but kobani was a major psychological break. because erdogan came on television with great glee, made it clear he wanted kobani to fall. and the fact that the united states as amberin said, shifted sides to the student kurds also kind of gave the kurds a great deal of self-confidence. ..

so almost immediately after the election, he started to essentially maneuver in such a way theory be another election. so if you can't win this time, maybe he hopes he would when i set a time. he maneuvered the process in such a way that is exactly what happened, which means there will be a new election november 1st bid in between we have an increase in the violence between the state and the pkk. that is quite puzzling to me in this that if you look at it from the pkk perspective there's absolutely no reason for it to escalate the process. here you have htp.

it has 80 seats in parliament, as many as a national body that came in. technically one member of parliament kicked them out. so htp has more seats in parliament and national. so you have a young, dynamic successful politician. technically you think any peace process if it going to have real legs to a needs to be handled through parliament, through democratically elect members of parliament. the only thing one can assume is the way in which mr. erdogan in the pkk have targeting and that is the htp. this is the hypothesis. i have enough of the pkk leadership and called them on the phone and say that's what you're trying to do.

but the point i'm trying to make is given the logical situation in a way very to conflicts, those erdogan and the pkk essentially benefit from violence in the said that if it undermines the htp, and the htp is between a rock and a hard place as they say in the united states is that there's room to maneuver by events. but doesn't necessarily mean that the htp has lost support. all polls indicate to the extent that turkish polls are accurate because the same polling of the invasions of the previous election results may be essentially putting in the same result will be marginal changes in the election results and therefore it is quite possible

november 1st to same results will emerge in elections. that is one hypothesis. if the violence increases, if what we saw yesterday is this kind of violence that calls in for martial law curfews, essentially the break down in the south east where the htp wins with overwhelming majority. the mayor was just removed by the minister of interior. she won her seat with 83% of the vote. it is not a significant reservoir of support and i suspect given the way it has been behaving, the number of postal increase.

on the way you can push under the threshold if you make voting impossible in which case the election becomes legitimate. from my days from which you cannot win a clean november 1st election of the two major defeats for his. he can create the coalition and mentioned as one possibility, which will be probably the best way for him in terms of trying to maintain control and go after pkk. but it's htp is kept below the 10% threshold because of an illegitimate election, then we have an argument that you have organized or not centralized kurdish youth groups that are

going to take method on their own and that is a very dangerous proposition for erdogan. he maketh all the seats he wants but all the dire consequences we can think of for turkish stability, turkish economy, and tourism, you name it. erdogan is a real gamble. he really is making a huge gamble here and i don't understand why. as i said, the pkk is also the unknown and unclear actor and this of course couldn't have come at a worse time for the united states. putting pressure on the united states is inreasing the major nato conference in which the

tariff rate i'm sure turkish chief of staff came out. i says, i pkk in the way pg. the same organization the united states and we are the air force and all the grounds forces. we are working with the only group in syria with whom we can work to essentially push back isis. so this whole plan i also describe is actually becoming more severe and create serious dilemmas for this days. and let me stop here. >> great, thank you so much. i'm going to open this up for questions quite briefly. let me pose a question of my

own. that would be wonderful. we are in washington d.c. speaking to an american audience. i wanted to ask you, the united states has dealt with less than democratic turkish government support. these aren't new problems. why does it matter for u.s. centuries to resolve this other people in turkey right now question dark >> you're absolutely right. the united states the united states is actually a steadfast alley when it comes to pkk. we have never feared from calling the pkk terrorist organization. it supports the turks in the fight against the pkk. what is different this time is essentially isis. here we have different perceptions of isis. from the united states, isis is the most important as we know.

it is more important than anything else. isis has to be pushed back, defeated, eliminated and that is number one priority. but the turkish government, it's much more different. it is priority number three. priority number one are the current and assad. one can make arguments but i suspect now the kurds are far more important. the turks do not want to see this area is involved. the aspects which we haven't talked about yet is the relationship between the united states, turkey and the central government. in a manner, you find turkey in the kr g are much more in line with each other against baghdad in terms of oil explode even despite america's displeasure,

but the kr g is also important to the united states. the destabilization of the region is not good for the united states. moreover, fighting isis requires serious occurred and the pkk complete attention, complete focus and this is undermining back. >> kobani, do you want to weigh in? >> i think okay, the pkk is labeled a terrorist organization. that isn't the fact that it is also the most influential kurdish movement globally. so you have to deal with that not only as an influential in turkey and iran, they are influential obviously an area and they do have some influence in iraqi kurdistan which

mr. pisani is acutely aware of. i'm the one hand to remain the strategic relationship which is keyed to his agenda which is independent and underpinned obviously by being able to sell his oil and you can't do that without turkey's help. on the other hand, the fact ordinary kurds feeling very angry about what turkey is doing to the pkk and what isis is doing on the other and the fact the pkk seems to be the most effect to fighting force against isis. bearing that in mind, it is time to deal with the pkk and as i said in my little talk that this is a great opportunity and the pkk having this experience of

running an area inside syria is having a profound effect. it is having them actually run towns and deal with the issues of ordinary people that you might argue they are to have the experience in e. whether htp is running near but that's a different set of people doing it. it is the pkk itself to radical uas. this is an opportunity to provide incentives for them to move away from violent politics. for that to happen you need to have some kind of accommodation between them in turkey and this could be a win-win. after all they need to also find a way of cohabiting with them as well and that seems to be getting rather difficult. this is where the americans who now have this leverage because they are the primary protect yours of the kurdish people at

this point to somehow bring all these sites to get there. i know it's a lot to ask for, but at least one should try. >> i have more international political prospect on that question why the united states should intervene in resolving the kurdish question. when we think russian geopolitical ambitions, we generally look at eastern europe, basically that is nato cold war iron curtain divided eastern europe whether it's expanding every track into the russian side role of ukraine. we think in terms of that. take the geographic home finance end of the slightly south and you have a third land in the middle east which is seized as an underbelly in terms of the western expansionism.

essentially, russian perception of its defense of its own territory also has a middle eastern guy mentioned by its naval base in syria. the access to the base is a national security issue for russia. in that context, the policies are quite similar to each other. russia wants iran and turkey not chaotic in the sense of forming a part but also not strong that they become impediments to russia's reassertion of it though the strategic interlock. in that case, russia into a certain extent iran have usually supported controllable amounts of instability region and when you interview -- retired

military people, especially those who were in the field would complain a lot about iran and how they interacted with the pkk through the 1990s. the same is true for russia. in that case, if it is unresolved, it destabilizes turkey and it's not really good as a u.s. ally in terms of what the united states is trying to do. rather than resolving it or not, it is about a rivalry for stability versus instability. that is why the united states has an interest in stabilizing that regard. >> thank you so much. i will open this up to questions. i ask you identify yourself in any organization you are

affiliated with. i realize there are questions involved, but please don't speechify. yes, sir. [inaudible] i have a question for amberin zaman. can you explain why some of the faces of the hezbollah -- have disappeared and all of them have been taken away? thank you. >> i am not sure i completely agree with your premise that they have somehow been removed. just recently she came out recently and said she was willing to come out and go on a hunger strike for the violence to be and. i'm not sure i completely understand your question, that clearly he is of a younger

generation, but anyone familiar with the workings of the kurdish political movement that's affiliated roughly speaking with trained to notice individuals don't matter so much in the end and this is a collect movement and on one hand you have people in cottondale, the htp, people in europe also incredibly important in terms of raising money, et cetera, organizing and public relations and of course you have trained to do. the most interesting cases why he's silenced. >> yes, sir. >> washington correspondent. i have two questions either of you can answer. the first one as you all know

about it turkish and western experts before the elections encourage people to vote for htp believing i will produce a more democratic turkey. i want to know what was wrong. why did we see a more democratic turkey. to become more democratic. my second question is in the possibility of snap elections, why am i wrong to believe the turkish voters have only two bad choices. either vote for a train to come and make him an absolute leader or vote the same way they didn't produce the outcome we house. thank you. >> okay. in response to the first question, why do we have the unstable situation, it is clear

i think june 7th was a wonderful day for all of us in turkey. it is great for the first time we have this kurdish political party overcome in this terribly undemocratic special of making it into the parliament yesterday was a bit for those of kurds, but also people like my mom who is a hard core secularist lady who voted for expected her to say because they be trained to so much we must do everything possible to make sure he doesn't get his majority. but this lady whose name i won't reveal, she will be upset by saying they can't keep the kurds out of parliament. this is bad for our country because people understood after two years of no conflict that peace is a great thing some others weren't having to find people in the army to make sure their sons wouldn't be assigned

to someplace in the southeast where they might die. people for the first time for tasting the first of ease and they wanted that to move forward. it was a great opportunity and if his government was sincere about solving the problems they would've been raised that because there's obviously the public consensus for moving forward. this was an endorsement of the peace process. but no, mr. erdogan and his friends openly said the fact of democracy working with a bad thing for democracy. i am not sure i understand not be on what we've all come to realize that mr. erdogan wants absolute power and he was denied it. perhaps you want to answer the second question. >> i will pick up where -- first

of all, people did not encourage people to vote in turkey. it was probably one of the more interesting election campaigns i've seen in turkey even though the majority of the press was quite hostile to htp because trained to have a significant amount of requests in turkey. the answer is to look, erdogan cares more about him becoming president without the requisite powers of the presidential system and everything else comes second. loathe, erdogan to a large extent is a great politician. you never underestimate him.

however, i am not sure people are capable of telling him what is going on in the country anymore in the sense that he only wants to listen to people who agree with him. you almost see it by the way he's maneuvered again who he has selected. it wasn't his choices. there are people related to him, people loyal to him and do exactly what he wants them to do. you have a system being created around him but essentially it's a vacuum chamber. he only hears his own voice. in terms of the choices, and as i said this is a gamble that is quite problematic in the sense that you need to get the same result -- either you get the

same result or you're going to get erdogan, both of which are bad for turkey. who decides whether turkey goes to elections. the turkish government. >> but it need not be chaos. if you are the parliament to have a coalition government has said many democratic countries. >> clearly erdogan does not want to see an htp coalition because he's afraid of the corruption charges are going to come up and be investigated and that's obviously not good for him or his family. >> in the back there. >> hi, my name is amber smith from terrorists.

i am wondering why erdogan -- next week he will be allowed to access his family. we expect erdogan to speak and if so, what would he say? thank you. >> you have any thoughts? >> well, there are specific specialists who can decipher what he wants to say by reading between the lines instead of reading the actual text. i am not one of them, so take what i am saying with a pinch of salt. basically in all conflict resolution processes, there's always this tennis match between

agency and structure, influence of the individuals versus influence of the process is already ongoing. when peace process goes well, it tends to strengthen the agency, you know, people who get more influence as things go good. when things go mark conflictual, the conflict assumes a life on its own and starts to get separated from the individuals running the conflict because conflicts by definition are very and predict the vote. when you start a war, you think it will end whenever you want but it never ends whenever those people who start the war wanted to mend. in that sense, erdogan was hibernating because he is walking on it tight rope between

one pkk leadership increasingly seen him yes relevant, yes important committee is influential, but nonetheless in cap dignity. so what he is saying our things that are actually taking all of these with a pinch of salt. erdogan no-space. i think he is keeping silent because he knows if he asks pkk to drop arms, pkk probably won't do it. if he tells pkk to take up arms and fight, he is going to lose connection with the government and the turkish state and all the favors that come with it. it is one of those withdrawing itself and waiting for the

structure. to reassert at a later time. >> he may be silent because the government won't let them type and none of the htp members have been able to visit them. so it's not as if people will come out and say this is what mr. erdogan said to us. clearly that would not have much credibility. if the government policy to keep them quiet. it is possible but we don't know if it's him by the government keeping him quiet. friend not if -- from that perspective -- [inaudible] >> i'm sorry, in the next week or family members will go with him and talk with them.

what do you expect? >> in turkish pride is that means a bigger crisis because it has all imprisoned people have access to family members. that is why i'm assuming if they don't allow family members to talk with him, that means it's a different dynamic going on. >> i don't know if the family members are necessarily the right media if you want. this is not the htp who are much more seasoned politicians. he may not hear anything from him because that is not who should be carried in the message. i'm speculating. i don't know.

>> hi. i do quick question on pkk subject is. can you please elaborate more, for example, hungary has it very on what they are trying to do. when you look at the language it seems you are not a great. to the pkk, what they are trying to do. and also, are there any tactical changes? they are targeting more police officers and this is my observation. i'm not an expert on pkk. there is a tactical change or structural change because of the movement mentioned. so the object of attack takes the pkk.

>> the question is addressed to me i think. obviously i am not a pkk scholar. i can only speculate, but from what i observed monies to realize this is closely linked to what is happening inside the area. let's not forget this escalation happened after the attack and however much i agree it is impossible to prove the government was somehow involved and i would beg whoever makes the claim to provide evidence and clearly the pkk leadership as well was somehow connected to the state and away sending a strong message about what was happening inside syria and it was in fact targeting with the pkk is achieving in syria, its alliance with the united states and the fact of turkey opening

thereafter probably persuaded them that indeed was what this was all about. i think the pkk on the one hand is saying to the turkish government if you try to undermine a, we are going -- this is what we will do and on the other hand it's also save if you continue to undermine inside turkey and try and marginalize the htp where we disagree, i will make turkey ungovernable for you. this is a way of saying if you are going to play hardball with me, i am going to play hardball with you. very few of us predicted this because we all seem to believe in the pkk was done in this fight against the islamic state it could hardly afford to open up a second front against turkey

but in a very.this may start them america enabled it to do it because they rode to the rescue with air support which to pressure he made it easier for them to do what they're doing now today. >> when we talk about tech except pkk that splintering strategy. essentially when erdogan was captured in 1999, the leadership said this. never again will the organization call it after his leader's captors are killed. that is why we have to splinter into multiple modes of decision-making but there's

still a degree of autonomy and local assets as well. as a result of this, it is beneficial in the sense that when you want to completely play hardball in the sense that you have to create chaos that nobody can manage it, it works really well. when you are trying to control that, it's also very difficult which became obvious into pipeline attacks recently when one's local friends basically said we did this pipeline and htp said we have no connection. we don't know who did this. several days later they all agree yet we did this. that strategy has pluses and minuses as well. plus when you want to create chaos on the perfect environment. when you control these assets come impossible.

killing police. one thing it is very easy to do so, especially when you run an asymmetrical conflict and trying to gain the upper hand in the psychological aspects of war when there is a car crash you call the police. the police comes in ambush and kill them. the same thing is true for how services, in state services as well. but what happened last week is the leadership started to publish directives to local commands that do not target policemen that are actually with their families. that is one way of trying to bring the battle into a manageable phase. once organizations start to splinter, you can't splinter them because you have this

operational autonomy and freehand. it will be very difficult for the centralized readership to manage it all together. i think police killings as part of the strategy and i don't think it's going to go away in short-term. >> matt something. but not forget what happened in october of last year during the kobani riots. we call them that. it was up to erdogan to stop that andy's youth movements and i've talked to them when they were men in the trenches, they say they would only answer to erdogan. in a sense this may also be part of the pkk strategy of making train to relevant again because they need to pull him out. that might be part of the strategy, the pkk strategy of getting erdogan back in the

picture for activating the youth movement that is only answerable to him. that is just a guess. >> thank you. jim holmes, retired foreign service officer. amberin open an issue which deserves more commentary which is u.s. policy as part of serious concerns. as described in the beginning there were differences between 1890s and 2001 at the differences he did not elaborate on was provide comfort and security which the u.s. and other coalition forces provided for the kurds in northern iraq in the 1990s in the absence of that in the case of syria indeed wasn't 2 million, 3 million,

4 million refugees generating u.s. interest in syria. now we are reaping all the consequences of that. amberin spoke about the possibility of the u.s. using it leverage now effectively with respect to turkey. i wonder what are the dimensions of an effective u.s. policymakers act of a situation that now exists not just u.s. turkey, but in that region with respect to refugees, what are the dimensions of an effective policy co-chances of consequence for the region. >> i'll leave it to the great middle east expert to answer without one. >> i'm glad it don't have to answer questions here. i like being moderator.

[inaudible] >> look, the american policy is very clear at not going to be in american military dates around in fear. however, having said this again looking at the tv so to say, the united states managed to get the turks to open up three basis. three bases and means the palazzi had in the air much closer than the other two. i suspect the white house must be planning something much more robust without graham troops, maybe special forces.

i don't know. certainly you don't ask to open three bases just to send six at six with it. we are slowly repositioning for much more muscular policy towards bases. for us, the focus is isis. there is no other concern. it happens to be dead the p. y e. n. the way pg are the most formidable force and will continue to work with them provided this kerfuffle between turkey and the pkk doesn't get in the way. i suspect the administration is probably thinking much bigger in terms of military involvement, bringing more iraqi troops up.

maybe this thing about organizing this area in business. but that is the limit to which the united states will go. it is also part of the deal with turkey and opening the bases is sealing the border. already we see reports that isis is having trouble bringing people across to the turkish border and is becoming more difficult to cross. said that is the extent of the american involvement for the future. they will bring in more wherewithal and by the way, the british and french as well. but that is it. that is what i can see the u.s.

doing. >> thank you very much. very quick comment and a question. just about the presidential debate in turkey, the party commissioned more than a dozen polls between december last year in may of this year and less than half are convinced the presidential system is a good idea. even normally the outcome of the election made you still think it's a nonissue. as one observation observation i want to share. my question is about the pew i.d. policy. why is the situation great seeing -- [inaudible]

>> you should ask this to the white house. i don't know. the united states sometimes works in very mysterious ways. for its superpower that cannot decide or cannot get a visa because it may offend the turks is the only reason i can think of. there is no other reason we talked to him. for summaries and i have no idea. if you find out, if the white house tells me i'm true to you, please tell me. mind you i'd say the white house, not the state department. >> i have kind of a follow-up question regarding the potential operations on isis and whether the election could potential to

change turkey's position of whom to support on the ground because turkey so far couldn't come up with an alternative. >> what could possibly change after the election regarding lets say erdogan has all he needs. but we support the parties on the ground and feeling that will be increased number of operational on isis. >> it's an interesting question because if he feels confidence, he might pick up the priest process again and of course we know mr. erdogan is a flexible person who may indeed decide the ht pcs to support the kinds of

constitutional changes he is seeking. so with that in turn means that turkey stars partnering with ypg and isis is a threat to itself more than anyone else. we have a 900-milliliter shed millimeter. i don't know what happens in turkey whether the peace process will be picked up again will also be reflect to end a relationship. if not, the peace process is going nowhere that we can safely predict. >> i would say the danger of the policy change would occur if the election result aren't exact duplicate. in other words, if erdogan loses again he may eventually not

retaliate, and the one thing that's disturbing when you look at the moment, it is amazingly at the moment anti-western and making a connection between the pkk and this barrage. a friend of mine wrote that she watched a document on turkish television and how germany is essentially providing arms and training to the pkk saying all the equipment against turkish troops occupying the united states. the united states has trained them to put ieds. this atmosphere is not

necessarily conducive to good decision-making because a lot of people may believe this nonsense. second, in the event he is defeated again, this may be a place where he can change. but it's too speculative. >> may i add something we are focusing and not looking closely at the army police in turkey. i think there is some degree of sympathy to the extent that it seems like the only force capable of dealing with the pkk. i have heard this from political who are very close to the members of security forces, the fact they hear people saying saying we are good for them.

they are going after these guys and they seem to be the only ones capable of teaching kurds a lesson. i find that extremely worrying and something you can design to some extent if you look at twitter for followers of people to me as quite a shock to see many followers were people whose profile pictures had the grails. ultranationalists somehow connected. perhaps i guess a similar case was somehow had this alliance of convenience with these people because they had the same enemy. i think that phenomenon is arty scrutinizing more carefully. now you hear reports and indeed

you see it on youtube of personnel in the old days now have the isis beard. that is kind of scary. it needs to be examined more closely. >> yes, sir. >> high, and the nails, my question for henri barkey. he said there is no automatic leadership. can you explain what you mean? [inaudible] >> is that there is no monolithic leadership of the pkk. for erdogan was the leader in that spilled over for erdogan.

right now decision-making is splintered. >> thank you very much. jim from the turkish embassy. i have a few comments and questions. my first comment is actually just many to underline -- [inaudible] this is eager to fight against isis and against terrorism in general. interviewing someone about the point that isis is going after

pkk. but this is another current policy. one thing that is important peace process by the government. but one point is we shouldn't forget the peace process was stopped by pkk itself. [inaudible] and a few things about kobani. there is a general perception that turkey has not supported kobani, but also, turkey which

was not mentioned here, turkey has helped the patchwork of forces go to kobani and fight against isis. and there are other assistance that turkey kids. so fighting the isis is very important. my question is a general one. there are some i heard, but why do you think the pkk has opted for stopping the peace process? because it started right after

the search. thank you very much. >> i think i'm trying to elaborate on this at some length. i thought it was the pkk's vantage point, but i really don't have much to add to that. >> just one important issue here you proud of. the fact the turkish government allowed them to cross from northern iraq in two kobani. you have to remember that came much, much later. it was essentially to show -- to repair very significant problem the government had created for us though as an attempt to show we are not against the kurds. we will use the peshmerga to come and help.

but the site had dirty been stabilized mostly by the united states air force. let me also remind you mr. erdogan was absolutely livid about american bombing to support the 79. if you remember he came out and said something. what is in kobani? oil, gold, diamonds? in a way it was a demeaning attack on u.s. intentions in strategy and anybody at that time will tell you and maybe you know to that kobani was not a place to defend. it allowed the peshmerga to come

after kurdish opinion especially in turkey. kobani was the main breaking point for turkish kurds. especially what happened the peshmerga. the peshmerga operation was a way to seek medical those who essentially have been stabilized the constituent. and as far as whether pkk started it, i think the pkk probably decided they were not serious. it's also the election process. if you remember, in the period coming to the june 7th election, both mr. erdogan in the pkk process understood

correctly the htp was the single most important, and it was engaging in the peace process. that contradiction is also one that decided there was no hope. >> before that as you know the government was building these are means. what would you call them? yeah, pose and also cutting off -- the pkk is cutting off their roots and the pkk was very unhappy about this and making a lot of noise.

as you remember, you had the protests rather deadly and some people died. it didn't just happen overnight. there is a lot of mutual distrust and the government would argue as they were discussing commit pkk was busy start piling so obviously a lot of distress so that is also a big problem. the lack of trust which i think makes the question of why you don't have a third-party as he did in oslo to just monitor the peace process. >> we are running out of time. i think i'm going to take my prerogative and asked the last question myself. since we'll get five minutes i will post it to all three of you and ask you to be relatively brief with the answers. i have a big picture question about where turkey is headed.

there are two conflicting narratives. one is the akp with the majority for the first time. erdogan did not get what he wanted. they still won 7 million plus more votes than any other party. the chp saw the percentage decrease. which of those narratives is somewhat persuasive explanation of where turkey is heading? is there an opposition that could become the next governing party or does it look like turkey's indispensable party for years to come? >> the topic i am writing something in turkey. it's a very long debate so i will just cut it short. when you look at turkish politics such as cold war 60s,

70s or 1990s, every crisis. election that produces a coalition auction and accessing whichever part is the third becomes the first part in the next election. almost like 100% uninterrupted but i discovered. it's quite interesting. whichever third party becomes party, the other election becomes first party. it's an interesting dynamic. i have a whole other set of theories to explain it but i will spare you from that. what does that tell us? it tells us one thing that we have 23rd parties. one of them is more coalition oriented party, the other is more an ideological party. the big picture here main

polarities in turkish politics are more structurally established in the sense you have six central right party's domestic centerleft parties, one turkish national party, one kurdish political movement party, which i think if the proper political process continues and is going to become the blueprint for turkish elections for years to come. so that is my answer. >> i think if you look at turkey, traditionally you've always had a single party rule they managed to push through reform and that is positioned has always been held by a center-right party and until the present when you look at the demographics of turkey, and a party needs the kurdish vote. that is the reality. given the akp whe

given the akp where mr. erdogan totally alienated the card, can you move forward with the coalition even if it is the chp. i'm afraid i have to say i am somewhat doubtful and what really needs to happen is for the akp to shake off mr. erdogan and then only can we move forward. hopefully i will be proven wrong. ..

akp may splinter. we are getting a great deal of opposition within the akp. there's still the former president mr. gul who is maybe moving in the direction of a new party, something new. it's quite conceivable that especially at the next elections produce the same results as they did in june that you will see new organization and the fracturing of the akp, primarily because i think mr. erdogan has become so dominant and he is essentially sucking up all the oxygen from the party. there's going to be reaction within the part that's the most likely outcome.

>> well, great you. i think we are out of time at this point but i really want to thank all of our panelists were terrific presentations and join me in giving them a round of applause. [applause] >> thank you so much. [inaudible conversations] >> with pope francis a to visit the u.s. next week decatur institute is hosting a discussion on the pope's interpretation of capitalism and its use on poverty. that's why that noon eastern on c-span. at the same time on c-span2 outgoing army secretary john mchugh will talk about military operations and the impact of sequestration budget cuts. he will be speaking at the american enterprise institute at 12 p.m. eastern. >> setting the stage for

c-span's new upcoming series, landmark cases, historic supreme court decisions, but national constitution center host a live discussion in philadelphia wednesday on the same cases with we've selected for the series, exploring the human stories behind these historic decisions, distinguished panels include georgetown university law professor and former acting solicitor general, and senior federal judge, u.s. district court for the eastern district of pennsylvania. moderated by jeffrey rosen, national constitution center president and ceo live wednesday at 7 p.m. eastern on c-span3. >> president obama was in iowa yesterday for economy being at north high school in des moines. he talked about college access and affordability act of questions from students, parents and teachers alongside education secretary arne duncan. this is just over one hour.

>> barack obama. [cheers and applause] everybody, give it up for russhaun. [applause] >> hello, iowa. [cheers and applause] >> well, it is good to be back in iowa. i was missing you guys. go, polar bears. [cheers and applause] >> it is great to be back in des moines. i landed at the airport, saw the hampton inn that, i mustn't stay better like 100 days. i'm sure i've got some points or

something. i should get a couple free nights at the hampton inn. everybody, have a seat, have a seat, relax. and i know -- [inaudible] i know it's september, so i know you guys are all about to be flooded with ads and calls for a bunch of folks who want this job. i just can imagine what kind of person would put themselves through something like this. [laughter] although i notice, i did know russhaun was on the ballot. during the introduction, an ex-president of the united states. we could not be prouder of russhaun, not just for the introduction but for the inspiring story he told. i think he's an example of what our young people can do when they put their mind to it. i want to thank your principle,

mike vukovich. where is mike? [applause] there he is. your superintendent here. where is tom? [applause] your mayor, frank county is here and was a great friend. where is frank? he was here. he had to go to a city council meeting. he's missing out on the fun. iowa attorney general great friend of mine tom miller. [applause] treasurer mike fitzgerald, rate support. [applause] and, of course, secretary of education arne duncan. [applause] for letting me crash his bus tour your i'm not going to give a long speech because we want to spend most of the time taking questions from all of you, but just wanted to the line and we came to north high school

because you guys have done some great things over the past few years making sure more students have laptops and ipads, more ap classes, improving test scores. so you become a great example for the whole country of what's possible. [applause] so we thought we would come and pay you a visit, talk to some of the students in des moines, and your parents. because i know that there's nothing to high schoolers love more than being in public with the moms and dads. that's what malia and sasha tell me all the time. in the coming seven years ago this week that a financial crisis on wall street ended up ushering in some really hard times on main street. but thanks to the incredible resilience and grit and hard work of the american people we have bounced back. we created 3.1 million new private sector jobs over the

past five years. we've helped more than 16 million people have the security of health insurance, many of them for the first time. our high school graduation rate is the highest that it has ever been. and -- [applause] and i should point out by the way if you want to see the best graduation rate in america is right here in iowa. [cheers and applause] so we've been investing in things that help to grow the middle class and to provide opportunity for every young person. but no 21st century economy is, nobody in the 21st century economy is going to be able to do what they want to do with their lives unless they've got a great education. that's just the truth.

by 2020, two industry job openings will require some form of post-high school education. whether it's a four-year university or community college or a tech school. and it's an investment that pays off. poorly it pays off and russhaun mention it, it empowers you. a teacher a sense of who you are. and your hopes and your dreams when it comes to sharpen how you see the world and empowers you in all sorts of ways. and also some pretty practical ramifications. compared to a high school diploma, a degree from a two-year school could earn you an extra $10,000 a year. a four-year degree could earn you $1 million more over the course of your lifetime. that's how important education is in today's economy. and here's the thing. just as higher education has never been more important, let's face it, it's also never been more expensive. and that's why we have been

working to try to make college and post-high school education more affordable. we've increased scholarships. we reformed our student loan system that funneled billions of taxpayer dollars into big banks. we said let's cut out the middleman, let's put that money directly to students. we cleared a new tax credit of up to $2500 to help working families pay for tuition and books and fees. we are helping people have their federal student loan payments at 10% of income. so if you want to be teacher or social worker or some other profession that may not make a huge amount of money, you can still do that knowing that you're not going to go, you're still going to be able to afford to support to self and your family while doing it. and we're fighting for two years of free committee called for any student that's willing to work for it.

[applause] -- free community college. the bottom line is that no young person in america should be priced out of college. they should not be priced out of an education. and i know that finding the right school for you, the best school for you is a tough process. melia is going through it right now. you guys are juggling deadlines and applications and personal statements. and so they are in the back of your mind asking yourselves what you plan for a career in which want to do with your life. i think we should make that process easier. so couple of things that we've done that we are announcing over the course of this week during arne's bus tour. we've introduced something called college scorecard. a lot of them is to have all the information they need to choose the right school. a lot of the college ranking systems that you see, they reward schools just for spending more money, or for rejecting

more students pick i think that's wron the wrong focus. i think our colleges should be focusing on affordability and servicing student and providing good value. we created this college scorecard, and you can scroll through it to see which schools are more likely to graduate their students, more likely to result in good jobs for those students, more likely to make sure the students can pay off their student loans here and you can then use that information to make choices that are right for your future and right for your budget. so you guys can go to college scorecard .pdf.gov. we've already got half a million visits since we launched this thing us there so it's about tool for students and their treasure kind of a decision about which school to go to. we're also simplifying the financial aid process to give you more time as you make the

decision. right now about 2 million students don't claim the financial aid they are eligible for. part of it is just complicated and time-consuming. solution people are leaving money on the table and there may be some young people here who are not aware of all the financial help you can get. so what we've done is we've shorten the federal student aid form, called fafsa, down to about 20 minutes. it used to be about two, three times as long. and because only congress has the power to eliminate certain requirements, we are asking been disabled by it even further. the good news is it's got some good bipartisan support. in fact, we've got a caucu congn here from virginia who traveled with us, congressman bobby scott. where is bob equipped there he is way in the back of there. [applause] he is working, he's a democrat, working with republicans to see if we can further shorten and make this form similar.

today i'm also announcing that beginning next year families will be able to fill out a fafsa even earlier, starting on october 1 right around the time the college applications ramp up. that means you will not have to wait months for adobe to use to apply before you get started so you can get a jump on the college application process. you will know soon how much aid you qualify for, have more time to evaluate your options. we're also working with colleges and universities and scholarship programs to align the application and the financial aid processes with this new fafsa start date. so all these steps taken together should help hundreds of thousands more students pay for college. i know that's important to you. i'm going to end my opening remarks with a story from somebody who couldn't hear today that graduated from here last year, and his name is nico green. you may remember me go from the polar bear ask a ball team.

[applause] and the reason i want to tell this story is, for the past few years nikko was homeless. as a junior and senior. he was grateful to mostly stay with his coach or his counselor. but before that he spent nights in shelters and in church basements or in hotels with his mom sometimes sleeping next to drug addicts, or worse. and he said i've seen some terrible things i am thankful for it into because it's taught me to be strong. and being strong and studying me keeping his eye on college, applying for and winning some scholarships. last refill about his fafsa, found out he qualified for thousands dollars of federal and state aid. today, nikko as a freshman at graceland university, studying accounting. still playing ball, hoping to

make enough money one day to get back to the mom he loves. [applause] so that's why we are here. that's what this is about. students like nikko and russhaun, students like many of you who want to take that next step and have big dreams. we want you to know that we are there to help you achieve those dreams. we want to make sure we're giving every student is willing to put in the effort all the tools that they need in order to succeed. that's not just good for the students by the way. that's also good for america. because this country was built on the notion that it doesn't matter where you come from, what you look like, what your last name is. if you're willing to work hard, you can make it. and education is the key to

making that future possible. that's how we grow this country. that's how we make it successful and that's the incredible project, the great experiment in democracy that all of you are apart. so with that, arne and i are looking forward to taking your questions. thank you very much, everybody. [applause] >> so can everybody hear me? is this working? >> yes. >> all right. so here's how this is going to work. you raised your hand and i will call on you. we are going to go girl boy, girl boy to make it fair. there should be people in the audience with microphones so wait until they get their and introduce yourself, try to keep your question short enough that we can get as many questions in as possible. and contrary to what arne said, he's going to get all the tough questions and i just want the

easy ones, all right? so let's see, the ones to go first? this young lady, she shot her hand up quick. right here. we need a microphone up here. all right. hi. my name is angelica come and my question is for you. it's what they believe the role of a teacher should be? >> what do i believe the role a teacher should be. that's a great question. when i think about my own life, some of you may know, my dad left when i was very young so i really didn't know him. i was raised by a single mom and we did have a lot when we were coming up, although my mom had this great love of learning. but she was a teenager when she had me. she was 18. and she was still going to school and working at the same

time as she was raising me and then my sister. she was my first grade teacher come and when she taught me was compassion, caring about other people. but she also taught me to be cheaper just. and when i think back to all the great teachers that i've had, it's not so much the facts that they've taught me, because i can get those from books, but it has been teachers who are able to spark in me a sense of curiosity. how does that work? why is that the way it is? somebody who has helped me want to learn more. that is the role of a great teacher. somebody who can teach you to be so interested in the subject that you then start overtime teaching yourself.

and i'll bet there's a lot of great teachers fear. part of -- teachers here. part of the challenge i think of being a teacher sometimes students don't always appreciate good teachers. let's face it. because i think sometimes we think education is something that you just received from somebody else to its passive. they can't afford college and near. but, in fact, good teaching is a conversation that you're having with somebody, where they are giving you not just answers but also asking you questions and helping your brain gets a workout that i learned how to figure things out yourself. and also i think great teachers are somebody who are people have confidence in you and have high expectations for you. and they see something they knew what they get us into you know what, you're important and you

can do amazing things. and when you feel that from a teacher, the teacher really thinks you've got something in your that's worth saying or writing, you know, those are the teachers that you remember. those are the teachers that inspire you. what do you think, arne? >> i'll be quick. i think is a really good answer. i think a great teachers see things instead they don't even see in themselves, pull things out of you. summerlike russhaun whose mom was locked up in lots of folks could look at you and said that's what is going to go the other teacher seen as a student body president, as a future teacher, as a future leader in the community. those amazing teachers things-- see things in us. >> great question. [applause] >> all right. i think it is a guys turn now.

let's see. that gentleman right back there, around the corner there. spent hi. my name is dennis. i miss seeing you at north high school, and -- what's so funny? [laughter] >> argue the dad that is embarrassing -- >> may be. star it's a give-and-take. they embarrass me, i'm going to embarrass them. >> listen, i'm right there with you. >> okay. in your opinion, of all the next presidential candidates that are in line, which once had the best ideas for education reform to make it more affordable and accessible? >> well, you know, let me -- [laughter] [applause] >> i'm going to beg off this question a little bit. you know, i promise you i'm

generally going to give you straight answers to this one i'm going to wiggle around a little bit. right now i'm going to try to stay out of the campaign season until, partly because i can't keep track of all the candidates affect i will wait until it has winnowed down a little bit before i have an opinion, but here's what i can say. that a society's values are reflected in in where we put our time, our effort, our money. it is not sufficient for us to say we care about education. if we are not actually putting resources into education. now, i am --

[applause] both arne and i have gotten some guff sometimes even from within our own party because we have said that money alone is not enough, that it's important for us if a school isn't teaching consistently kids so that they can achieve come then we've had to change how we do things. in collaboration with teachers and principals and parents and students. we've got to figure how do we make it work better. so a lot of initiatives we've had in terms of increased accountability and encouraging more creativity and empowering teachers more, you know, those don't cost money. but what we also know is that

if, you know, science labs to have the right equipment, then it's harder to teach science. if kids don't have access to broadband and laptops in their classrooms, then they are at a disadvantage to those kids who do. if you've got a school that doesn't have enough counselors, and so come time to apply for college, there are not have counselors to go read and kids are not getting the best advice that they need company may end up selling themselves short in terms of their ability to go to college. so resources do matter. and part of the reason i am making this point so that when you're evaluating candidates, you pay attention to this, is we are going to be having a major debate in congress coming up because the budget is supposed to be done by the end of this month. and so far congress has not come

up with a budget. and there are some in the other party who are comfortable with tv and play something called sequester, which is going to become is going to result in significant cuts over the next several years in the amount of federal support for education. and that's going to force them either layoffs or kids not getting the kind of support that they need. it will have an effect on the education of students. so i just want everybody to be clear without endorsing any particular candidates ideas, that if somebody is running for president and they said they want to be the education president, it means two things. one is that you care about every student doing well, not just

something because whoever is president as a present for all people, not just some people, that's point number one. [applause] and point number two is about you've got to be willing to provide the resources, particularly for communities that may not have as much a property tax base so they can always raise money on their own in order to help their students achieve, all right? anything you want to add on that? >> just very quickly come to got about two dozen to choose from and all want your vote. i have four questions to ask every candidate, republican, democrat, doesn't matter. what are you willing to do to have more children have access to a quality early childhood education? that's the best investment we can make. [applause] number two, what are you going to do to continue to increase our nation's high school

graduation rates what we are very proud it's at an all time may come nowhere near where it needs to be. three, when they go did you make sure high school graduates are truly college and career read and not having to take remedial classes in college. and forth when you delete the work in college graduation rates again. we were first a generation ago. today we are 12. other countries have passed us by. if every candidate you ask what are your concrete goals for those four things, and what resources are you willing to put behind that, our country would be in a much stronger place. [applause] >> anand not to be attacking he, here's one last thing. i'm sorry, what was your name? angelic as a terrific questions about what does it mean to be a great teacher. if you hear a candidate say that the big problem with education is teachers, you should not vote for that person. [applause]

you know, it is a hard job, ended the most important job we've got. and folks who go into teaching to go into it for the money. they go into it because they are passionate about kids. that doesn't mean that there aren't bad teachers and it does mean that we shouldn't hold teachers to bystanders as well and continue to work in terms of professional development and recruitment and retention of great teachers. there have been times where arne and i have had some disagreements with teachers unions on certain issues because we want to encourage experimentation. but the bottom line though is that you can measure how good a school is by whether or not it is respecting and engaging

teachers in the classroom so they are professionals and a few good about what they're doing, and they are given freedom and they're not just being forced to teach to test. and it is very important to us than to make sure that, you know, if what we hear is just a bunch of teacher bashing. i can't tell you who to vote for, but at least not right now, later i will, but i can tell you who to vote against and that is somebody who decides that somehow teachers don't deserve the kind of respect, and decent pay that they deserve. [applause] ..

>> first of all, to have the first two years of community college free because it's in my budget, and i know how to pay for it. [applause] and it would, and essentially, if you close up some corporate tax loopholes that aren't growing the economy and are just kind of a boondoggle, you take that money, you can then help every state do what tennessee's already doing. because tennessee's already making community colleges free for the first two years. and what that does then is, first of all, it helps young people who may not right now

want to go get a four-year college education, but know that they still need some sort of, you know, technical training or they want to get an associate's degree can. right away that whole group, they now know they can get their education for free as long as they're working hard. but for those who are thinking about a four-year college education, they can also get their first two years at community college, then transfer those credits to a four-year college, and they've just cut their overall college costs in half. so it'd be good for everybody. whether you're going two years or four years. now, if we can get that done, then i think we can start building from there. in the meantime, i do want to make sure though that everybody understands what we're talking about in terms of fafsa. you have to fill out this tomorrow. and we are -- this form. we are making it easier for you to do. you have no excuse.

parents who are here, you know, even if you didn't go to college, you need to nag your kids to make sure that this fafsa form gets filled out so that people know -- so that you know the student aid that you may be entitled to. my grandma, you know, she didn't go to college. she didn't -- even though she was probably the smartest person i knew. but she did know that you had to go to college and that you had to fill out this form. so i want everybody here to make sure that you stay focused on that, because there's more help already than a lot of people are aware of. and this college scorecard that we talked about? collegescorecard.edu.gov, that allows you to find out do these

schools graduate their students, how much debt do they have, are they generally getting a job after they graduate? we're not just ranking the most prestigious schools. we're giving you some news you can use in evaluating the schools in do they deliver. a lot of times the students who get big student loan debt after they graduate, it's because they didn't think through where should they go, what should they be studying, what resources are available. and we want you on the front end to have as much information as possible in order to make a good choice, okay? all right. arne, anything to add on that? >> quickly, that fafsa form the president talked about, how much in grants and loans do we give out each year, any guesses at the federal level? >> a lot. >> how much is a lot? >> see, i didn't test you, you notice. [laughter] i leave that to the head of the education department. >> how much? >> [inaudible]

>> 30,000? any other thoughts? yes, sir. >> [inaudible] >> what's that? >> total. how much? 30 billion? any other guesses? [inaudible conversations] all right. so very quickly, we gave out $150 billion in grants and loans each year. >> that's real money. >> the president says we've got a long way to go, we want to do more trying to make community colleges free, we don't care whether your family has money, if you work hard, $150 billion. it's the only form, 20 minutes, half an hour, only form that's going to give you access to $150 billion. just want to emphasize this point, you have to fill that out. >> gotta fill it out. [laughter] all right? >> all right. [laughter] >> this gentleman back here. i don't want to neglect the folks in the back here. >> how you doing, mr. president? >> how are you, sir? >> good, good.

my name is rudolph dawson. my concern is that the historically black -- [inaudible] a lot of pressure's being put on them in terms of they're not getting the budget they need to continue to educate people like myself, they are not getting the programs that they need to attract students that want that higher pay. and to me, what can you do or what can your administration or the next administration do to right the wrong that this has done in the past and that's continuing to be done to these universities? it's also a land grant college, and they haven't been getting all the money they need for agriculture like the university of georgia. you know, i'd like to see some changes there. >> okay. the -- well, first of all -- [applause] for those of you, because some of you, you know, we've got a lot of young people here, so just to give you a little bit of history, the historically-black colleges and universities arose at a time when, obviously, a lot

of schools were segregated. and so african-american students couldn't attend a lot of the traditional state colleges and universities that had been set up. and many of them went on to become with incredible educational institutions that produced some of our greatest thinkers. so morehouse college, howard, spelman, you know, all across the country -- particularly in the south -- a lot of these historically-black colleges and universities were really the nurturer of an african-american middle class, many of whom then went on to become the civil rights pioneers that helped to lead to dr. king and to the civil rights movement and to all the history that i think you're aware of.

a lot of those schools are still doing well. some of them have gotten smaller and are struggling partly because of good news. university of georgia isn't segregated anymore, for example. so it's good that african-american students or latino students have more diverse options. but they still serve an important role. and so working with people like congressman bobby scott and others, we've continued to provide some support to those schools. but one thing that arne and i have been doing is saying to these historically-black colleges and universities you've also got to step up your game in terms of graduation rates because there are some of those schools, just like nonhistorically-black colleges and universities, who take in a lot of students but don't always graduate those students. and those students end up being

stuck with debt, and it's not a good deal for them. so we're working together, we have got a whole task force and commission that's just devoted to working with these schools to make sure that they've got the resources they need to continue to perform in a really important function, but that they're also stepping up their game so that kids who attend these universities and colleges, they're graduating on time and are able to then pursue the kind of careers that they need. anything you want to add on that? all right. let's see, it's a young lady's turn now. oh, you know what? i need to go up top. all right. that young lady in the striped shirt right there. i can barely see, but -- this is what happens when you get older, young people. [laughter] first time i came to iowa, i had no gray hair. [laughter] i didn't. look at me now. [laughter] >> hi. my name's abba.

i'm currently a junior at lincoln high school here on the south side of des moines. my question to you is i know you don't want to get involved with the presidential race at the moment, but a candidate has said that they want to cut government spending to politically-biased colleges, and i was wondering if, say, that would hurt the education system for those who depend on that, or would it better the education as a whole? >> first of all, i didn't hear this candidate say that. i have no idea what that means. [laughter] i suspect he doesn't either. [laughter] [applause] [laughter]

look, the purpose of college is not just as i said before to transmit skills, it's also to widen yourize -- your horizons, to make you a better citizen, to help you headache your way through the -- make your way through the world, to help you be more creative. the way to do that is to create a space where a lot of ideas are presented and collide and people are having arguments and people are testing each other's theories. and over time people learn from each other because they're getting out of their own narrow point of view and having a

broader point of view. so, arne, i'm sure, has the same experience that i did which is when i went to college, suddenly there were some folks who didn't think at all like me. and if i had an opinion about something, they'd look at me and say, well, that's stupid. and then they'd describe how they saw the world. and they might have had different sense of politics, or they might have a different view about poverty, or they might have a different perspective on race. and sometimes their views would be infuriating to me. but it was because there was this space where you could interact with people who didn't agree with you and had different backgrounds than you that i then started testing my own assumptions. and sometimes i changed my mind. sometimes i realized, you know what? maybe i've been too narrow-minded. maybe i didn't take this into account. maybe i should see this perp's

perspective. -- this person's perspective. so that's what college, in part, is all about. the idea that you'd have somebody in government making a decision about what you should think ahead of time or what you should be taught and if it's not the right thought or idea or perspective or philosophy, that that person would be -- that they wouldn't get funding runs contrary to everything we believe about education. [applause] i mean, i guess that might work in the soviet union, but it doesn't work here. that's not who we are, that's not what we're about. now, one thing i do want to point out is it's not just

sometimes folks who are mad that colleges are too liberal that have a problem. sometimes, you know, there are folks on college campuses who are liberal and maybe even agree with me on a bunch of issues who sometimes aren't listening to the other side. and that's a rob -- that's a problem too. i was just talking to a friend of mine about this. you know, i've heard some college campuses where they don't want to have a guest speaker who, you know, is too conservative, or they don't want to read a book if it has language that is offensive to african-americans or somehow sends a demeaning signal towards women. and, you know, i gotta tell ya, i don't agree with that either, you know? i don't agree that you, when you

become students at colleges, have to be coddled and protected there different points of view. you know? [applause] i think that you should be able to, you know, you should invite -- anybody -- [laughter] anybody who comes to speak to you and you disagree with, you should have an argument with them. but you shouldn't silence them by saying you can't come because, you know, my -- i'm too sensitive to hear what you have to say. that's not, that's not the way we learn either. so what do you think, arne? [laughter] he said, amen. all right. okay. [laughter] let's see. i think it's a guy's turn. this gentleman here, there's a gentleman here in the tie. you had your hand up a couple times. yeah.

i didn'tgrant -- i didn't want o feel neglected. i wanted to make sure and call on you. hold on a second. wait for the mic. >> thank you. my name's james quinn. this is my wife and our daughter, victoria. we've been saving for her college education for ten years, and over that time the federal deductibility of 529 contributions has gone away even though we can still get that deduction from there are iowa income taxes. -- from iowa income taxes. it'd be nice to see a little reward for saving rather than just making borrowing money get easier. [applause] >> the -- i'm going to let arne hit this one, because he is an expert on our various savings programs. >> i'll just say as a parent with two kids not quite this age, my wife and i are putting money actively into 529 to try and save and getting the federal government to support that more and encourage that would be fantastic and, again, this is something we have to work with congress to do the right thing.

but for families who are saving, some families now starting in kindergarten and first year saving just a little bit to help their kids to go to college, we need to incentivize that. that's a great point. >> there was a time when deductibility of student loans was more significant than it is today. whenever you make something tax deductible, that means that there's less money going into the treasury. that then means that either somebody's got to pay for it with other taxes, or the deficit grows, or we spend less on something else. and this is part of why this argument, this debate that's going on right now this congress about lifting the sequester is so important. it's a washington term. i hate the term, but essentially what congress did was it said, all right, we're just going to

lop off spending at this level for the next decade. the problem is, of course, the population's going up, the economy's growing, and so even though the deficit right now has been cut by two-thirds since i came into office -- [applause] which is, you know, that's -- you wouldn't know that listening to some of the candidates around here, but it has. if, in fact, sequester stays in place not only our ability to spend for education or to help families with student loans, but also things like early childhood education, head start programs, pell grants, all those things can end up being adversely affected. and this is one thing that i would just ask everybody to

consider when you hear budget debates. i know your eyes kind of glaze over, but the federal budget, that's really where we express our values. and a lot of times people say, well, we should just cut government spending because there's all this waste. but, in fact, the vast majority of government spending is for social security, it's for medicare, it's for medicaid, it's for helping vulnerable populations, and it's for defense. and not a lot is left over for helping middle class families, for example, send their kids to college or to save. and if you have this ceiling, this artificial cap without taking into account a growing population and more young people going to college, then you end up with a situation in which fewer people are getting help.

and that's why it's important for us to lift this artificial cap, and it's also why it's important for us to close some of these tax loopholes that are going to either the very wealthy or to corporations that really don't need them because they're doing just fine, and they're not having a problem financing their college educations. [applause] their kids' college educations. [applause] all right. it's a young lady's turn. i will go, i'm going to go to this young lady because originally i called on her first, and then -- but we got mixed up. go ahead. what's your name? >> my name's nosa, and i go to roosevelt high school. hopefully, my question's not too difficult and it's what is your best advice for malia as she goes off to college. >> my best advice to malia.

now, this is assuming that malia listens to my advice. [laughter] she's very much like her mother at this point. [laughter] she's got her own mind. you know, one piece of advice that i've given her is not to stress too much about having to get into one particular college. [applause] there are a lot of good colleges and universities out there. and it's important, i think, for everybody here to understand you can find a college or university that gives you a great education, and just because it's not some name brand, famous, you know, fancy school doesn't mean that you're not going to get a great education there. so one is lower the stress

levels in terms of just having to get into one particular school. i think that's important. the second piece of advice i have is keep your grades up until you get in. [laughter] and after that make sure you pass. [laughter] because, you know, it's important that you kind of run through the tape in your senior year and not start feeling a little slack. i don't worry about that with her. she's a hard worker. and then the third thing is really the advice that i already mentioned which is be open to new experiences when you go to college. don't go to college just to duplicate the same experience you had in high school. don't make your decision based on, well, where are all my friends, where are all my friends going so that i can do the exact same things with the exact same friends that i did in

high school. the whole point is for you to push yourself out of your comfort level, meet people you haven't met before, take classes that you hadn't thought of before, you know? stretch yourself, because this is the time to do it, you know, when you're young. seek out new experiences, because i think when you do that, you may discover -- you may think that you wanted to do one thing, it may turn out you wanted to do something completely different, and you have an amazing talent for something completely different, but you just haven't been exposed to it yet. you've got to know what it is that's out there, and that requires you to do some things differently than you've been doing in high school. so, arne, anything you want to add on that? >> just quickly, particularly for the seniors, please, don't

apply to one school. apply to four, five, six, seven schools. it's amazing to me how many young people just apply to one school, and that might be the best fit for you, but keep your options open. look at what's out there close to home, less close to home, whatever it might be. and the final thing, just to emphasize the goal is not to go to college, the goal is to graduate. and so figure out where you're going to go and graduate. might take you three years, might take you four, might take you five, but we need all of you not to just go, not just to attend, but to walk across the stage four or five years from now with that diploma in hand. [applause] >> gentleman right here. here, you can use my mic. >> all right. [laughter] >> thanks, mr. president. i'm an elementary school principal here in des moines public schools, and one of the things that we really value is the diversity that we have with our community, and i'm really curious to hear from you and secretary duncan the value that

you see that diversity brings to a young perp's education. a young person's education. >> it's a great question. how long you been a principal? five years? that's outstanding. we're getting old though, man. [laughter] i thought he was a student. [laughter] he's the principal -- he's not even just a teacher, he's a principal. [laughter] well, thank you for the great work you're doing. to some degree, you know, i've already answered this question. the value of diversity is getting to know and understand people who are different from you because that's the world you will be living in. and working in. and, you know, it's actually really interesting. they've been showing through a variety of studies that people who can understand and connect

with a wide range of people, that that ends up being as important a skill if not more or not a skill than just about anything else in terms of your career success. whatever the field.

that's how voting works and majorities are formed, and they change. that's how our democracy is supposed to work. and i think that starts early. because when you've got diversity in schools, then you're less likely as an adult to start thinking, well, that person, they're not like me, or those persons they don't have the same value or care as much about their kids, or -- and then democracy starts breaking down. because then everything is a fight to the death. because there's no sense that we can actually bridge ourq% differences. and disagree without disagreeable and find ommon

ground so it is not only good for your career but it is also not good for our countries. same goes, same hold it is true by the way as a part of diversity studiesxd show that organizations that have women in decision making positions function better than those who don't. [applause] and -- and so seriously, that if you at corporate boards actually you can correlate their performance with the number of women that they've got on those boards, so it is also valuable for us to make sure that not only is there diversity, but that in leadership positions, different voices are heard. so anything you want to add to that? so keep it up.

[applause] young lady right there. you, i'm sorry but i'll call on you first and then get back to you. mic is there. i promise you. >> it works, hi. my name is heidi i'm a junior here at north high school -- [cheering] i actually have like two questions. one is for my friend he's she, he can't speak up. we're part of a group called upward bound and we work through simpson college, there's been stories of our budget being cut and we want to know what the government can help us and work with us for that, and my other question is in your professional opinion, how much is visual art an importance to our school, and how are you going to save it? >> okay. [applause] why don't i -- >>ç i'll take the first --

i'll take the question on visual art you talk about upward bound the -- go ahead. >> just quickly, it really goes back to what the president tacked about not just upward bound but pell grantses at risk early childhood education they want to zero that out of the budget. as students, educators to not pit this program against the other but to hold folks in washington accountable for investing in education. we want to get results and not blindly investing but a lot of things in our budget upward bound being a piece of it that honor a significant danger in it that is fighting hard. some folks backing us but some see things, and i think it is so important that as young people, voters, family your voices be heard. he can not by himself prevent these cuts. it is not how democracy works so we'll hd