the military. they have been here at least five years. they have a high school diploma. they have a file with dhs and the social security number. it is a little-known fact that the military has a huge demographic time bomb happening. it is difficult to find qualified american citizen recruits for a number of reasons. of five of -- one out americans can qualify for the military due to factors like obesity, drug use. all kind of disqualifying issues. the pentagon numbers are scary right now for the future of the all volunteer force because of a lack of qualified recruits. a rapidly aging population. increasing disqualification. if you open up the pool to that

's youof people, the daca add a few hundred thousand people to the potential of recruits. they are u.s. educated and a low risk population. so far, the president has not chosen to exercise the authority he has to allow the doing list -- allow them to enlist. i suspect that maybe president bush would have been less reluctant to exercise executive authority. >> thank you very much. that is all the time we have you read these join me in thanking our panelists. [applause] >> good morning.r joining us

it is not the calendar or the seasons that i sent it in terms of time a fall break, president's day or this time of year, you know, with labor day loomingly and august waning a bit.

it's not the start of arkansas football. it's actually rigback to school for back to school, i think 15 years ago, i would be standing in front of a classroom of steward events, maybe not that different from this group here, teaching them english, and there were a couple of trends that impacted the classroom then that are relevant to our discussion today as well. one trend was i noticed that the students coming in the classroom were part of what was later dubbed the browning of america and more and more students walked through the door had beautiful skin, the color of my cuban father, something like the cafe leches he would drink in the morning. i notice add trend, the first one not disturbing. these students were not prepared for what i was attempting to teach them. they had come to the classroom seemingly less and less repaired for the rigors for the classroom and the rigors of what i was hoping to teach them. there were these moments when i would think the same thing they

were and they would think, doctor, i am not going make it. am i? and part of me as a christian, i felt as if the lord was impressing upon me [spanish" these are your children. if they are going to love me with all of their mind, it's your responsibility to help make sure that they are successful. so that's the spirit and the heart of what raising the standards is all about. >> that's the initiative that we are here to talk about, and on behalf of our president, samuel rodriguez and the national hispanic christian leadership conference, we believe that it's raising those standards as part of a holistic overall initiative that can help not just those students but students that are coming today and tomorrow. see, because if we fast forward 15 years and now we are in today's classroom, this fall for the first time in u.s. history, a collective minority will be larger than the white population in classrooms today. so the first time in u.s. history. i am happy to report we have

seen some progress, particularly among hispanic students in terms of high school graduation, in terms of college going for the first time in u.s. history. hispanics out paced wise for college going. the second half of that story isn't so terrific. they are not completing college at nearly the same rate. about 50% lower than their white counterparts. so we believe that today is the day of action and we are here to announce an initiative that will include a number of things i am going to point to very quickly. one is our national hispanic education sunday. every sunday, the first sunday of september, we lift up education in pulpits across this country. some of the pastors represented today, 40,000 strong in america will be tearing down these false walls that have separated faith and education for too long. and instead, raising new rigorous standards in our homes, in our schools and saying, no longer will we dum down

standards and socially promote students of any color or any background, tribe or tongue but we will hold all students accountable. we say that pastors and principals should meet. we say that parents and professors should meet so that we no longer have these false dichotomies, these barriers that keep us apart. we believe that in addition to that, we have started a faith and education website. please go there. we are going to be sending hispanic parents, all parents to get resources to assist their children and to assist them to be more successful. faith and education.com, raising the standards, national hispanic education sunday. these are all part of raising the standards initiative. the next person to the mopodiums someone who i think embodies what happens when we expect more. we hear much about an achievement gap for hispanic and other minority students. we don't think that phrase is accurate.

we think it's an opportunity gap. but esmerelda sanchez stands as a young woman who has pushed back against those kind of labels and instead is an smu grad and a leader in the hispanic community and someone who worked for the educational directive. her story and her confidence as a young woman of god and a young hispanic education success story, i think will be inspiring. espanelda? [applause.]. >> thank you, dr. campo. good morning, everyone. as a daughter of spanish-speaking, first generation immigrants, my education was a high priority for my parents even though their understanding of the language and the education system was limited. my parents prayed for and dreamed for the same things for me that my school mates parents wanted for their children: a good education, strong faith, solid family values and a future of opportunity in this great nation they now called home.

we lived in the oak cliff area of dallas where ethnic diversity was the norm but high educational standards in neighborhood schools were not. i was one of the few to apply and get accepted to a magnet high school which values students achievement and expected us to graduate not just from high school but college as well. my friends and extended family in the high school in the neighborhood were not so fortunate. they weren't held to rigorous academic standards and were not prepared for college level work. thinks to the high expectations of my parents and my teachers, i was motivated and prepared to earn a bachelor's degree, then a master's degree and to lead a college empowerment program at my university to support hispanic high school students statewide. today, i worked with the nhplj on initiatives to empower families with faith like mine. next year, i will enter a ph.d. program. i am living proof that high

educational expectations and family support empowers students from the most disadvantaged neighborhoods to not just graduate but to impact the next generation. as the fastest growing segment in public schools, we must sees the opportunities to set high goals for spanish students. these young men and women are a national resource, a national treasurer with the potential to lead americans to new discovery, creativity and opportunity. hispanic students, young latinas and the nhclc welcome the support of local and national leaders, committed to raising the standards for public education. together, we can ensure that hispanic families are encouraged to pursue their american dream of freedom, opportunities and a better life for their children. thank you. [applause.] ing thank you,

espenelda. she inspires every time. our speakers, we are blessed and grateful to have governor mike huckabee. he has a record for educational reform, supporting minority students as the former governor, of course, of arkansas, here is a man who also has a background in the church, who understands the intersection of faith and education. he understands the intersects as well between common sense conservatism. from our perspective, he is one of the leading voices for conservatives and christians and we are grateful that he is here today to support this initiative to strengthen our drive for raising the standards. please help me welcome governor mike huckabee [applause.] . >> thank you. some of you are looking at this and saying, what's wrong with this picture? two hispanic leaders and a very obvious white guy standing in

the middle. why do i care? well, because, frankly i care because america is a better country when all of its children are well-educated, when every student in this country has equal access to an excellent education, where there is no such thing as a student who is required or somehow destined to go to an under performing school. >> should never be accepted or tolerated in this country. it doesn't matter whether a student's skin is black, brown, red, or white. it matters not. there is no such thing as a disposable child, as an expendable child. every student in this country is an integral part of making us everything we can be. and the reason i stand here today very proudly with dr. campo and esmerelda and my friend, sammy rodriguez who is not here today but part of the leadership of this effort is because raising academic standards is not simply the role of the school -- and it is certainly not the roll of the

government. although they have a role. but students are not dry cleaning. parents can't drop them off in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon, wrinkled and spot free. and what we have to do is to remind parents that it is a biblical mandate for the parents to raise the children and to accept the responsibility for the outcome of their students. it goes all the walk back to the profshingz. train up a child in the way he should go and when he was old, he won't depart from it. the idea of training up a child is as fundamental as life, itself. and it was never, ever, acceptable, nor is it now for us to say that we will give the responsibility of the education of our children to the government and hope for the best because it will not end well. and that's why it doesn't matter who a person may be. but in this case today, it is the leadership of 40,000 hispanic churches across the country who have decided that on

education sunday, they are going to use the power of their pulpits talking to millions, millions of their constituents and remind them of their biblical responsibility to take charge of the educational opportunities for their children. this is why this is a wonderful opportunities for america. let me remind you that if we turn this over to congress, remember, congress has an approval rating of about 9%. we would be in real trouble. we don't want to turn it over to the government. not only because we don't see the government competently doing a great deal or successfully achieving many of their even stated goals, but because, quite frankly, it would be against our own biblical convictions to ever turn over to caesar that which is god's. so part of the challenge to the pastors and the challenge that they had accepted and will take to their pulpits on education sunday in september is that they

will remind the parents that it is your responsibility to make sure that your children are getting the very best education that they are possibly able to receive. if that means they can't get in the school the government assigns them to, then they need to push for school choice, for the opportunity to put their child in a successful school or if they choose to homeschool or whatever decision is best for the student. education decisions ought to be about what's best for the student, not what's best for the government or the tax base or the people who are running the schools. when i was governor, i had a department of education director that was a realpe in education reform. we worked very hard in our own state and across the country, one of the thipdz i used to say that i adopted for him the. we said there are school people and kid people. school people are all about the perpetuation of the institution of the school. that is not why we are there. it's about the children. we need to be kid people, focused on how the students are

being prepared for life. and i just want to mention that if we even fought t.v. time -- bought t.v. time to say parents, challenge your students, be involved, we could not as effective as to see these it pastors go into 40,000 churches. they will reach more people on that sunday than on any television show we could buy time on. just remember that. it would be more people sitting in those pews on that sunday, hearing this message, and imagine what happens when they heed that message and it has the authority of their church, an institution they do believe in, an institution that dysfunction and an institution that does work, and that's why i absolute dr. campo and all of the leaders who will be joining together on that momentous day because i really believe that for from my time when i was chairman of the education commission of the states made up of all 50

governors, 50 state education secretaries of each of the 50 states and the senate and house chairman of the education committees of the 50 states, the one organization that brings together all of the major players ain state policy. a 50-year studying conducted by the education commission of the states discovered one of the most important predictors in academic achievement outcome was that every student would be exposed to a broad and challenging curriculum. we cannot accept anything less than a very widespread curriculum that touches all of talents of every student and one that challenges them to be their very best and refuses to accept anything less than high standards for excellence. we are delighted to be here today. i am thrilled to be a part of the event with dr. campo and these pastors and others who are here and i believe dr. campo will entertain some questions

[applause.] . >> thank you. thank you, governor. questions from the media, we have time for a few questions. please. >> yes. thank you. >> hi. i am adel banks. i want to differentiate between what is new this year with your program and what you had before. i have heard about something related to baptism to bible, for instance. is that something you have done for a while? and is that something else? >> there are a couple of very new initiatives. one is called [speaking spanish ] taking a love offering for every child baptized or chrissened. a 529 plan can be set up for $25. it doesn't have to be something huge but we say every child should be presented with a bible

and and a college education. we believe it is widening the parallel course should be an intersection. >> that's one program that is brand-new that we are instituting. another quick one we will talk about is a report card prayer initiative. again, a grassroots initiative. we are asking parents to make problems of their children's report cards and turn them in when the offerings go around because we believe those are offerings. we want the congregation to pray over them and the children see this intersection of faith and study, that sort of thing, not to mention our educational liaisons that will help churches and parents to improve the educational success of their students. so these liaisons says juan's report card is pretty weak this time around. it's a strategic move on our part as well. those are brand-new but the faith and education website is spanish and english resources

for parents. and we are -- i think throughout this initiative we want to emphasize that we are not pushing public education away any longer. we are supporting public education. i think it's the first time in the history of the evangelicalim. we are not embracing secularism if it exists, we know that 95% of our students or educators in public schools. this is our system, as the governor said. so we want to embrace public education and educators and let them know we are here to support you. how can we help? can pastors offer their churches for an after school program? this is the comprehensive of the raising the standards tinitiave. thank you, adel from tor the question. i could go on about it. appreciate that. thank you. yes, please. >> thank you. i am katelyn from politico. i know governor huckabee has called the common core topic as

nhclc, has come out in support of the common core and when you talk about raising the standards but not having a government involved, i am just wondering if you are still behind the common core. you know, how do you propose to raise standards in schools? is this something that the administration can even get behind a little bit? is there any role there at all for government? >> great. well, again, for us, raising the standards is absolutely about having standards like the common core standards, state to state. we know the implications of a student in chicago being raised in a home and then going to a school where the standards perhaps are different or lower than they would be elsewhere. so we believe that while there has been a lot of po litization of common core, if we look at the standards -- and that's what we are telling church leaders to do. go to the standards. have you read the standards? don't read, you know, the politization of standards but go to the standards, themselves.

you know, how can knowing how to round numbers off or understanding polinomials be political? >> the standard every student in 3rd grade should know so we believe the standards are redeemable. we believe that's the core of what the common core is all about. we believe that that is a state-led initiative and that's why states like connect are represented here today, states across this nation will be joining this national hispanic sunday and join these initiatives, the same way i did to my kids, i want you to graduate from my english class, but i can't dumb this down. i am not going to change the standards, not for political motive, not for any other motive because i care about you, i am keeping the standards high. so we believe -- i am not going to speak for the governor but we believe that these absolutely real deemable. i can speak this far to know the heart of mike huckabee and that is he stands behind high standards. some i don't know if you would

want to add to that? >> i salute the efforts they are going to do on the college scholarships for every baptism and chrisening. i am not sure i like the idea of turning in reports. i am thinking back to my own student days. if that's an offering to god, i am afraid he would give it back. so... i want to address the common core question because i have made the comment that i think common core has become toxic, radio active. do it has become an incredible controversial topic on the left and the right. you have equal, i guess, disregard if not absolute almost am repulse from people on the left and the right when it comes to common core. i don't want to fight over a program. i want to fight for students. the fight is not about a well or what it's called. the fight is about making sure that we elevate to the highest level challenging academic standards for students. the reason i said it's toxic because if we are going to have a big fight and divide ourselves politically over common core, then let's stop that.

but let's not stop the fight whether on the right or the left. we are saying we want our students to achieve to the highest level they are capable and they can't do that if we dumb down the schools. i don't know of any conservative who wants to dumb down america's schools. i don't know of any student who would be benefitted by having a standard of math in oregon that is substantially different in the 4th grade than one in georgia. if that student moves from one state to the other, he or she should know that the expectations of what they are going to experience academically in one state is comparable to the other. it's no different than when we play basketball and if you play basketball in california, and you are playing a team in kentucky, well, first of all, theket team will probably beat you. i don't care who you are. but secondly, you want to make sure that the goal is still 10 feet off of the floor, that the ball is inflated to the same level and the circumference of

the ball and the goal and dimensions of the court are the same because if you have a completely didn't standards, let's say, in california, they lower their goal down to 6 feet and brag that every kid on their team, kids 5' 5" can slam-dunk the ball, have they really created a better basketball team? no. they simply, artificial live lowered standards to make it appear that they are successful. i want those kids to be mat, no matter where they go to college, where they get moved to, if they are making a's in one state, they will make a's in another state. they are not going to be so far ahead that they are board, so far behind that they give up and quit because they can't catch up. that's in what i will fight for. i am not going to fight over a program that has had so many sticky notes put all over that were never a part of common core, which was a simple thin thing, academic standards, math, language arts, nothing curriculum, nothing in data collection but now the controversy is over data

collection,hit and science which weren't part of the original common core. i say stop the fight. let's not make this something that we are going to shed blood for no particular value to the students. put the students first. the programs are less important. >> we have time for one more question. make it good. no. kidding. >> hi. jeffrey scott with the christian post. you kind of touched on this in your opening statement, but are there plans in the initiative to ramp up scholarships for hispanic students who are already in school but they might be dropping out because they can't afford tuition or, you know, helping out with their families? are there any plans to ramp up scholarships in that way. >> the nhclc continues to work with academic partners to make scholarships available to our members and children. >> that's absolutely part of it. as your question hinted at, of course, that's only one piece.

right? scholarships is just one piece. our hope is that these educational liaisons will help fill in some of those gaps as well while financial difficulties are an important part of the entire holistic approach to education. most of the research indicates that there are other factors that bring students down and make them drop out. not least of which is remediation. one of the reasons we have come behind common core standards and standards, high standards overall because we know it helps prepare those students for college life and the rigors of a college education. i cannot tell you how many students that i knew personally who felt as though, dr. campo, i am taking these classes. i am paying for them. i get no credit. i am taking my time for them. i am getting nowhere. before long, they become a statistic. ending remediation in america is a huge goal and i think this initiative is certainly part of that. well, thank you all. i really appreciate your time. i appreciate you being with us. look forward to following up with many of you.

this initiative is just taking off. there will be a lot more to share in the days ahead raising the standards. thank you so much. thank you again [applause.] pass. >> coming up next, your calls and comments, live on washing n "washington journal" nsa director admiral michael rogers talking about his agency's roll in balancing security with personal privacy. after that a discussion about how wikipedia is the increase congressional trans piece. >> next week, special prime time programming on the c-span networks. monday on c-span, from glasgow, a debate over scottish independence. on tuesday, issue spotlight on

irs targeting of conservative groups. wednesday night, the principal of hartford connecticut's capitol prepatory magnet school on educating children from disadvantaged backgrounds. thursday a house can discussion on education citidisadvantaged children. on c-span 2 next week, book t.v. and prime time, monday at 8:30 eastern, a discussion about school choice. tuesday night at 8:00, writer john hope bryant on his book "how the poor can save capitalism." wednesday, at 8:00 p.m., a biography about neil armstrong. thursday night at 8:00, a tour of the book publishers simon & schuster. in depth with former congressman ron paul. on american history t.v. on c-span 3, monday, the reconstruction era and civil rights. on tuesday, the end of world war ii and the atomic bomb. we need night, the 25th

anniversary of the berlin wall. thursday, a look at americas' at studz changing through the courts of the war. on friday, a nasa documentary about the apollo moon landing. find the schedule at c-spandorg and let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. call us at 202-626-3400. on twitter, use the hash tag c123 and e-mail us at comments at that timeat c-span n.org. morning, military times reporter, andrew 'tilman examines the role of department encountering the growth of isis in the middle east. evan fineberg, president of generation opportunity and matthew siegel, president of "our time" discuss the issues important to mill iny'all voters. chase hunter of the wilderness

society talks about the 50th anverts reof the wilderness talks. we will take your calls. join the conversation at facebook and twitter. washingt "washington journal" is next...