate is one of the check them out at.org. 15 minutes left in this segment with goldie blumenstyk of "chronicle of higher education." in maryland on our mind for parents. good morning. >> caller: good morning.

my first question is how do online classes impact if you take a number of online classes before you enter into the university, how would that impact classes? my second question is with regard to isaf scholarships. i have a daughter who is an expert in putting and for different scholarships and grants offered outside of the university but it seems to go into a black hole. he never hear anything about it and you hear about all of this money available out there. we have not been able to find it. and if you could research and write an article, especially with all of these scholarships if they say that are out there, to kind of give us some guidance on how to find it or is there a way to rate and where you can go

to certain websites and say this is a real scholarship in this is real money here. that is it. >> host: goldie blumenstyk. >> guest: yeah, i think there's a lot of noise about scholarships. at the end of the day, if you get a scholarship that doesn't come through your school and you get it on your own a counselor in your sight of the ledger. it doesn't reduce what the college is expecting you to pay. they bring that money to the picture but it doesn't reduce what the college lefty to spend. it doesn't ultimately cut the cost that much except it allows you if you want a $1000 scholarship come you could bring that to the cause. but there is also a lot of funny advertising out there. a lot of websites are promising scholarships and these aren't necessarily websites with good scholarship funds but they can get your name and sell your name to the college marketing firms in things like that. i would be a little wary about scholarships that you don't know about in your own community

organizations. in your community there's rotary, american legion, maybe religious scholarships from churches. and then they're scholarships that your schools might know about. but once you know when the web you might be more wary about. she also talked about the online courses. in theory, online courses should cost less than going to the campus. you would think they would appear that most cases the colleges don't charge less. some cases they actually charge more because they say you still have to pay the professor and they still provide the infrastructure for the course and provide a help in the help desk and all the other things. certainly if you are a student who is going to leave home and have to pay for room and board at a college and you can take a few courses online that can help you save some room and board costs. >> host: as we have this conversation, a few folks on

twitter are talking about big salaries for big-time college and football coaches, kiki on twitter writes colleges could i refuse nobel prize winners instead of a football coach. our priorities are screwed up. new york, our line for parents. joe, good morning. >> caller: good morning, how are you? i just have a couple comments. when we talk about the sticker price, i think it is important to indicate that the school gets the price and you do have the scholarships. the loans are also included as part of the financially. i have two kids in school with $50,000 a year they go to private institutions. they do get some financial aid but the ones they incur as part of the financial aid package the schools consider part of that as the financial aid package. i guess the extent for schools to have lower prices aren't there because they are getting the gross price. really the competition there is

really if you get the sticker price, where's the incentive to have a lower tuition for the students as well? it is also important when you have these types of commentary here that it would be a good idea to have a business perspective. i see you are talking to a lot of the administrators and presidents of universities. i would also see a business, a businessman or a businesswoman and what they consider the value of the education and whether it for your education is worth it or not. >> host: thank you for the suggestion. goldie blumenstyk of "chronicle of higher education." just go he makes a good point. the loan as part of not what i'm counting as part of the net price. really some colleges have been criticized because when they send their financial aid letters outcome of the loan as part of the financially package and they are not supposed to do that. the government has been putting out for is to standardize and

activist groups have been pushing the standardize student loan letters. it is a lot clearer to families that this is student aid. this is the loan. this is your peace of the pie you have to pay yourself. colleges that don't make that clear are not doing a good service for their students or the family. >> is that after part of the education department college rating plant? >> not part of the college rating plan. it is part of the scoresheet. there's also another asked her to try to make the award letters follow a standard format. in earlier collar also mentioned the difficulty of what the net price is. the caller is right. every college is supposed to have on their website something called the net price calculator where you can punch in your particular circumstances your income and the tuition and kind of the amount of money you were

able to file them but they guesstimate of what the price might be for net prices. some of these calculators are better than others. they'll have to calculate her but they don't have to have a good one. it is hard to compare one with another. it is an imperfect measure but a small told the government has require colleges to put on the website where students and families can get a little bit of a picture on what the net price is going to be. >> host: markets up next. chicago, illinois. you are on what goldie blumenstyk. >> caller: yes, i was a nontraditional student. i went back to school when i was laid off in hopes of landing a better position. indeed reemploy. but i discovered if it is extremely expensive. and then i discovered free online courses.

since flaherty have a degree i give those a try and most are better than the online courses i was paying for. so now but i'm going to do is pursue certifications online. how is that going to affect in the future the brick and mortar colleges trying to pursue online programs themselves that are quite expensive and a lie cheaper online schools and organizations. some of the schools their stanford and m.i.t., taking courses like that. they are also not accredited committing a great deal of information. i learned a lot from them. i'll take your answer offline. >> guest: actually, i would like to know for mark unless he is gone, markets on the cutting edge of something really transformative and higher education right now and i think depending how it goes it could be the kind of thing that poses

a big threat to colleges. there is this moving out there, alternative education through programs like something called massive open online courses, which allowed us them are offering for free and sometimes you can take these courses from common academy or something called the sailor organization here in d.c. d.c. based organization and you can take classes and sometimes take them for credit and sometimes just for knowledge and get a certificate or what they call a badge. this is like a whole new alternative credentialing system that is slowly being developed in the world of alternative education. in some fields it is more expected than in others. in the i.t. field it is a more respect to area and the regulated industries.

it is an area burgeoning and poses a threat to colleges because certainly returning students like mark sony to go back and pay tuition. if they can put together courses online and get them to look like a small degree program and put them together, you've got something. >> host: just a few more calls today on "washington journal." we are talking to goldie blumenstyk with "chronicle of higher education." matthew was a student. where do you go to school? >> caller: well i graduated from the university of nevada reno and now i go to medical school. my question is what sort of legislation about consolidating a number of years to bring a four year degree, but there are exceptions from consolidated programs to shave off a year. because of the exception they go

to their medical school and other countries go into higher education, knowing you are going to go into a career in a certain field. i didn't know what appetite there was to adapt some of those models here and a four-year liberal arts mentality. to save money or even expand key credits or dual credits when high school students go to community colleges to get credit for head of time. is there any federal incentives being talked about to open that up ? >> there are none i know of, except i know there are medical schools that have a six year ba and medical degree. host: matthew, did you have a follow-up? caller: just for students going to college some colleges will refuse those credits and students want different

universities. students want to take advantage of those credits, it is limited in scope. it is interesting to see legislation that liberates that credit and says that credit must be excepted, to broaden the choices for students, to guarantee those credits they pay for high school are accepted. guest: in the medical context i'm not sure i know much about that. in the broader context, there is a lot of competition for students now. we have been hearing a lot of stories and they are all true but i think you also see a lot of efforts and colleges especially smaller private colleges that want to get more from students and recruit more students in the junior and senior year. we see the competition get more and more intense. especially junior year.

host: just in terms of general numbers? guest: >> yes. i think you are seeing a little bit more now in the colleges advertise. they are doing a lot more private learning assessments. a lot of places are becoming more accessible about the credit they want to set to get students in the door. host: robber, good morning. >> caller: hi good morning. i am a recent college graduates in my comment is that it is not worth it. i have 40,000 some pain in student loan's and with my current salary i was able to income reduced by payments to $9 a month. it is just really hard for recent graduates to find a god job with a decent salary and

benefits. if i could do it all over again i feel like i would have probably enlisted in the navy or went to learn a trade or something like that. >> guest: i think particularly in the last five or six years when our economy has been in a difficult time, i wouldn't figure until somebody what the right to enhance or the wrong thing is to do except at the end of the day the statistics will show you that people that don't have any postsecondary education are more likely to end up in poverty. and college degrees than average as are more likely to have jobs and not just jobs. there's a lot of statistics out there about college-educated people. they vote more, are healthier, volunteer more. they are almost better members

of their community. all circumstances are different. but when you look at it from the general terms, it is hard to argue. >> host: if you want to read more of goldie blumenstyk thoughts on all these topics, her book is american higher education in crisis, what everyone needs to know came up this past fall. goldie blumenstyk, senior writer with "chronicle of higher education." thank you for the time this morning. >> guest: thank you for having me.

>> 114th congress gavels in this tuesday at mean it's -- noon eastern

>> we are in a private suite of landing and lady johnson. this was private quarters for the president and first lady. when i say private, i do mean that. this is not a too are offered to the public. this has never been open to the public. you are seeing because of c-span's special aspect, vips come into this space just as in lyndon johnson day but it is not open to our visitors on a daily basis. the remarkable thing about this base is it is really a living, breathing artifacts. it hasn't changed at all since president johnson died in january 1973. there is a document signed among

others of the then archivist of the united states and lady byrd johnson tallied my predecessors myself and my successors had not been in this room can change. >> so we are here at the 100 block. to my last comment down the block is the river, the colorado river. this is an important historic site in the history because this is where the predecessor was. waterloo consisted of a cluster of cabins occupied by four or five families, including jay carroll. i am standing at the spot where the cabin was then this is where your marble bar was staying when he and the rest of the men got wind of this. so lemire and the other men jumped on their horses. congress avenue, wasn't really the avenue, but in those days and mondays are being led north and the men galloped on their horses. they had such their belt full of

pistols and rode into the midst of the herd of buffalo firing and shouting and lamar abbott became a thing congress shot this enormous buffalo. from there he went to the top of the hill where the capitalist and that is where he told everybody should be the face of future empire. >> earlier this month the white house hosted its opportunity day in washington d.c. in remarks to the president and vice president both push for access to higher education for a greater number of students. to gather their comments run about an hour. [applause] [cheers and applause]

>> thank you so much. thank you. thank you everybody. thank you. please have a seat. thank you so much. first of all can everybody please give chamique was a big round of applause for her great story quiet [cheers and applause] we are proud of what she has achieved and the spirit that she represents. when it comes to higher education we spend a lot of time crunching numbers and statistics. the ultimate he was not hers and why so many of you here today many of you who have made this your life work is making sure that bright motivated young people like chamique was and all the young people here have the chance to go as far as the talents and their work affects and their dreams can take them.

that is why we are here today. in january, we held our first college opportunity summit with about 140 higher education leaders and organizations over in the white house. this time with that so many folks we had to move to a different building. that is a good sign. you would have been a fire hazard over at gop. and all we did was ask a simple question. what can we do collectively to create more success stories? and you collectively have responded in a big way with commitments to give more of our young people that chance. private and community colleges, philanthropists, business leaders, heads of nonprofits and heads of school districts. this did not require a single piece of legislation, a single new stream of funding.

they required a sense of urgency and a sense of focus and a recognition that should not be a democratic issue or a republican issue, make sure more of our young people have access to higher education and can succeed and complete their work and get their degree. that has to be an american issue. [applause] in american issue. got back and it's especially important at a time when we face multiple challenges both internationally and domestically. challenges that are entirely solvable, but so often don't get solved because rather than having a sense of common good we focus on our differences. rather than having a sense of national purpose, a common sense of opportunity we give into

those forces that drive us apart. we think about what has happened over the last year two years six years, our economy keeps improving. more americans are working. more americans have health care. manufacturing has grown the deficit has shrunk. foreign oil is down. crime is down. graduation rates are up. clean energy is up. [applause] so objectively speaking americans are outpacing most of the world. when i travel overseas people look with envy and are puzzled as to why there seems to be so much anxiety and frustration inside america. and my response when it comes to

our economy is growing but we found an increasing divergence between those who have those who require and those who doubt. the economy becomes more satisfied. when it comes to the cost of college in a middle class that feels like folks at the top afforded and folks at the bottom in the middle given accelerated cost in the recognition that this is going to be the key ticket to the middle class that elicits great frustration. when it comes as we've seen unfortunately in recent days were criminal justice system, too many americans feel deep unfairness when it comes to the gap between our professed ideals and how laws are applied on a day-to-day basis.

[applause] i should mention before i came here i had a chance to speak with the speak with mayor deblasio of new york and i commended him for his work yesterday and the way new yorkers have been engaging in peaceful protests and even construct is. he was just in the white house with us on monday as we started taking some concrete steps to strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and communities of color. i intend to make more steps with leaders like kim in the months ahead. beyond the specific issue that has to be addressed, making sure that people have confidence that police, law enforcement and prosecutors are serving everybody equally, there is a larger question of restoring a sense of common for those. and that the heart of the

american ideal is the sense that we are in it together and nobody is guaranteed success, but everybody's got access to the possibilities of success. and that we are willing to work not just to make sure our own children have pathways to success but that everybody does, but at some level everybody is our kid. everybody is our responsibility. we are going to give back to everybody. and we do that because it's the right to do. we do it because selfishly that is how this country is going to advance and everybody's going to be better off. big challenges like these should galvanize our country. they challenges like these should unite us around an opportunity and an agenda that brings us together. rather than pulling us apart. we are at our best when we rise

to what it demands. putting people back to work, making sure jobs and wages go up on the weather is educating more of our kids for the 21st century ,-com,-com ma whether it's fixing our broken immigration system and to do what many of you have done and made the cause of your life which is opening the doors for higher education for fellow americans. these are big challenges, but they are solvable. as long as we feel a sense of urgency and we worked together, that is why it was so heartened by the january meeting and i am even more in urged by this meeting. our higher education system is one of the things that makes america exceptional. had the assets we do when it comes to higher education. people from all over the world as buyers who come here and study here. and that is a good game.

america thrived in the 20th century because he made high school free. we spent a generation to college. we cultivated the workforce in the world. along with our innovation mentality, our risk-taking, our entrepreneurial spirit it was that foundation that we laid, broad taste mass education that drove our economy and separated us from the rest of the world. nothing was more. the skills of our people, the investment we made in human capital. we were ahead of the curve. but what has happened is other countries figured it out. they took a look at our policies and they figured out the secret sauce. they have to educate their own kids said they could outcompete hours, understanding and today's

knowledge economy jobs and businesses will go wherever you can find the most skilled educated workers. i don't want them -- i don't want businesses to have to look anywhere other than the united states of america. i want to make sure we lead the world of education once again not just because it's right to halt our young people chase dreams but because it is critical to our economic future. now the reason we are here is because we understand although at the time our universities are doing unbelievable work and are still the envy of the world. for a lot of working families for a lot of middle-class kids, a lot of folks who are trying to join that middle-class higher education increasingly feels out of for each. you know a lot of college may

not look like they've changed much over the last century. they are more minorities, more first-generation college goers working adults are returning to get degrees so that they can reach for opportunities right now that are close to them. students are more likely than in the past to hold part-time jobs. the old families. we have to think of these as a typical students. today they are increasingly the norm. too many students who take the crucial step of enrolling in college don't actually finish. which means they leave but the burden of death without the earnings and job benefits of a degree. so we've got to change that. all of us have a stake in changing now. i'm the one hand, would've got good news, which is 18 30 from college was still seen as a

luxury. now everybody understands some form of higher education is a necessity and not it's a good name which means more folks are enrolling and more folks are seeking the skills that they'll need to compete. but if they are simply enrolling and not graduating, if they are enrolling in not getting the skills they need we are not delivering on the promise. in fact, we are adding another burden to these folks. i get letters all the time seen what that burden means. heartbreaking letters that i would get sometimes from kids who thought they were doing the right thing had 50 60 $70,000 worth of debt, now feel as if they made a bad mistake trying to get a higher education. as a nation we don't promise

equal outcomes, but were founded on the idea that we have the opportunity to succeed, no matter where you come from you can make it. that is the essential promise of america. where you start should not determine where you end up. and so i apply that everybody wants to go to college. you are, too. but i want to make sure that it actually works for them. and what that means is we are going to have to make sure that more students can make it all the way across the graduation stage. that might limit their choices but the skills will prepare them for the workforce. [applause] that is going to be critical. that is why we are going to have to help more families afford college and not is why we've offered grants and tax credits that go further than before. we have help over 700 community

college partners with over a thousand employers to provide training for good jobs they need to be filled. we were former student loans so more money goes to students rather than banks. and i took executive action. [applause] took an executive action to give americans the direct student loan payments of 10% of their payment so people can pursue careers that may not be wildly lucrative, but are critically important to our society. one thing we certainly shouldn't be doing is making a harder for more striving young kids to finish their education in depriving america of their talents and discoveries. i bring this up because there is a bill the republican leadership in the house have brought up that would force talented young people and protect workers and community leaders to leave our country. the immigration issue is i recognize one that creates a lot of passion, but it does not make

sense for us to want to push talent out rather than make sure they are staying here and contributing to society. [applause] [applause] rather than to poor students in separate families and make it harder for law enforcement to do its job, i want congress to work with us to have a commonsense to fix fix the immigration system. there's a lot that congress can do to help more people access and afford higher education. i would like to see more time spent on not. but in the meantime, there is a lot you and i can do together,

even if congress doesn't act. so that is why we convened the summit in january calling for action. re: seen a lot of progress. more than 2000 colleges are waiving fees for low income students. that is a big deal. [applause] georgia state university to cite one example is developing a new system to give small grants to students who might be a little behind on their bills. you've got the policy foundation planning to provide over 500 stand scholarships over the next five years. and what we heard from you is in order to meet our goal of producing many more college graduates, we have brought to draw on high adventure keeshan which means that public universities, small liberal arts colleges, everybody part of the solution. so that is what we did. now hundreds of you have announced new commitments in iowa going to highlight a few that are critical to success.

so you guys can pat yourselves on the back as i mentioned some of the work that has been done as a consequence that is inconvenient. first come he told his colleges and universities want to work together on challenges. rather than out of excellence we collaborate at work so you can share best practices, test them out and get a greater collective impact. the national association of system has for example, has organized 11 state systems of colleges and universities behind one big goal to produce 350,000 more graduates by 2025. the university innovation alliance was a group of 11 public research universities from all over the country committed to producing 68,000 more college graduates by 2025. so what is happening is the groups are partnering to develop and test new ideas like improving remedial math classes

for underprepared students using data technology to figure out when a student by not have chosen the right major for having trouble making it to class regularly so they can intervene early. guide that student back on track. maybe they need text messages reminding them to go to class. not a bad idea. a detainee to be paired up with a peer tutor. my mom hadn't analog version of this. she is to wake me up when i was living overseas before dawn and make me study every morning and make sure i was keeping up with my english lessons and it worked. so now dean works. it does. [laughter] michelle and i are big believers and nagging. back in, we know that the path to college begins long before students set on campus.

we need our school leaders working with college presidents to make sure students are on track for college. but they are giving up the right financial aid forms, applying to more schools, making sure they are prepared. that is what drives many of your promising tutoring and mentoring organizations. that is for school districts and community organizations are partnering with colleges and universities to make sure that the pipeline is working. the low income students are better prepared to succeed in college. the riverside county college collaboration has set a goal of increasing completion by 30% and are working to ensure students need remedial classes when they get to college. third we know a lot of young people, especially low-income students the more support and guidance as they prepare for and apply to college. this thing michele is passionate about because she knows

firsthand the difference a good counselor can make for a kid who may be the first in her family to go to college. so michele is going to talk more about this in her reach higher initiative later today. i know that you will enjoy hearing her more than me. [laughter] that is what happens. but both of us, just to give you a little preview, want to make sure every child gets the kind of support that malia and sasha gad. many of the high wage, high tech features are going to be an s.t.e.m., science, technology engineering, math. many of you are representing women and minorities who pursues s.t.e.m. some of you have pledged to inspire future innovators. others are engaging middle, high school and college students in

hands-on math and science learning to spark an interest in s.t.e.m. careers. so these are just a few examples a small sample of the commitments that all of you have already that we are looking forward to seeing what comes out of the work you engage in in the coming months. in the meantime, my administration is going to do our part to support efforts. today we announce a handful of executive actions that we can take immediately to expand college opportunities including pirate guys in grants for evidence-based progress, sponsored research on college keeshan, increasing the number of americorps service opportunities to help more low-income students access college. our challenge going forward is to make sure your outstanding commitment means something worth matters most in the lives of young people. that is what jeff nelson, the former teacher who is here

today. where is jeff? areas. i am going to brag on jeff. seven years ago he cofounded a nonprofit called one goal and had one goal. so it is aptly named. to help more low performing low-income high school students not only get into college but make sure they've got the continued support to succeed once they get to college. one of the students as a young man from chicago named caleb navarra. if caleb here? couldn't make? next time you got to bring in. [laughter] people here that i was talking about him. i bet he will. [laughter] [cheers and applause] so by that time caleb was a sophomore, he wasn't doing all that well in school. wasn't motivated to try harder, starting to give up on himself. the folks at one goal saw a

spark of something that was special and caleb. once you join their program he started to believe that maybe he was capable of achieving more. expert teachers helped him focus on academics and how to stick with the studies, even when it was hard. caleb started taking ap classes something he would've imagined for himself a couple years earlier. he gave up his lunch hour to take an extra class. now that is serious giving up your lunch hour. started out with a gpa of 2.4, ended up with a 3.8 gpa. today caleb is a freshman at dominican university, studying biochemistry, on track to graduate from college. now, caleb could have been on his way to becoming just another statistic. he was a good kid so it might not have been had he completely crashed and burned, but what was likely, the trajectory was one

in which she underestimated what was possible. he shortchanged himself. he lowered his expectations. and because of just some key interventions at a critical moment in his life he is now studying stuff that i don't understand. [laughter] and if we can replicate caleb's story if everybody who is represented here, each of you can. 50 100 1000 caleb's across the country in a sustained way figuring out what works be honest with the evidence of something doesn't work in trying something different.

investing in these kids in a sustained way, teaching each other how to have an impact if we can replicate caleb story across the country, imagine what discoveries he and students and what businesses they may start. what entire industries may be launched. what life-saving medicines may be produced. what a set of caleb's can do to change the world. that is the power and the purpose of higher education. to give everybody that chance because everybody's got that spark. some know it earlier. others know it later. i happen to be an example of somebody who it came a little

later. but everybody has got a caleb out there and we've got to make sure they have the chance not only to fulfill their potential, but by doing so create and not chance for us to fulfill this country's potential. we are coming out of this recession with the most diverse most digitally fluent in many ways the most sophisticated generation in american history. anybody who is interacting with young people today comes away impressed. but there are also concerns because they are going up at a time when a lot of people have lost faith in institutions and are inherently skeptical about what is possible. i want to make sure young people with that spark never lose sense

of what is possible. if all of us work together teachers, parents nonprofits school districts, university system, if we make sure they are the best educated there is no limit to what they can achieve into what this country can achieve. i want to thank you offer the important work you do. i look forward to seeing you at the next summit. thank you. god bless you. god bless america. [applause] [cheers and applause]

been that high, everybody. how are you? please, please sit down. you have had a long day. i know you've had too and consequential speakers so far. i do a vice presidents do. i am the cleanup act. so i am delighted, delighted to be here with you. i am here only because dr. jill biden is unavailable. i am her husband. she is teaching as i speak today. i just want you to know that my wife, jill has been a community college teacher now for some time and she's literally in the classroom today. that's where you should be today. what are you doing here? you should be out there teaching. i don't know. i'm only kidding. [laughter] the press takes me seriously all the time. [laughter] look, i know you've had a full

day and you know i don't want to make it too much longer for you. as we conclude this day of action to mention a few things to put all this from my days in my contacts. first, i am not being solicitous when i see thank you all for odd that you have committed to do and all that you have already done. as all of you know the college process is complicated. it is a veritable labyrinth and it is expensive and it is highly competitive. any of you with young children who have gone through the process know it generates a great deal of pressure on your students, on your children i've learned two things in the process. one of those of you don't make the mistake i made.

whatever university you get into i will help you get there. [laughter] don't do that. i am listed as the poorest man in congress. that is part of the reason. you think i'm kidding. i am not. on the one hand, my children had a real advantage. they have a considerable amount of experience by the time they're applying to college. they went to competitive high schools and had very good grades and a mother who is a college professor and knew what was expected. she knew the process and in turn were able to be of considerable assistance. between us the guidance counselors and teachers they were prepared for the college board exams. they were compared for the process and given plenty notification from the time they

were the school they attended were prepared for what was coming. and they knew what to do to have a chance. like all of you probably do with your children and you are absolutely certain of. that all by itself, all kidding aside is an expensive process. just that. like jill and i were raised, we were raised by wild eyed airings. none of them went to college, although jill's dad went to a business school. and we knew our parents knew how vitally important it was for us to get a college education. and maybe even maybe maybe a

graduate degree. and both of our cases, where the oldest. she won a five daughters, and the one of four children. our parents had never navigated the difficult process. as a matter of fact, we both have good grades and the only reason i got scholarships for law school as i take those standardized tests pretty well. don't do as well as the ones they get graded on but i take those pretty well. [laughter] all kidding aside, we intuitively knew that we could reach because we had parents in a circumstance where we knew we could reach. we were encouraged to do that. we didn't quite know how though. my father was a graceful well read man. my father was a proud man. but he had never gone to college. his greatest regret. in a sense, he was intimidated

at the realization there wasn't much he could do. he did know how to help you. my father, i was a relatively good athlete in school so i got the chance to go to a lot of college campuses with schools looking happy. my father would never come. my father was incredibly proud of me. from the time i can remember, my father would say, i never understood when i was a little kid, you are going to be a college man. i said dad why is that so important? they can never take it from you. for my father, it was a big deal. yeah, it was a surprise. they never went to any college visits with me. when i got older i realized the man of pride and dignity didn't know what to do what to tell me, what to say. as a matter of fact, i don't think my father stepped foot on the campus until i went to college. and it was only in my second

semester. that is very significant number of young qualified rice students find themselves today. most don't even know what they don't know. that is where you all come in. that is why i am here to thank you. because making a commitment for them to quote -- i have a great friend who is a great basketball player when i was in school you played for provident college and they both played in the pros. died young. he wasn't the brightest academic candle on the table. he was a way speller. he is to say you've got to know how to know. think about that. you have got to know how to know. i can take the brightest young or old hearse into the library of congress and if they don't know how to access this fax they don't know how to know how

to find out how to know. but what you are doing, which i think is most important that has been spoken to is you are helping an awful lot of kids like i was but in much more difficult circumstances and with more capability than i had to recognize sooner than later the capacity they possess. you know, two years ago at the convention, michelle and iraq and jill and i were waiting to be introduced. you've got to see michelle. she has been incredible incredible first lady, an incredible mother and an incredible friend. [applause] as is the president. as a matter of fact, one of the

great byproducts we used to say in the senate a point of personal privilege, and their privilege, and their two daughters and two of my grandfathers urge others best friend gave a vacation together, spend time together. i told my granddaughter last year, we are going to 10:00 mass. she said poppa i can't. i said this is your grandfather. you are going to 10:00 mass purchase that i can't. the president is picking me up in five minutes. [laughter] well, what am i going to say. except the good news i went to georgetown and said they've got a 7:00 mass at georgetown. last night but, all kidding aside, i forget whether it was michelle or jill who said it, but we were standing there waiting. i think it was michelle but i'm not certain of that. one turned to all of us and said you know, none of this would be standing here today were it not

for the help we got to get to college and get through college. i'm vice president of the united states. he is president of the united states. we would not have made it. i don't care how bright you are. i have not met anyone brighter than the president, without somebody helping them find the way. but for financial assistance, none of us would be standing here today, a month before a bus. so again thank you for the commitment you are making today. universities and school districts coming together, college-level courses, to bring talented underskirt students to campus is so they can not only see what is available to learn but also get a sense of what they are capable of doing. just what they are capable of.

because they don't see it. they don't taste it. they don't feel it. my son hunter is a very very bright young man. he's a grown man now with three beautiful daughters. i remember when he got into yale law school, he said 69 in my class are to have phd's. this is going to be hard. he went to a good school. he went to georgetown before that. ..

never had an opportunity to go to college. they can't fathom how they could find the money to give their child there. so therefore they don't build in the dream. not all that many do not build

into the dream because how can i do this? my argument is i should be counseling in grade schools about the access for the children. [applause] as i said my dad was a graceful man. we were not poor. we were a typical family, and a relative always living with us. when my grandmother died of my grandfather moved in. that's the way that it was. it was wonderful for these children. my dad managed an automobile agency. why that's important so that all of you in a meeting understood it meant i got to drive a new car to the prom.

you think i'm kidding. i'm not kidding. [laughter] i remember my senior year i went to a school that the catholic prep school and after the game i jumped in my plymouth and drove to newark delaware where the university is and it is about a 30 minute drive so i could pick up the car my dad was going to lend me the night. i pulled my car in the spot i usually pull it in and i hope you don't mind my being this colloquial but it's important to understand the emotions of ordinary good decent people with capacity. i pulled in and i still have my baseball uniform on. i ran into the showroom and mary was the person that ran my dad's operation for me. this is a true story. he said out by the service department in the driveway. when i walked out, my dad was walking back and forth and then

said i am so sorry. i thought something happened to my mom or my sister. she said i went to the farmers bank. that was the state bank financed a lot of good loans credit card company. they'd gotten into the expensive schools but there were no visible school just like others. and even then i didn't have enough to make it to get tuition they said i went and i asked for a loan. they won't lend me the money. i'm so ashamed.

it's not just the kid gets hurt when they don't have the opportunity, its parents decent hard-working people because all of you know the most hopeless feeling for a mother or father is to look at their child and know that there is nothing they can do to help. your commitments to use the data and technology to improve graduation rates to better identify and provide help for students otherwise likely to find access to find financing for them you're also making it easier for the community colleges to transition to the four year schools without losing a step. my wife has been a professor for some time now. she has an expression best kept secret in america and the states are starting to figure it out.

having councils at the front end and the average age is 29 years of age and they come in to say these are the courses if you take that are directly transferable to the state university so they don't waste time and effort taking courses that are not transferable. helping the choir have access to the degree v-victor and cheaper than would otherwise be the case. it matters the advice that is giving. and i want to thank you for exposing my wife's little secret that they are the best kept secret. [applause] i could go on. [applause] i could go on because i'm accused of being too passionate about this overall subject but you heard from the president and first lady and i think one of the finest secretaries of

education that we've ever had and i've been here for a long time arnie duncan. [applause] they covered much of the territory that i could go on to cover. but i want to move on to larger points that i think are important to make and that i've not often made. first, this just might be the middle-class part of me but i worry that over the last ten years in the direction direction of the other thing we may end up with a two-tiered college system in america. [applause] one where the most elite universities are limited to those who are truly exceptional intellectually regardless of their income and are able to get scholarships to go or have

significant resources. i look back and i was making a good salary, $42,000 a year as a senator when it started. i had at the same time one son at georgetown and a daughter at tulane university and then syracuse yale. all kidding aside fortunately it was when the real estate market was in great shape i house kept going up in value i could borrow against it. but what do people do today? my staff all bright young men and women like ida all went to great universities when i started talking about the middle-class being in a squeeze. the middle-class is really getting hurt.

if you are a mother and father with an income of 100,000 or $90,000, it is virtually impossible for you to go to all but a few of the top 20 or 30 or 40 universities in america. i knows you know, you may have forgotten that it's about 50 grand a year. that's after taxes. now if you have a child and it ranks one to two three four five in the class and is lucky or if you pick a university like harvard or ten or others to no matter what your financial circuit they will pay the difference it works. but if you don't, how do you do

it? how does it have been? i think the greatest equalizer in american history, one of them, was the g.i. bill after world war ii. because all of a sudden happened irish catholic soldiers coming back from the hometown in scranton pennsylvania all of a sudden go to harvard and get paid a tuition. they could go to the university of chicago. they could go to stanford or wherever. i don't want to leave great universities have. better able to do that before. that is in the big change that started two of her -- occurred. what is that today? what do we do? it was good for them and the

university so first it seems to me. we have to do something about the escalating costs. i understand the problem and i'm not talking about spending another $180,000 to the taxes up -- boxes up in the football stadium. the president is much more polite than i am. but all kidding aside, we've got to do something. health-care costs went up 3.9% the lowest ever. you are still way ahead of the curve in the wrong. it seems to me you must if you have an obligation for every student out there on another occasion i would like to speak to you more about this you

probably wouldn't show up that i would like to talk with you about it the second broad point is that the states and federal government have an obligation to help these middle-class families and who are unable to find access to those great universities and by the way i went to a truly great university. i went to the university in delaware. but all kidding aside, it doesn't mean you can't get the same education, the same intellectual content. but it does create other open doors. you are not going to like my saying this he went to harvard and yale and other schools like that and most sick of -- significant thing you got your roommate. you know i'm telling the truth. [laughter] states have cut back drastically on a public university. and those who have a different

view from me and the president as well have tried to cut back on what we consider some real accomplishments that we've made in the last six years. the 2,500-dollar tax credit through the bottom line helping millions of families keep their children in college, period. any college keeping student loan rates down. load repayments scheduled to start able to choose social work and not to do away with the increase that we have provided for the programs than 3 million more in the school but roughly $60,000 or less.

the state have to get back into the business of supporting the universities like they used to. [applause] >> you all can help because i know that you are making the case. you make the case all the time. but folks, not every student can even those that qualify can go to college or choose to attend a four-year college. but nonetheless, they deserve a decent opportunity to make a good living and to get the opportunity they need from some higher education training because we know that six out of ten jobs in the decade are going to require training beyond a high school degree. it could be an apprenticeship certificate or a two-year program or four year program or graduate degree. the question is how do we provide for those opportunities as well?

towards that end the state of the union last year asked me to come up with a game plan to help hard-working americans get the training they need for good and decent jobs many of which exist right now and are going unfilled for the lack of skilled. after six months of intensive review and meeting with hundreds of educators, labor unions, business leaders ceos elected officials we put together a report and if you haven't seen it i would respectfully suggest that us know and we will send you a copy. if you read david kelly put together a copy of what america needs and that is to continue to lead the economically in the 21st century and it's not only the best educated population in the world but also the most skilled workforce in the world. because the opportunities exist and in the great potential to grow. when you factor in other

enterprises are coming back to the united states. the lowest energy costs in the world, we have a court system that respects intellectual property where you can add adjudicator differences. i could go on but don't take my word for it. they've been doing a survey and asked i think the 400 industrialists in the world and at this year by the margin larger than any time in the history of the survey from it to the manufacturing and service economy and every sector and actually called the boston consulting group to do a survey i think 16 or 17 years they surveyed american chief executives in china every year and that they mentioned the last report came out in march and it's usually in the late winter,

early spring. i asked what are your plans for this year and this year 54% of american companies invested in china and say they plan on moving production home. that means opportunity. that means jobs. but in order to continue to grow this economy and provide paying good jobs we need to have the most advanced infrastructure in the world come and right now the transportation infrastructure ranks 28th in the world. that's for another speech in another time. and we need also the most skilled workforce in the world. technically skilled workforce in the world with an emphasis on science, technology engineering, math computer coding. the president's council on economic advisers and technology estimated the u.s. would need 1 million additional college graduates in the science committee technology engineering and math from both

the two and four year colleges by 2022 to just keep pace and also consider the growing industries of information technology. we've run the 1 million 300 new it jobs by 2022. additional jobs. the folks that developed the software make more than $80,000 a year. they typically need a bachelors degree. but the folks that that maintain computer networks make an average of $59000 in an associates degree. associates degree. you can raise a family on that. hope care. we need another 64,000 dental hygienist in the next ten years. average salary, $70,000 a year. they typically need an associates degree. many community colleges offer this. we need almost 600,000 additional registered nurses over the same period. they make today 65 to $75,000 a year typically in the bachelors degree.

advanced manufacturing there are 100,000 jobs going unfilled in america today. some require a bachelors degree but most require a two-year degree or less. many of them it is a three month training program. i could go through examples. for example there's a major manufacturing. [laughter] major manufacturing now making the photovoltaic shingles and they found that they don't have anybody that knows how to run the machine. so because we came up with $8 billion over the period of time, we partnered with community colleges, 15 weeks degree. they brought in their machinery and personnel, set up the course and the conveyor belt and average salary of $60,000 with far too many women and minorities are underrepresented in the very fields that are running. women occupy less than a quarter of the science technology engineering and math jobs like engineers and science is right

now. the computer science undergraduate degree has inclined from 37% in 1985 to 12% in 2013. african-americans and latinos represent 26% of the workforce yet they represent only 13% of the stem workforce. that's why the 110 new commitments with the education are critical in increasing graduation rates to 35% over to 35% over the next five to ten years producing thousands of more students that would help us reach the administration's goal of 1 million additional graduates by 2022. increasing demand during and financial aid and the women in the minorities focusing on the women and minorities. moving away from traditional lecture courses to the active classes and encouraged students to solve problems the students to solve problems in small groups and hands-on experience

of modeling. perhaps more than 10,000 additional teachers in k-12 are needed. all this matters but it's only a start. there's so much more to do and so much opportunity. there are 3,000 of the four year colleges and universities in the united states of america. there are 1000, 700 colleges. there are 13,000 school districts in america. they need the capacity and understand the capacity. for the countries economy can meet its full capacity because the one thing that distinguishes the children raised in the economically circumstances from those in the market which to circumstances not capacity it is access and opportunity. so, again, thank you all for helping us expand access, expand

opportunity. our children are not just our children. we talk about individuals. they are all our children and they are the kite strings that left the national ambitions along. so the more you can do the more, the better off we are all going to be. thank you all so much and i apologize. thanks for what you do god bless you all and may god protect our troops. thank you. [applause]

the author and founder of the aspen institute for the study of religion and liberty says the government should be the resource of last resort.

in august he addressed the annual steamboat institute freedom conference in colorado which focuses on the free market, conservative values and morality. this is about one hour. what a great event this is and what a wonderful and warm people it's the name that we chose as our kind of icon for the aspen institute that attempts to engage religious thinkers to understand the moral foundations of things like private property and free trade and the input of the contracts and the rule of law and the like. he sent a lot of different wonderful memorable things that you probably know best of all his statement that power tends

to corrupt. it's one of the most incorrect quotations in history. people usually say that it corrupts but it tends to corrupt and the enviable task once of correcting lady thatcher she looked down her nose at me and said okay. [laughter] carry along. but also liberty is the political and of man and of that is true enough. the problem arises when we think that the typical end of man is liberty because liberty after all is a vacuum. it's not a virtue in itself. i know that in a crowd like this, you might think that i am critical. but in the point of fact think

about liberty. not as a virtue or as the goal of our lives but as the context in which we can negotiate the goal of the life and of course all life is truth. there are different understandings of the truth and we could have some vigorous debates about that. but it's not liberty itself. you do not want to grasp for something empty. you have to fill liberty with something. it gives us the context that we can choose either virtue or advice. and i think that this is an important part of our movement heritage. in fact it is one of the unique things that the founding of the united states brought into the political discussion. because part of that virtually every constitution and every political and travis have spoken about some collective or some

entity giving rights to people. of course if you get something give something to someone you can also take it away from them. but the american founding had this insight that comes from a much more ancient insight that there was something inherent in the nature of the human person that comes with a package that he or she should have liberty. we recognize rights and protect rights. we can also opt to skate and violate rights. but every human being is the right to bear for by his make sure and i think that therefore our movement to forget that and to emphasize to quickly the benefits of liberty which are manifest and obvious especially when compared with the colossal wreck of socialism, to emphasize too much utilitarian dimensions of human freedom to neglect the

anthropological route of why we have liberty invested in our nature is to undermine a very important and i think compelling part of the demand for freedom is in the nation and indeed in the world because if we understand that there is a common ancestry to all people, i am going to describe it in a judeo christian language. i leave it to others from different traditions to describe in their language that i use a grammar of why it is that they are the rights of errors and then if we can understand that then and only then can we build a secure foundation for an

understanding of liberty in our age and generation. if we get the anthropology wrong in anything we construct on top of it no matter how elaborate or how seemingly beautiful it would also be faulty. if you ask me to identify one thing that is at the root of all of the confusion but only in our politics but in the culture today is this question put forward so many years ago what is man if those are not mindful of him. if we are simply the sum total of the holiday parks, then we are a speck of dust upon the speck of dust in the cold and cruel universe.

we have to respect the dimensions of liberty and that's why we have to respect the institutions of politics and culture but there is something more because we were built for something more. we contain within us eternity and i like the way that they push it in the judeo-christian anthropology so well. it says that you have never met in the immortal. everyone with whom you have ever come into contact. every shock girl from you've purchased or anyone that you have loved or hated is either an immortal horror or everlasting splendor that you have never met a mere mortal.

to follow up with that, the most sacred thing that presents itself to the senses next to the blessed is our neighbor. this is why we must build societies that are not free. freedom is necessary. but it's not sufficient. we must have freedom that but we have to ask freedom for what. i want to talk about anthropology and talk about history from a reasonable point of view and again i invite dialogue from all perspectives from secular believers and unbelievers or christians and jews and muslims and buddhists and whatever else if we can agree on the reason i think that we can advance the conversation

at a deeper level rather than just people talking bad to each other as we so often see in the media today. so we begin with who is man. the most obvious thing about us is our physicality. in the book of genesis describes the creation of the world as being good and the formation of man and woman from the dust of the earth into which is breathed the breath of life and doesn't account for the human reality? we are the dust of the earth but there is something in each of us that transcends the physical. we can quote bible verses or theologians on this but just reflect on yourself or just on

human beings. we have the capacity to transcend. when we left we transcend our physicality. in our creativity we see this in art or music or in business because it requires an understanding and respect for the physical world and all of the confines that sets up for us. we live in a world of scarcity but somehow we produce more than we consume. what is that in the human person? distort reason and mind find that sets us apart from creation of which is also sending and

physical but still doesn't have the capacity to reason. it is a thing that distinguishes us from even the most intelligent. we engage the use of our imagination and ambition and capacity to see potential. we reflect on ourselves and we can even reflect upon our own reflection. the result is that we establish a relationship in the material world that is more than physical. animals are bound to the material world by instinct. man is bound by reason. because of that, we can create and utilize antique things that have no particular value and

shape them into such a way that they become valuable for others. that is the origin of the private property right in the nature. animals don't do that. beavers build dams, that's true. but they don't build hotels and rent them out. [laughter] >> that is creative capacity. it is a transcendent potential. and if we look at ourselves as physical entities that live only by our passions and not by the reason, then we find ourselves slaves. when we create political structures that violates the freedom including the right to property which is just the right to the material material object in its self but all of this intelligence that goes into the creation of things, when we

allow the structures to be built that inhibit that and we destroyed not only the financial prosperity come about but we pollute the entire culture the view of ourselves and others. this is all related to the lowering the level of the standards of beauty and music and architecture. you and i are the apex of the creation of the world. you are at the summit of the creation. in fact, again now according to a biblical view it as into our hands but the creation has been interested. we have a stewardship obligation. and in order to act faithfully, we must be free to bring about a world that is better than what

has existed before us. poet isn't the ultimate. it is necessary but if we don't develop a moral vocabulary to speak to the society we will not be able to raise the army that will be needed to protect the right of human liberty and our generation and in subsequent generations. and this i suggest to use the assault of the dignity of human life, the assault on the reason. the assault on the freedom of worship and religion. the assault on the right to private property. the assault on the rule of law. the assault on the right to contract and the association of all of the others of similar rights that are interconnected. the results in the destruction of the civilization and culture

is end of ourselves. that's why it's important to always think together about the rights and responsibilities. i like that in a statement of principles. rights and responsibilities. not just right. human beings are not only physical and transcendent. we are also individual and relational. think about that. that's another unique thing about human beings. we are individual and not in that from the first moment of our existence we were a biological entity different from our mother. our dna was different from the womb in which we existed. if we were in relationship and after someone is born that

anthropological advance continues. we are still more obviously and visual. and we have gone through our whole lives balancing those rarities of our our individualities and individuality's and social capacity. now, the error of the radical individualism is to think that we don't bow anybody anything or any time as the we all invented the language that we speak. we have the great error of communism which these men as having no value except so that

human beings become only a part of the great socialist experiment. forget the anthropology wrong you get the societies upon which they are built wrong. whether we have to create a society that recognizes we are both individual and social. it is in our ability to choose where we will invest ourselves. the ability to help those might be able to recognize a part of ourselves there. but to create a society where the state is the dominant and at times almost the exclusive actor in the social causes and

remedies. not only was it the initiative but in the attempt to distort human nature itself. as as lenin or hitler or even came could manipulate human nature in such a way to make it serve some ideological and. other than meditating on the beginning of what we are into the ride from that truth that is what we can be in our nature. from my perspective the best way to approach this philosophically is to be judeo-christian ones. i think the scriptures to give a rich anthropological and cosmetology cool understanding of the reality.

if others have other reflections on this i just think that the scriptures come form to the natural reason and the documents that speak about nature. it's the history of christianity into the ancient world. it is a truth that people have thought about. especially in the incredibly technologically sophisticated moment that we are all experiencing. we understand that it's not just data that we need. it isn't just the facts that we need but it's the meaning behind the fact, not just data about

wisdom so this is the reflection of the end you get into the holistic view a a few you human beings are. they have literally not a monitor elite co monday and concerns and some of you may think that there is no particularly spiritual or political dimension to worry about accounts and health of factories operating or whatever physical labor you are involved in that is the world of utility and it has nothing to do with the world of beauty or poetry or morality. the transcendence. but that is a mistake and it is a deadly mistake. each human being has a call, a

vocation to do something based on who they are and what their different capacities are when none of us is equal. to be completely equal would mean that we are the same. we all have different capacity. none of us are equal but it's to be as excellent as we can be with what we can do. is it's rather to promote the ethic sense of community and society and not these artificial limb positions that come from far away bureaucracies in the form of the tedious regulations. if you see that your enterprise

and influence to create the little platoons that make the society operate come if you don't see that, then your energy is evaporating. but if you do see that, then you understand that your monday in day-to-day physical labor can have eternal significance. a french philosopher who once put it this way and i wish that this phrase was about every seminary. he said if you want to build a beautiful cathedral like that of notre dame got transpires representing the rising if you want to do something like that you must first understand geometry. this is the praise i would love

to see above every seminary. privacy is never a substitute for technique. [laughter] for without technique the piety is hopeless to use nature for the glory of god. it is never a substitute for technique. when you grasp the importance of that idea you understand that integrate into it into our everyday life are the authors of grace that is in theological language use different language for yourself and your own tradition but in my tradition and author of grace is an offer of relationship with god and that there isn't one point in the universe that isn't offering us this relationship transcended

a mom who told his brother after he'd been in a monastery for a while and he said i'm so glad i found my vocation praying day and night. we get up at 3:00 in the morning when all of the world is hushed. his father said we are so glad that you found your vacation. we want you to remember one thing. and 3:00 in the morning when all of the world was hushed your mother and i rose from bed to change your dirty diapers and enough we found our vocation. [laughter] imagine that. this is really incarnational.

it can be said in front of your computer terminal or blackboard. if god isn't on the floor of the new york stock exchange your work is so important and that's why politics has a role to play. i am not a political leader but the goal is to create spheres of freedom along with the society that is not only free but is good as well. the society that understands itself because its people understand themselves. but at the end is more than a physical comfort that we have an end beyond this world and that's why freedom is a sacred thing even if it isn't the whole answer. i opened with a quote that i

would like to close. he said that liberty is a delicate fruit of a mature civilization. out on the side of the house i lived in a while back now i noticed on the side of the house there was a big tree that went up in the air taller than the house itself. i'm from brooklyn new york. [applause] what do we know from trees right? there is a tree.

i called patrice got her and who knows if there is one. he came and picked up some of the leaves and came up to the porch where i was watching him and he said i'm sorry we have to take it down. how can it be dead? they just came out. he said i know it's an illusion. [laughter] they really are not that they're? [laughter] he said though there is still some working its way through but year after year there will be less because the boots themselves are dead and you have to take the tree down because in these michigan winters you could have a good storm and it could blow down onto the house. i think of that as a metaphor

for our civilization right now. i do not believe the roots are dead but they that they have been sorely neglected or forgotten. many in the culture today with half of the legacy of the past. they are just happy with this app that's running through it right now but they don't realize they are not producing more. they haven't given encouragement because they had intended it or they don't understand the roots. and they are everything but that i've said. and a solution to the dk will be to reemerge them to the great traditions of the west. arena rushed in with a moral appreciation of the enterprise. it's not doing for us what we can do for ourselves.

we must attend to those roots. so that delicate fruit can survive again in our mature civilization. thank you very much. [applause] >> we have time for q-and-a. i really enjoyed this kind of program especially. >> could you also like to point at the aspen institute is not a catholic organization. >> we were were both all different religious organizations. i am the cofounder of the institute that most of our support comes from most catholics and most outreach is

non- catholic and we have the duty to have a heavy catholic outreach but most of it is with protestants and various eastern christian orthodox people and an occasional jewish person and even a few muslims from time to time and some secular people who understand the importance of this foundation. now so you can ask a question i'm happy to translate. i can translate into standard english. [laughter] >> father -- [laughter] in the old testament every time israel turned its back on god and israel was punished. this country is morally bankrupt. i'm afraid for what's going to happen. can we have a revival of morality not necessarily

religion but morality clicks in the newspapers we read of hit and run accidents every day. that is a moral. what do you think, can we go back? >> i think we can't go back in the sense we can't put the toothpaste back in the tube and i think sometimes especially conservatives think what we need to do is revive. obviously there was something wrong philosophically speaking in the 1940s and 50s because it gave the 60s and 70s and so there was something wrong. don't get me wrong i like them. but i think what we need to do is do something new today. we need to understand the abm of our own culture and speak --

language to the values because people are so confused i don't think that our society is completely morally corrupt. i think if you live on the coast you might think that. remember when ronald reagan was elected president and somebody in new york in manhattan said how could this be? nobody that i know voted for him. [laughter] so, i think what we have to do is be very careful that we are not reading "the new york the new "new york times" too seriously because that's like the editorial pages very often fantasyland. and if he agrees. berries. everything is curtailed or manipulated to create a certain culture and the popular media is like that as well.

we need to look for things that will speak to the values that are the concerns many people have and there are a great many of them. children have a civilizing effect on many people, not on all people unfortunately because now we hear about children just being put in waste baskets and things like that. but i think as people think to the next generation they have to think about things that are more solid and reliable and we have to be creative enough and be able to articulate these values not as hostile values to people. we ought not to be and not let ourselves be characterized. the stereotype of the conservatives all go around and

tell people what they need to do and stuff like that. we need to call people what they know by their nature. so i think it is going to require a grave division of labor. people have been involved in politics and others in education and others in the social media creative writing, artwork. all this kind of thing. but i'm afraid to say it is much easier to pull apart a toaster than it is to put it back together and a lot of the posters have been pulled apart just laying on the table. we need to think about how this whole thing fits together again. but i look at a room like this and i see people who are dedicated and who are energetic and creative. i have hope for the future i am just not going to let them take

it away. >> over here in the corner. you remind me of the need for another bishop. and what you have said that today i think more people need to hear on an ongoing basis. have you given that any thought? stomach the last 25 years i've given a lot of thought. first of all, let me say how highly i respect which is why i would never make the analogy between myself and him. i think that he was a great man and by the way that is the example that i'm talking about. he spoke to the people of his time in the way that they could understand him.

did you know he had a tub of vision showed. many of you are old enough to remember. he -- was the -- i forget what the award was. the emmys offer television. and he was up against the sunday night lineup he and milton borough were up competing with one another and he won. he came up to the microphone and said first i would like to think my writers matthew, martin, luke and john. [applause] ..