right questions before it goes forward. we have standard protocols on when someone becomes a ci you can't have someone in our office because you want one. there are things that we no now -- things that we know now that cause wrongful convictions that we now train our assistance and have protocols in our office to minimize the chance that we make a mistake in judgment, and i to end it, above all things, i think, i think prosecutors and perhaps police officers have to understand with all the anonymous power there must be a humility that goes along with exercising it and an understanding that we want to make sure that we have tried to consider all the facts and do not conclude simply because we believe something firmly at the beginning that that should not be questioned. i think that that kind of attitude, self-awareness and self analysis and all of us is going to make us to better had conviction integrity.

>> and we will end with a note of humility and thank the panel. they have been -- [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] clerks gina mccarthy framed the of eight to the ground-level ozone standard as an imperative, bringing agency rules in line with the latest science with the agency's most burnable populations. >> though law based on review of

that science and based on the independent science advisors, experts the epa science , and my judgment as the epa administrator, i am proposing to strengthen the standards to within a range of 65 to 75 parts per billion to try to protect americans' health. i am taking comment on setting the level to below 60 parts per billion. i am very mindful of the fact that my science advisors have indicated that it should be on the table as well as folks here at epa who have looked at this issue. so 60 is on the table for comment as well as consideration. taking a proposal so comment on the range of different outcomes is it exactly how we are supposed to do it and i am excited to get moving with that comment process because the

conversation isn't over. this is an opportunity for us to look at all of the science together. >> some twitter reaction to the epa move. kevin mccarthy tweets -- coming up in about 15 minutes, president obama will be pardoning the thanksgiving turkey, a tradition that formally goes back to president george h.w. bush back in 1989. the bird and its alternate are from ohio.

live coverage from the white house starting at about 2:15 eastern. here is a portion of today's "washington journal" on thanksgiving travel, safety precautions and how best to prepare for holiday journeys. post: we are glad to have david strickland. nhtsarickland, what does do? nits or is responsible for highway safety in the united states. it is the leading traffic organization agency in the world. host: biggest travel day of the year. how many people will be on the road? guest: it varies every year, but unfortunately with increased travel days, we see increased crashes and increased numbers of people being hurt, and fatalities as well.

unfortunately with increased travel days, we see increased crashes and increased numbers of people being hurt, and fatalities as well. it is always one of these things where nhtsa and state traffic enforcement agencies are taking sure people are driving safely, attentive, alert, aware, not being impaired, wearing your belts. get there safely. interact does nhtsa with the department of transportation? modal nhtsa is a operation within the department of transportation. there are times. nhtsa, the national highway transportation safety administration is one of those modes. host: how much do we spend on infrastructure every year in the united states on a federal level?

level,on a federal basically, it is reauthorized every six years if the process works and you are thinking about 50 billion dollars to $70 billion a year. gas taxnded by revenues, which is a user fee -- people using the roads should be the ones paying for upkeep. the one thing -- a highway --ffic safety works on national highway traffic safety efficiency. fuel the bad thing is if you are taxing a user fee by gasoline, there is less revenue going into the highway trust fund, which means we have less funds to do it, so the trust fund is running a deficit.

that means you have to fill it up with other taxpayer dollars. the one thing congress needs to do is address this issue so we can continue to build infrastructure. would you like to see congress address this issue? guest: there are a number of ways to do it. andof them have pluses minuses. gasoline is a logical thing, but you are using less gas. you have electric vehicles. another way is find a way to tax the miles traveled, or the vehicles miles traveled and that is more controversial because people would have to be tracked and people are careful about privacy. that is not a popular option. there are other ways to do it. those are the most logical intersections. it is an issue we have to address one way or another.

the rest of the world has modeled what we have done in terms of highway safety and infrastructure and other countries have surpassed us. in order for us to be an economic power, we have to address infrastructure. host: why does it take so long to build highway? guest: there are a number of issues, environmental issues, which are very important, and also making sure they are safe -- the materials will hold up and the design of the road comports to its usage. bottom line being we are a country that is very wealthy, away also value safety and environmental protection. all of those things mean people weigh in and it takes time to do it. i know that the work done by the federal highway administration,

another one of the parts of the department transportation, another mode, if you will, their leadership has done a really good job on a program called every day counts where you limit the bureaucracy that impacts the time it takes to build a road. host: i do not know how long you have been here in the washington area, but many of us have been here 10, 20 years, and nothing has changed on i-95. [laughter] it has just gotten worse. what is the solution? it is a multi variable -- to use another washington world -- word, it is a multi-variable problem. there are a lot of reasons it takes time to improve a road. build your way out of traffic congestion. you cannot make roads wider and wider because you make roads

better, people move into the area because the roads are better, and there are more people on the roads. it is kind of a constant hamster wheel. hamster we have to incentivize people to do different things to travel, which is using public transit, getting people to move into urban areas is one suggestion. livable communities, if you will. the more people that live further out, the more congested the road gets. to ultimately alleviate congestion, you have to get people off of the roads to a certain degree, and that is hard. more people are doing that, more people are moving closer in because of that, but if you make i-95 30 lanes wide, -- lanes wide you will still get

congestion. host: david strickland served with the national highway traffic safety administration. a tweet lso send @c-spanwj. has beene things nhtsa involved in recently is the recall of airbags. have the authority to recall and prohibit these from being installed into cars? yes, they do. one of the primary missions is defect investigation and recall authority, part of the national transportation safety act passed in 1970. the issue is difficult. in the united states we allow the cars and build

certify that they comply with all of the safety standards. they do that. nhtsa's job is to make sure they go out and test vehicles to make sure they comply with standards. that is the first way to meet the standards. second, even when you meet the standards, you could still have problems. the great thing about american cars, they are on the road for an average of 11 years, and things happen -- defects happen, problems happened. nhtsa's job is to investigate wendy's problems arise -- investigate when these problems arise and then fuel the recalls. if the automaker refuses, nhtsa has the ability to force the automaker to recall a problem. host: would this be a situation where you would work with japanese counterparts since these are manufactured in japan? global system in

terms of automotive manufacturing. nationally,reports arepe, all over the world, part of its data system. the decisions are independent, but investigations and things of that nature is shared between other countries. from thomas's calling in north carolina -- thomas is calling in from north carolina. please go ahead with your question and comment. caller: i was wondering about accountability -- once money is collected for rebuilding a bridge, where does that go -- if it is federal money, where does it go, and who is accountable for it? how do they know after it is collected that it will be

dispersed, and who does the job? put out to bid? question, and i am the triad area. nice to talk to you. there is federal and there is a state share. states have to contribute to the money that goes to building a road. the accountability is on the part of the federal government and the states to make sure the money is spent properly. you have auditors, things of peopleture to make sure on a perpetuating waste, fraud, or abuse. let along with that, ultimately, it comes down to -- the road building is done by a contractor. the state and the federal

government will select a particular contractor and the sub-contractors to execute the job of building the road in. you have folks from the state and federal government to make sure that that work is done properly. wear on highways is caused by corporate transportation -- do big businesses help pay for maintenance? guest: that goes to the question of a user fee. harder on roads than a passenger vehicle because they are heavier. you want to align the cost of people that use the road and contribute to its wear and tear. that is why i mentioned a gas tax being a user fee. on thee impact you have road, the more you should pay to fix it. road users that have bigger trucks, longer distances have

bigger impacts than others. host: how big is the fee that trucks have to pay? guest: it is based on the gas tax, which is three or four cents a gallon. each state has a gas tax as well. that varies. it is the reason why in some states you can see a wide variety of gasoline prices. states it is the fees and localities assess on gasoline. gasoline washington, d.c., is probably much more expensive than it is in montana. host: john is in brooklyn. caller: good morning, and thank you for taking my call. i live in the new york city area and i travel through the

holland, lincoln, the verizon a bridge tunnel, the new jersey turnpike to go to philadelphia and washington, and d.c., and i d.c.,iate -- washington, and i appreciate the project. my question is how does the toll system going through the roof complement or supplement the gas tax for construction projects moving forward in the future? guest: it is a wonderful isstion, and tolling controversial in the way the federal government would like to have more tolling be an option -building.ad as time goes on and the value of money increases or decreases because of inflation or deflation, you will see, over time, tolls go up. because of the

infrastructure of the state's road-building leadership in terms of how much is used for upkeep and do they use it for other purposes. that can change state to state. i am a person that has an easy pass and i use the i-5 core door a lot. iran the one i was in college in them -- i remember when i was in college in the mid-1980's, making that drive, and it has probably doubled and cost. it is frustrating about the pricing. -- in cost. it is frustrating about the pricing. host: i saw an article about the opening of the verrazano bridge, it was expensive but the fees were supposed to go away. host: once you have -- guest:

once you have a steady stream of revenue you are dependent on, it is hard to become an dependent on it. that promise was broken including -- for number of factors including the upkeep was more than anticipated. factors, a cost that while ultimately, people were upset about it, people got used to it and people pay for it. breaking the promise was painful in the beginning. people are angry for a short period of time, and then it becomes the cost of doing business. that is the unfortunate thing about the reality of politics in america. host: jeremy is right here in washington, d c, -- washington, d.c. can you confirm my belief that diesel fuel taxes

are significantly higher than gas taxes because it is designed trucks and how that greatly discourages the adoption of diesel fuel for passenger cars, like in europe. guest: diesel fuel is more expensive because of the connection. engines are more powerful. they are helping to correct that to make sure that truck traffic is paying their fair share. the differential in diesel fuel and diesel technology is one aspect is to why americans have been slow to adopt diesel technologies. another aspect, the cost difference -- other than the cost difference, which has an impact, for those old enough

remember old diesel engines that exhaust and out they smelled horrible and the engines ran loud and all of these things. if you go to a dealership of any of the manufacturers that offer diesel engines today, you will find it is a smooth, refined ride. it is great on gasoline. diesel engines go much further on fuel than regular gasoline. as a former head of auto safety and automotive technology, take a look at diesel. it is a great option. david strickland is former administrator of the national highway traffic safety administration, and now he is working at reasonable, which is what? >> it is a law firm that works across a number of issues in

washington dc and several issues around the country. of -- on automate automotive policy and security. the one thing about cars is they are getting smarter, and they are getting safer. they are collecting information about diagnostics, even some of the things you do within the vehicle and the services you use . a really important aspect of the future of automotive policy and safety is making sure automakers data.are of people's one of the things i was fortunate to work on, the association of global -- with the association of global was to work on auto principles to make sure every auto company protects your data in the right way.

we encourage people to get the safety technologies and make sure there is not an appropriate information collected by the car. if you happen to be traveling and would like to dial in, and have a hands-free device, please dial in to be traveling, let us know what it is like. you talked about the technical issues with cars, and they have techy become, kind of, a device. with this become a privacy issue down the road such as we are phone with e-mail and

records like with the nsa, which is our next topic this morning? say computers and cars are combined. the sensors is a mess. there is more code in your regular everyday vehicle on the and than there is in airplane now, which is a scary thought, but it is true. privacy is not a future issue. it is a now issue. it is a thing called telematics. when you have a satellite radio or an internet connection that allows you to get information about finding a local restaurant -- it gets you directions, or something that allows you to make a movie reservations -- all of that is collecting information. one of the things you have to ,ake sure of is the information when collected, does not get

looked at, breached, and the people collecting information does not use it inappropriately. they are not giving it to an , so if you go to starbucks every day you do not pete's get ads from coffee on your dashboard. at the sameost: time, what about the release of that information -- your car traveled to these 15 locations. will that information be available to law enforcement, the nsa, etc.? the principles the automakers agreed to is they will not release information without a court order. this is not a situation where the car will be aware of what

where you are up you have to follow the principles -- you are. you have to follow the principles of search and seizure. is,dy wants a car, which frankly, your second most endeared purchase beside your whereto be something people could easily access and figure out what you are doing. it is an important principle. a native of atlanta. law degree at harvard. jerry. you are on with david strickland. yes, i was calling about the idea of a gas tax being a user fee, and people that drive should have to be paying for the roads and stuff, but in reality,

everyone is using the roads. everyone that buys a loaf of bread is dependent on the road for the trucks to bring the groceries to the story, so people that do not drive are benefiting just as much as people that drive. you are absolutely right. when we talk about a user fee, part of the cost of the loaf of bread -- all of the materials, the flower, the seasoning, it has to be brought to the banker, shipped out, delivered to a distribution point, and then delivered to a store. that cost is built into everything we buy -- i mean, everything we buy. you pass along that gas -- that tax or that fee throughout the system. when we talk about a user fee, the way you can figure it out is the actual vehicle riding on the

road and how it impacts the road. you are absolutely right. everybody benefits from the road, and we all do pay for the road. from also great to hear someone in wheeling, west virginia. i worked with jay rockefeller in may last year -- in my last year. laura tweets and washington to philadelphia. likestill an individual, i this guy -- as you enter chicago, tolls everywhere, it costs my stepdaughter $12 to get to work. tony. go ahead. caller: i have a question for mr. strickland and then i have a follow-up. the first question is how much is a barrel of oil?

in fact, i will give you my follow-up. gas is a certain amount of money, a barrel of oil, why is it that city gas stations, each one has a different price for fuel? one might sell gas at $3.10. down the road, someone might sell gas for $2.99. what is the point, and the reasoning behind that. -- behind that? host: is that your area of expertise? it is. when i was a senate staffer and fuelnhtsa i worked on economy standards and figure not how to improve fuel economy. a barrel of oil could be $60, depending onrrel world issues, geopolitical issues, wars.

there is variation and all of that directly impacts the cost. your question is why do you have differences in prices in gas stations that might be right next to each other. the interesting thing about fuel, gasoline, pricing, you actually have to get enough money to buy your next gallon of fuel that you put into the big, underground tank. what happens is when gasoline stations have to bid or think about it, they price out not only for running the operation, more for what they think -- but for what they think the future cost is and that might very because of the refinery they get it from, the location, up to profit differentiations between gas stations. you have gas station strickland down the street that charges $3.99, gas station peters that

charges $4.02. peters might charge mode -- more because he's to get his next load and it cost him more. costs him more. that is the variation. host: dale in ohio. caller: good morning, mr. strickland, and c-span. guest: good morning. trip recently a tempe,eveland, ohio, to arizona. i drove into misery, the snowstorm -- missouri, the snowstorm. there is not a truck driver on the road i would allow to have a drivers license because we were miles an hour30

for 100 miles and i guarantee you the trucks never slowed down. we ran into 25 accidents caused by semi's because they refused and drive at a safe speed. got into oklahoma city, the next >> we go now to the white house and president obama pardoning the national thanks giving turkey. >> normally we do this outside. the weather is not cooperating today. maliaof all, on behalf of and sasha, i want to wish everybody in early happy thanksgiving. i was hoping this would be the most talked about executive today, i ammonth taking an action fully within my legal authority, the same kind

of action taken by democrats and republican presidents before made, to spare the lives of two cheese from a terrible and delicious fate. [laughter] to thank joe brandenberger, the president of the national turkey federation, gary cooper, chairman and his son called cooper, who personally raised mac & cheese. give them a big round of applause. [applause] cole is keeping a close eye on cheese. know that heyou to won. mac, the alternate, is not so bad off either. let's face it, if you are a turkey, and you are named after

a side dish -- [laughter] escapingces of thanksgiving dinner are pretty low. ofthese guys are well ahead the curve. they really beat the odds. it is important to know that turkeys have always had powerful allies. as many of you know, benjamin franklin once wrote "i wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country. he is a bird of bad moral character. the turkey is, in comparison, a much more spectacle -- more respectable bird pepco i think -- a more respectable bird." i know some will call this amnesty. [laughter] but don't worry, there is plenty of turkey to go around. [laughter] in fact, later this afternoon, and ile, malia, sasha

will take two turkeys that did not make the cut to a local food pantry works year-round to make sure that folks in our nations capital have food to eat and close to where. ar.ant -- and clothes to we been six years in a row they have made these contributions. "the washington post" recently questioned the wisdom of a whole turkey pardon tradition. typically, on the day before thanksgiving, the story went, the man who makes decisions about wars, outbreaks, terrorist cells, and other matters of state chooses to pardon a turkey plus an alternate. tell me about it. puzzling that i do this every year. but i will say that i enjoy it

because, with all the tough stuff that swirls around in this office, it's nice once in a while just to say happy thanksgiving and this is a great excuse to do it. tomorrow is a special moment. and when we give thanks for the people we love and where we are mindful of incredible blessings that we have received. we remember the folks who can't spend their holidays at home, especially the brave men and women in uniform who helped keep our country secure. celebrate a holiday that, at its best, is about what makes this nation yet and its generosity and openness. and as franklin roosevelt once said, our commitment to make a country in which no one is left out. because i know everyone wants to get out of town, mac & cheese included, it is time for me to engage in the official act.

so let's see what we can do here with cheese. [laughter] come on. come on, girls. don't -- don't -- [laughter] all right. all right. pardonedou are hereby from the thanksgiving dinner table. [laughter] congratulations. [applause] gobble gobble. he looks pretty happy about it. [laughter] takeight, if you want to cheese down, that's ok. [laughter] i will tell you though, turkeys don't have the best looking heads. [laughter] you know what i'm saying? you think they are beautiful?

>> i think they are beautiful to >> if you think about it, they are red, white and blue. so they are patriotic. >> there is a patriotism element to it. [laughter] you guys want to pet them? >> na. [laughter] >> to you want to take them down? >> good to see you. happy thanksgiving. [applause] >> president obama continuing a formal tradition going back to george h.w. bush in 1989. some previous presidents have also pardoned turkeys informally, including john f. kennedy who gave a reprieve to a 55-pounder just a number of days before he was assassinated in dallas. up, more interviews with retiring members of congress. tonight, it is carl levin and ralph hall, the oldest serving

house member. and the last house world war ii veteran. those interviews getting underway tonight at 8:00 eastern time. here are some of their remarks. purpose is no economic anved when microsoft or apple are able to shift their revenues to ireland or puerto rico or someplace to avoid paying taxes. there is no economic purpose served when one of these new intellectual property giants -- myroduce good stuff quarrel with them and other companies like them that have huge profits is the way they avoid paying taxes on those profits and shifting profits and intellectual property to themselves, to their own shell corporations and tax havens to

avoid paying taxes. those are the loopholes that we need to close and we need the revenue of that. another roundoid thisquestration, which is mindless way to budget, where everything gets cut, including the national institutes of health. of an ebolae middle problem. research has been cut at the national institute of health because of this sequestration method of budgeting which has an automatic cookie-cutter approach. we have to end that. and most of us, not all of us, not the tea party guys are the libertarian guys in the senate and the house, but most of us really want to end sequestration. >> i have been a member of congress for 34 years. if i was a manager for a baseball or if the bald team and

i had 34-1, i would be in the hall of fame. me to get beater because i was not set on going. i had 18 cochairmen who were candidates in my district who were supporting me to run. judgment -- it is hard to get elected if you are and 91 years old and they tell people that you run two miles every morning, that you vote 99 plus percent of the time. that was never brought up by the dallas news because they were not for me. >> on 90-year-olds are not built the same, i guess. >> right. >> what is your secret? told one time -- i used to be in the cattle business -- they said, when one of your heifers has able craft, go out bull calf over the

fence until he is a full-grown bull. and when you can still lift him over the fence and throw him over the fence, you can throw the bullto run -- enough to run for congress. >> watch the entire interviews with carl levin and ralph hall tonight at it at lucky stern, part of our week long series of conversations with return members of congress. now a look at academic freedom and freedom of speech. neil is the president and cofounder of the mac and council of trustees and alumni. she talked about last year's thistment -- commencement invitation. the city club of cleveland hosted this event last month.

>> good afternoon and welcome to the city club of cleveland. i am pleased to introduce president andr, cofounder of the american council of trustees and alumni. it is an independent nonprofit organization committed to academic freedom, excellence and accountability of american colleges and universities. , the websitereedom

states that the ideas of academic freedom and free speech are at the core of the american academic tradition. teachers must be free to teach. students must be free to learn. freedom and research are essential to the advancement of truth. offers a's forum wonderful opportunity to juxtapose freedom of speech and academic freedom and to reflect for just a moment on our 102-year history here at the city club of cleveland. the cityly referred to club as the citadel of free speech. but we experienced some growing pains earlier. invited the city club eugene depth to speak and he accepted. but it created a rupture in our withlectual organization the board president refusing to do the introduction. i can't imagine that happening. [laughter]

ultimately, he determined to decline the invitation. and he wrote to the city club that he was feeling disinclined to the truth of whether or not i am being welcome or to the policy of free speech. as recently world seen high-profile challenges to freedom of speech. in may, condoleezza rice declined an invitation to give the commencement address at rutgers following faculty protest over the war in iraq and the use of waterboarding to obtain information from detainees. miss rice knows that her imitation to speak had become a distraction for what should be, as she put it, a joyous celebration for graduates on the families. she referred to her 30 years as a professor and chief academic officer at stanford university and stated "i am honored to have

served my country. i have defended america's belief in free speech and its exchange of ideas. factory -- faculty and student protesters were in smith college and haverford college. "though we may not always agree with those in positions of leadership, i believe that it is essential for members of an academic community to reaffirm our shared commitment to the respectful and mindful process by which we seek to learn through inquiry and intellectual engagement. that brings us to miss dell. she has published widely and appeared frequently on radio and television. you name it, she has been on it. she twice was appointed to the national advisory committee on

institutional policy and committee -- and integrity. she earned her undergraduate degree from harvard college and her law degree from harvard law school where she was president of the harvard journal on education. law as a firsted amendment and communications lawyer. i am pleased to welcome her. [applause] >> thank you so much. it really is a treat to be here. as i did my research on the city club, i was pleased to see giving your past history and

your principles, i don't think i really need to make a statement at all. but i will in any event. i will start by going back to imperial rome. laughing at the wrong joe could caused a man's life during emperor nero. let's go back to the year 65. ,pon making intestinal noise let us call it florida in, in one of rumsfeld latrines, the poet lucan -- in one of rome's public latrines, the poet lucan -- romans scrambled to put on their togas and get out of the p otty leslie and former find them smiling and charge them with treason. except the executions and forced suicides were not.

inappropriate laughter may not be a problem in public latrines, but any number of current observations can bring invitationsngs, dis and other punishments on our college campuses. are on high alert when the topics that are potentially offensive and increasingly off-limits are growing. invitationthe term dis season. choosing a cantus speakers should be about hearing a distinguished person, usually someone who has taken a controversial stand. but on the politically correct campus, many students and faculty now are less interested in hearing a challenging perspective than they are in having what "the washington post" has called freedom from unpalatable speech. as you just heard, condoleezza rice had to bow out of eking at rutgers after students protesting that she was a war

criminal. invited aliersity to speak and receive an honorary degree and then rescinded the operate -- the invitation after student protest. christine lagarde, first female head of the international monetary fund was invited to to bow out.th only campus, shouting down a controversial voice is not necessarily seen as an evil, but , a small group of close minded students and faculty is all that is needed to cut off discussion on the grounds that their view, the correct of you, is the only view.

-- this speech traumatic material in the pursuit of truth. it wasn't always this way. 1820, as hember founded the university of virginia, thomas jefferson laid out the foundation of the -- of academic freedom. the university will be based on -- ther middle inimitable freedom of the human mind. we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it. again, in 1859, john stuart outlined the matter. the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is robbing the human race, posterity, as well as the ofsting generation those

deceptive opinions as well as those who hold it. they are deprived of the opportunity for exchanging the air for truth. and ther perception livelier impression of truth produced by its collision with error. in 1915, the american association of university professors issued its seminal declaration of principles, to find academic freedom as a two-way street, students freedom to learn and faculty freedom to teach. the professor's business, they wrote, was not to provide students with conclusions but to train it to think for themselves , and to provide the maxis to those materials which they need if they are to think intelligently. ar many years, there was fairly uniform agreement among academics that nothing was more central to the life of the mind

than a robust exchange of ideas. over the last 50 years, the concept of academic freedom has been under attack and from within. in its place has been an academic regime that is -- has regularly put sensitivities and sensitivities -- and since abilities first. the ideas of jefferson are regularly considered antiquated today and an obstacle to progress of thinking. in other words, there is no need theearch for truth because institution has already determined what the truth is. political correctness has provided the impetus to punish

students and faculty members for expressing certain offensive thoughts, often touching race, gender, sexual orientation, and other hot button contemporary topics. today, a student or faculty member found to have deviated from the reigning orthodoxy, far from being praised, can find himself they ridiculed or sent to sensitivity training or worse. the pc mentality is alive and well. we see is the weakening of the core colicky on -- core curriculum, the emergence of speech goats and trigger warnings. nottragic consequences are only to weaken liberal arts education, but to shortchange the future and to undermine our competitiveness. so let's start with college curriculum. at one time, faculty administrators had the courage

to define what is important for students to be able to do. students could make some choices , but they started with a largely prescribed liberal arts curriculum leading to a major that would equip them to partake in the common conversation of well-educated people. not today. major like english today is not so much a body of important writers, genres and important work, but a hodgepodge of classes. are notare and milton necessary anymore. advocacy and sensitivity training regularly supplant rigorous intellectual training. alls look at a few courses, of which individually are fine courses, but the question is

should this the a student's only exposure. we will look at union college. students can substitute such courses as narrative of haunting in u.s. ethnic literature for foreign language studies. rainbow cowboys and girls, gender, race, class wereexuality and westerns passed for the language and literature requirement. at uc boulder, the u.s. context requirement may be satisfied by core films and american culture. and my favorite at l myra college, where the u.s. culture and civilization requirement can be met by mental illness through media. [laughter] if you are a freshman at the university of denver, your first year seminar may be satisfied by taking gender, power and pop culture, decoding buffy the vampire slayer. and this is such a growing genre

on college campuses that my organization looks forward to doing a special column on halloween on these courses. most content at campuses are equal, sensibilities are not. a lab of her own at the university of colorado colorados rings satisfies the natural science requirement while with moderntudents " concepts of science and mathematics with an emphasis on women's contribution to these fields are co--- fields. this will also offer a critique of the traditional methods of science." that is in place or in favor of the national science requirement.

education is often directed towards a predetermined conclusion where students become change agents to promote a political agenda. if, for example, u.n. role in programal justice minor at the university of minnesota and register for the public policy, the professor has already reached a conclusion for you, advising students in the catalog that they will be introduced to the structural and institutional conventions through which people of color have been systematically marginalized. to obtain credit, students also engage in 30 hours of service learning through social justice organizations. yes, i think we can all agree that, in years past, our college curricula have too often marginalized minority groups and provided portraits that failed to outline the complex story that is our past.

but in the rush to expand that story, much of the old story has been left out, leading students and citizens with only part of and aweeping narrative path with a tightly controlled political agenda. the survey conducted by the american council of trustees and 18%ni finds that a mere expected their graduates to take a broad survey in american government before graduating. knowledge 13% require of a foreign language. some students may end up with a rich education that prepares ,hem for life and citizenship but it is clear they will have to find it for themselves. today,little as 200,000 our colleges are asking students to construct their own curriculum.

that curriculum is often quite narrow. they the state of affairs, asked the organization to assess recent college graduate feelings about their education. the survey came back and what they found was quite interesting. faced with the challenges of finding a job, recent college lamented in large numbers, 70%, the absence of strong core curriculum and exposure to a broad base of foundational subjects. as one student as one student recounted, "i took a lot of courses. i just was they would have amounted to something." casey johnson is a terrific young historian at an college, whose many publications include books published by both cambridge and harvard university presses as well as co-authoring

-- "until proven innocent" about due process. what he finds is most alarming. in the last generation, he writes, with accelerating speed, the percentage of professors trained in areas of u.s. history some would deem traditional and others would team -- others , even those who remain in the subfields often revision there topics -- revise to the approach that dominates the contemporary history profession. the result is that even students who were not in the course is taught by those trained in diplomatic and constitutional and military history are often unable to do so. wereen though students who taught in the courses taught by those trained in diplomatic and

constitutional on military history are often unable to do so. the threat is less from overreaching administrations and trustees than it is from prevailing faculty or -- orthodoxies. pro scholars, he argues, find no root in eastern studies. scholars, who scholarship celebrates aspects of its past, too often find themselves of pariahs in their field. the pc culture of sensitivity permeates all of the academy, but nowhere is it more profound than when it comes to campus speech codes and the tribunal setting that enforce them. is a spotlighte on the free speech of our nation's campuses. we surveyed over 400 school and found 60%

lightned restrictive red speech codes. that is defined as policies that clearly and substantially .estrict protected speech these policies, as one might imagine, are not called gag orders or censorship policies. in the pc world, the speech codes come with the nine names, like anti-harassment policies, -- type bullying policies, anti-bullying policies, policies on bias and hate speech, policies governing speech at demonstrations and rallies. speech codes are not meant to restrict speech. they are meant to ensure tolerance and civility. that it wasurprised determined that case western, ohio university, shawnee state, ohio university of cincinnati,

university of toledo, bright tape -- right state and youngstown state all have redline speech codes, and that means clearly and substantially restricting protected speech. for today's purposes, we will look at just one, this one at ohio state. the code begins with a statement. sexual harassment is illegal. room,r you lawyers in the the succeeding definition is broad and the distinction between harassment and free speech is anything but clear. prohibited sexual harassment includes "sexual jokes come a , unwanted, gestures flirtation, advances, or propositions, leering, and any unnecessary unwanted physical contact." little did we realize in those gay days of your that an awkward gaze was, in fact, cause for litigation. [laughter]

the federal government has recently put a gun to the head of campuses if they do not regularly report sexual assault, including sexual harassment. just read,policy i youngman and young women are now at risk of being accused of rape and harassment and prosecuted on our campuses in campus tribunals that do not have to comply with the rules of due process if they simply engage in sexual jokes and unwanted flirtation. to the trigger warning i referenced earlier in my talks. originally used for the mentally ill to help prevent traumatic stress disorders, trigger warnings have now become the latest rage on college campuses. student leaders at the university of california santa arbara recently passed resolution urging officials to institute mandatory trigger warnings on class syllabi.

offered content that may trigger the onset of poster medic stress disorder -- posttraumatic stress disorder may not just be required to issue alerts, but allow students to skip class. if you don't like what someone says, if it is set -- if it upsets you, you can avoid the subject rather than face it. in this world, sensitivity and civility are, indeed equal to, or in fact, superior to academic freedom. a point recently made by the chancellor of uc berkeley, thankfully too loud disapproval. get me wrong. fostering friendships, solidarity, harmony, and civility are important. but in the words of scholars see , if we make the fostering of friendship, solidarity, harmony, and mutual respect the primary and dominant value on campus, then we risk sacrificing the universities

central purpose, teaching and scholarship. when i was first approached to give this talk, we discussed a number of titles, including "political correctness and its impact on american competitiveness." in this way, i think the title understands that what happens on college campuses does not stay on college campuses. persimmon ms. scholar greg luciano outlines the problem. -- first amendment scholar greg schiano outlines the problem. it encourages students to accept thatrship by accepting freedom of speech is the enemy of such. it was only a matter of time before some bad intellectual on-campus or harming the dialogue of our entire country. what happens on our campuses

profoundly influences what happens in our businesses, our homes, and in our policymaking. and i think we should be concerned. the danger of political correctness is not simply to academic freedom when students have the power to think for themselves, when there are multiple perspectives and disciplines and presentations, and when they are led to believe that they should be free from upset. they are being deprived of the challenging education they deserve. and all of us are being deprived of thoughtful citizens, prepared workers, and lifelong learners that are -- that our societies requires. blame political correctness exactly, but they do say in large numbers they are seen college graduates that cannot think critically, right with -- and right with clarity and the last two graduate and

studied werewere unable to compare editorials. recent surveys conducted the american council of trustees and alumni by gs k found that college graduates could not identify the terms of members of congress. they didn't know that the constitution provides a separation of powers. they thought that d-day occurred at pearl harbor. it is true, and we can all agree that knowledge is more than rote learning. but when courses don't provide a broad sweep of history and intellectual tools to put those issues into meaningful context, and went speech codes suggest that free speech must take a back seat to sensitivity, we should not been be surprised that our college graduates are not always prepared for life after graduation, and indeed choose to impose the same principles and the same constraints that they learn from the college campus. ande does social hygiene

and personal liberty and privacy begin? in research now underway, sociologists april kelly weidner tells me that she has found that intolerance has increased in graduating classes after 2000. she has found that people are accepting speech limitations and speech codes more than -- more so than in the past, including banning certain books and controversial people for teaching. this generation, she wrote me in an e-mail, that protecting people's feelings is more important than searching for truth. and while speech codes and other symptoms of the politically correct university were aimed to protect minority groups from harmful speech, students today, she reports, do not discriminate , believing that anyone who says anything offensive to anyone, should be removed. in the wake of the uc irvine

students efforts to prevent the israeli ambassador to the u.s. from speaking, former speaker mark udall explained what he believes happened. "they believe their constitutional -- that constitutional rights were mark amodei -- they believe that constitutional rights were marginalized and not for the privilege. they concluded that jews were among the privileged, not the marginalized, not the object of empathy, and no need to protect the free speech of jews. every reason to silence them. luciano paints an alarming picture. jokes,cture of punishing rants, drunken tirades, a growing hostility toward free speech as a cultural value. arele all over the globe

coming to expect emotional and intellectual comfort as though it were a right. , respect forpus the authority of ideas takes a backseat to often to the idea of authority. i'm happy to account that the american council of trustees alumni is not at all wrong. occurredactions have in recent days. in late august, a group of distinguished policy makers, trustees, faculty, and others convened by the american council of trustees and alumni came to demand a different academic culture. the report, governance for a new era, short -- chaired by a former president, was one of the very first to have about the challenges of political correctness. & by such visionaries as the former provost of columbia, and itsident of arizona state,

is bold and to the state. they are calling upon colleges and university to put an end to this. to insist upon diversity. to ensure a strong core curriculum, and to demand integrity in the hiring process. a call on university leaders to make clear that i'd -- that diversity of opinion is essential and that the free exchange of ideas is the bedrock of a rich education. they urge presidents, deans, and faculty to address students on academic freedom and free expression. and we have already seen this happen with a powerful welcoming speech by the yale president ovierson loewe -- peter sel this fall. mustcan universities return to first principles. they recognize that the dominance of political correctness on our campuses amounts to nothing short of a war on youth, endangering the

empowerment and training of our next generation of leaders. they recognize that american higher education has long been the envy of the world and it will continue to be only if true as amic freedom returns campus value of paramount importance. i thank you and i look forward to the queue and day. q&a.ook forward to two and [no audio] [applause] we are looking forward to our forum. liberal will return to our speaker momentarily for a question-and-answer time. i would ask that you formulate your questions now and try to keep them brief and to the point. we welcome all of you joining us via media.

television broadcasts remain possible by cleveland state webcastty and our live is supported by the university of akron. 10,week from today, october the city club welcomes stephen better, president and chief executive officer of partners of the americas. pastore information on forms, visit us online at cityclub.org. we thank you very much for your support. and we hope to welcome students from two high schools. was madearticipation possible by a generous gift from the law foundation. we thank you for your support. please, stand up and be recognized. [applause] it is very appropriate that you

are here today and i'm sure you are starting to formulate your questions right now. speaking of which, with the bike to return to our speaker for a traditional question-and-answer time. we welcome everyone today. holding the microphone today is outreach specialist kristin. cut and consulate specialist teddy eisenberg. >> thank you for your remarks. you describe an alarming situation. it comeion is, how did about? is it generated by students? is it generated by students influenced by faculty, who tend to be tenured and largely of one political mind? give us some clarification. >> we could go on for some time, couldn't we? i think there are a number of causes. whenyou look at the 1960's postmodernism became a ringing

orthodox and caught -- reigning orthodox on college campuses, it looks at issues of power. many of the posters 1960's -- post-1960's faculty very much subscribe to that philosophy. that philosophy increasingly became part and parcel of what we see on college campuses. i think that is very much the case. there has been within the academic hiring process, often a tendency to higher hope -- hire those with whom one agrees. and this has consistently come up, whether or not a professor is all on one side of a political line. at this and i think it is fair to say that a number of studies would argue that, in fact, a number of faculty members are of one persuasion more than another. but that in and of itself is not important.

what he gets back to really is professional responsibility and professional rights. it gets back to the academic freedom definition. phen i told you in 1915 the aae said that academic freedom was a two way street, student freedom to learn and faculty freedom to teach him a one thing that happened in the last 40 to 50 years is an increasing deemphasis on student freedom to learn and an increasing emphasis on faculty on their right to teach. and frankly, a fundamental misunderstanding on the part of the regular puppet -- public, but also the faculty themselves as to what the limits and framework of academic freedom on. -- of what are the limits and framework of academic freedom. , there is ay committee that was supposed to be focusing on right and responsibilities.

and there was also supposed to be a committee to look at and to police themselves in the event they were not showing professional responsibility. that committee was never realized. that has been one of the larger that thein so much faculty themselves have not been willing to police themselves. quiteat 1950 statement rightly says that we don't want to be policed, and it is toumbent upon us faculty police ourselves. because if we do not, others will surely do it that for us. whereat it's a situation we find ourselves now. many of us are concerned, and rightly so, on the outside. policymakers, we are not seeing the students freedom academicbe what true freedom should be. it is a defining moment for many faculty as they year very

legitimate complaints from the outside about whether or not their problems are appearing in the next generation. >>lects do you think that -- do you think that sensitivity reared its ugly head, there was some in sensitivity that it was responding to before the anti-harassment policies came into effect? you think there was a problem with harassment that needed to be responded to? and now that the situation has gotten as you have described it, where do you find a middle ground? and where do the trustees and alumni -- not necessarily the members of the group, but alumni and trustees doing about the other interest groups who may have a problem with these kinds of policies? >> i think there have to be distinctions made between things that are legal and things that are not. -- things that are illegal and things that are not. with the definition of sexual harassment, these definitions have gone so broad that they are no longer getting at what is

illegal and they are actually including vast expanses of protected speech. , we don'tare right want a college campus that is rude and intimidating. say, maybe rude. but we don't want a college campus that is engaged in persistent intimidation and intrusion of people. of there is a level intimidation that we are finding is -- that we are not finding is the level that is drawn by most institutions. in an effort to respond and treat people fairly and nicely, we've gone overboard. and as a consequence, we now find ourselves in a situation where too many things are off-limits. >> as a professor at kent state

university, i deeply appreciate your comments. but i'm wondering if the priority of putting political correctness of -- ahead of real discourse that our society, instead of being a cause, that it is a symptom of a broader thing, that our society has lost for the wellion reasoned, dispassionate discourse of controversial ideas in lieu of the entertainment value of discussion of controversial issues. jerry springer show, things like that. tend to pointdo my finger i colleges and universities. perpetuatedhey have an atmosphere on the college open, often is not not openn a

different opinion, whether on race, class, climate change, rather thanever, complaining about entertainment i think that as we look at our public discourse, which has become increasingly shouting rather than engaging, i regret to say that i do think we have led students on to believe that sensitivity and civility and not disagreeing is more important than having a robust exchange of ideas. the entertainment may play into that, i feel that we have to really point our finger at andacademic institutions that the health of our society depends profoundly on the health of our educational institutions. more policy that we need to worry about. you to focusenced

on political correctness? and have you ever witnessed or experienced lyrical incorrectness in your lifetime? -- political correctness in your lifetime? >> i started out as a first amendment lawyer. and quite frankly come as you head -- as you heard from the head of the organization, there have been any number of people who were recently shut down and not allowed to speak. this is something that deeply concerns me. ability to hear differing perspectives so that one can weigh one side against another is very important. it is a bedrock principle of the first amendment. and as we look at brandeis and a sense ofyou have speech what is the best answer? more speech, not less. i think it comes from my love of the first amendment. i was a journalist for a time

and i grew up in a journalistic family. i think the free exchange of ideas is essential. and most profamily in the country in which we live. because our democratic republic ofies on this thing that all our founding fathers were very emphatic about. and it is interesting to note that all of our founding fathers and university trustees. they understood that our educational institutions were instrumental in preparing us for effective citizenship. that is the long answer to your question. thank you. >> in recent years, there have been a significant number of very large contributions to american universities coming from foreign governments and to individuals with specific .gendas sometimes these gifts have resulted in chairs being named and departments of studies being established.

extent do you think these kind of contributions, which are important, constitute any kind of problem for academic freedom? >> i think you have put your free and there -- put your finger on a very serious potential threat to academic freedom. i encourage you all to take a look at a book that that we have put out called "free to teach, free to learn," and one of the things that it talks about is the influence of foreign governments on colleges and university campuses. i know you recently probably dearabout some of these institutes, that frankly, governments will encourage particular viewpoint. colleges have to be very careful before excepting those kinds of gifts. the whole point of academic freedom is to follow the truth wherever it may lead. and if the gift is so

prescriptive that it means certain areas are off-limits, then it for an immensely undermines that accurate -- than it fundamentally undermines that academic freedom. another issue as well, we often help donors who would like to see certain areas of a field covered on a college campus. for instance, if someone wants to introduce a free art -- a free market economics course that is now the -- not otherwise available, we encourage donors to do that, because sometimes students cannot otherwise find on-campus exposure to those areas. but it does raise even in those instances courses of academic freedom that have to be looked , and it alsoly underscores the institution's failure itself to provide that diversity of perspective that it needs. it is self-correcting. the institutions, if they are diverse perspective

and make themselves available, then they will find themselves in less difficulty with donors who want to prescribe to certain things, because they will have already done it on college campuses. you have a broader perspective on the topic i'm about to inquire into than most. i ask you, what pattern, what emerging trend do you see in the envisioned role of three hallowed parts of our educational system, high school, onlege, and advanced study two metrics? one is, the protection of students. of students from adverse things that might happen to them, and also on the metric , broadbreadth of study versus specialized and narrow. i see high school in a different way and college as a different

one and then also different is advanced study. but i welcome your views. >> i think you're right. years past, we have relied on high school to provide a solid general foundation for exposures to foundational areas, such as and nurture.nce and for better or worse, that has not been the case so that colleges and universities do find themselves having to provide that foundations that some high schools have not been able to do. i like tohave what call the anything goes curriculum. of have the influence postmodernism, which has affected a lot of things. since world war ii, our universities have been, frankie, in it.g universities did not have to

pick and choose. again, professors had things they wanted to teach. schools did not really have limits on their resources. so it was easy to let teachers teach more and more. now, often we have often hundreds, even thousands of courses that will meet distribution requirements rather than a prescribed liberal arts education that will ensure that foundation. and perhaps even more gettingtly, now you're so many students that come from very different preparations. and a general education curriculum that is well peoplered can help bring from very different perspectives, very different over ations together certain set of common material. and getting to your earlier

question, i think we worry about the range of civil discourse. this gets back to the lack of common foundation. ,n thomas jefferson's day jefferson and madison were talking to each other and they could be sure that they knew what each other was talking about. they had read the same things and had the same foundation. then.as happened since obviously, we have many more things to look at. but i do think that colleges and universities are missing out on using the curriculum to provide that common conversation that can help us unite. it won't mean we all agree, but we will have a foundation on which to have a discussion. i see these kids today who love the watt -- love to watch "the voice" and other shows, and i love those choice, too. and i think the reason they find

them so enjoyable is that then becomes the common conversation that they have. instead of having a book -- a conversation about a book that they have in common, they are talking about the voice and other shows. help with that common conversation and help with life and community and civic engagement if we go back to a more structured curriculum where we ensure that we have -- that we all have that broad exposure, and will also make us much more nimble where in an economy between the ages of 18-45, on average, some of them will have 11 different professions. having that foundation and having that breadth is what in our current economy we really need rather than what we don't have. you essentially made the argument for the small liberal

arts president who says, we need a basic liberal arts agenda for our students. i have two questions. one is, can you give us some examples of colleges or universities who have kept the broad curriculum with standards? and the other area i would be interested in is the people who have resisted the political correctness of this inviting speakers -- of uninviting speakers who are controversial. are these positive examples more typical of the small liberal arts colleges, the larger and public and maybe nationally known institutions, or maybe the group in between, like the regional colleges or midsize like cleveland university? thee did an assessment of top-rated liberal arts colleges according to "u.s. news and world report, the amherst, the williamses, the burdens. these are confess to

probably the worst when it comes to having a prescribed liberal arts curriculum. that people no longer appreciate liberal arts education. we often hear this from the campuses. but after we did this research to see what the framework was of the curriculum that was offered to these students, we came away sith two -- with conclusion that there was nothing wrong students in liberal arts, but the way they were imparting the information. you can go to amherst and they could pride themselves on saying we don't have anything we require. we allow students to make their own curriculum. and i'm not denying the kids to go to amherst. they have many smart students and i'm sure they are well prepared. but it's interesting to look at

a new book, which again i commend to everyone, academically addressed. it was put out by the university of chicago. was that found there after $200,000 of investment, to -- students were graduating with very little college gained. in the first two years, they found only 45% had cognitive gain. years, only one third showed cognitive gain. in the institutions where they -- that iser variety a way of saying, you might be well prepared coming into amherst, but there is great education within these highly selective institutions. some students are being allowed to graduate without that foundation and that fundamental strength that they need and should have coming out of a very pricey liberal arts college. examples of some

very good places? --olani is a place that we have looked at that has been very impressive. a strong curriculum and they are competitive on their pricing. in terms of others, there is a small liberal arts public college in oklahoma that has done a beautiful job. called the college of oklahoma arts and sciences and they have a very strong curriculum. bloomfield college in virginia has a very strong curriculum. , and in fact,ols interestingly, there are schools now that are viewing this as a means to carve out a niche, and a means to compete because they are then able to say, you send your child to our institution and you can be assured that

student will receive a strong core curriculum. this isn't to say you cannot get a good education at almost any institution. but you will have to do it yourself. and the american council of trustees alumni really believes it is incumbent on the adults who are in charge of our colleges and universities to make the choices and make the judgments about what students .eed to know to be able to do and if they are not going to make those judgments, then i do ader at home and i can teaching company and i can teach myself, because frankly, that is what i would have been doing at the college campus, but i will be $200,000 wealthier. [laughter] this is what we are calling upon. it's a hard job and a job that faculty don't like to undertake, because it's a job that all is what they love.

all faculty feel that his or her field is the most important field. it's important for institutions to have this debate. they will not all come out with the same answer, but they will come together as a community to try to decide what they believe their institution should know and be able to do and that way the marketplace will also have a signal for it. they will know that if you went to this place, you will have gotten this kind of education. it is so pick and choose on behalf of students and it is difficult to know what that particular graduate will have learned, because there is no set curriculum that can begin 19. [applause] -- that can be guaranteed. [applause]

>> we have enjoyed our friday form featuring the cofounder of american trustees and alumni. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. this from is now adjourned. [bell] [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> this thanksgiving week, c-span is featuring interviews from retiring members of congress. watch the interview tonight through thursday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. >> as much as we have accomplished in 36 years, i want to look back -- i don't want to look back at that so much as to look forward to the next couple , because there are

couple of things i would like to do. one, to get my defense authorization bill passed. this is an annual and major a -- major effort involving large amounts of staff. and i also want approval of the subcommittee on investigations looking at some gimmicks which are used to avoid taxes. >> i've been a member of congress for 34 years. if i was a manager for a baseball or football team and i had a 34-1, i would be in the hall of fame. i have never gotten beat. it doesn't bother me to get beat, because i was not just sitting by. 18ad 18 cochairmen in counties in my district that were supporting me to run. click's and also on thursday, thanksgiving day, and american history tour of various native american drive -- tribes.

a.m. eastern:00 following "washington journal," and then at 1:00 former secretaries of state. justices atcourt 8:30 p.m. eastern. that is this thanksgiving week on c-span. for our complete schedule, go to www.c-span.org. voting has begun in louisiana for the only undecided u.s. senate seat. the national review's online edition has this article.

cassidy is pledging to fight obama's amnesty plan. here is the ad from the landrieu campaign, along with others that both candidates are airing. >> i'm mary landrieu and i approve this message. on may 31, bill cassidy gave a speech that was nearly incoherent. crystal clear,is voting to cut social security benefits. foray for a tax break himself. >> with a bs in it -- for this? ,> before the end of the year we will take whatever lawful actions i can take.

obamat is barack promising amnesty for millions here. we must stop obama. as your senate seat -- senator, i will fight obama. and remember, mary landrieu, barack obama, 97% to stop i will stand up to obama. i'm go cassidy and i approve this message. >> bill cassidy is a doctor and he still voted to cut from louisiana schools to pay for tax breaks for millionaires like himself. i don't know what kind of doctor would do that to our kids. >> i'm mary landrieu and i approve this message because louisiana's children should never pay for tax cuts for millionaires. >> a few words from mary landrieu on obamacare.

>> if obamacare were up for vote again, i would vote for it tomorrow. 97%oting with barack obama of the time. x i'm very happy to see the president defend what i think is an extraordinary record. >> and if you dare disagree with her -- >> if they don't like it, they can reelect us. -- they can on elect us. i'm up for reelection right now. >> now you know what to do on election day. >> the final debate takes place monday night at 8:00 eastern time. the runoff is set for saturday, december 6. a group of education innovators from around the country recently spoke at chicago ideas week about the future of education, experiential learning and the end of school. replacingrs discussed traditional classrooms with hands-on education, plus helping underprivileged students prepare for college.

>> thank you. the end of school! that's so cool to say. i want you guys to have that experience, too. so i'll say it and you say it back to me. how's this. the end of school! think about all the songs written by the end of school. -- about the end of school. i think this is aptly named "the end of school" because when i think about school, i think about a building that contains all of the information, all of the knowledge and you go there, you get what you need, and then you leave. whereas education really means to lead an individual out. so the end of school where you have to go and get all the information to go somewhere else to the idea of education and becoming yourself, and leading

oneself out. there was a gentleman here this week who is featured in our future global leaders summit yesterday, and his name is emerson sparks. and what's interesting, maybe even phenomenal, about emerson, is his path to education. you see, he was only 12 years old when he convinced his parents that he should be allowed to drop out of school. the end of school! you could say, you could say it. but he wasn't asking his parents to ditch his emtion. -- education. he simply felt he could self-educate better than what he was getting in traditional school. now, his parents agreed and emerson began his journey down the path of education outside of the classroom.

he read lots of books, studied successful people and what made them so and utilized a wealth of online resources. at only 12 years of age, he began mogulnet.com. mugglenet.com. right, harry potter fans out there? now, mugglenet was a harry potter fan site that gained 50 million paid views every month and caught the eye of the author, j.k. rawlings. today at the age of 27, emerson is the founder and c.e.o. of sparks media where he's created a predictive science to forecast the virollity of websites with a large success rate. -- with a 90% success rate. leaving school before puberty isn't exactly what this talk is about but what emerson's story shows is the potential not only for learning, but extremely successful learning beyond the

walls of a classroom. so we've all heard of or maybe even experienced online courses like those offered, and maybe even received an online certificate or degree. now, however, parents and children have resources to complete grades k through 12 through online self guided curriculum. what? is it the end of school? maybe it is. maybe as we know it. it's definitely going through a transformation and that's what we're going to explore today, transformation. now, my own path to rethink traditional education started in the classroom and so i take you to my high school chemistry class. first day of class, i pulled on the periodic table and had all of my students pick an element.

that's where that he had -- they would be for the whole semester. if you were iron, i'd call you effy. if you were gold, i'd say, hey, you! and then i asked my students to pick whether they wanted to be a solid, liquid or gas so the cool kids are like, solids and some of the girls would be like, liquid. and the geeks who are thinking where is she going with this would say gas. imagine you're 17 years old, you declare to your colleagues you want to be a gas. you're going to hear some sounds. so immediately i'd separate the class, solids, you sit in the front row. your molecules are packed title together and you will not move. sometimes i would talk to them as if they were not as smart as everybody else because they were solids. the liquids, i rolled back a section of the classroom and said your molecules are a little

more spread out but you will always take the shape of your container. and the gases, of course, their molecules were all spread out and they had all the freedom in the world. what does every 17-year-old want more than anything? freedom. the end of school! so i'd say, all right, gases, you're free to move about. if i left the door open, they could leave. they had everything. well, immediately, the solids would be like, that is not fair! and i'd say then you've got to change your state of matter, or class mobility, we have to begin to change our state of mind. and our journey together will be about how to get the freedoms that we want. my kids did great. we had a lot of fun together. they scored very well on their tests. and every day another student of mine would come back and take me out to lunch.

it was my free lunch law. and so the question was, what are you doing with your science? what is your truth, right? science is the study of truth. so probably one of the brightest kids i worked with came to see me one day and i said what are you doing with your science? he said i'm working with chemicals. i got excited, are you smashing atoms? he said no i'm working in cleaning services at one of the hotels downtown and you'd be surprised about what people don't know about the basic properties of ammonia. my heart breaks. this kid was brilliant, probably the smartest student i had every worked with. he could have figured out cold fusion and he was basically telling me he was cleaning toilets. then i knew something had to change. i wear my heart on my sleeve, he could see i was upset and he said, sandy, i don't think you're listening to me. you've always taught us that leadership is making

opportunities for others. and it doesn't matter whether i'm in a lab coat or lecture hall, i'm teaching, and that's what you told us to do. so on the way back it my office, i knew this was a defining moment in my life. my best friend and i worked at the same organization and we got our heads together and we said we have to change this. now we love technology because it's creative, it doesn't matter what you look like, it's a meritocracy and by teaching programming we could write the rules. it was also 1998. there were dot-coms popping up everywhere. there was a tremendous opportunity here. but the really cool thing was that there's a core set of skills that sit between technology and leadership that we could teach so that folks could not only get great jobs in i.t., they could apply those skills to the communities we come from so we could be change

agents in our businesses, building systems that would change the nature of business, but we could also be agents of change in our communities. by using empathy and reciprocity and resiliency and all of the things inner city kids are already faced with building and developing in their life by overcoming adversity. so that was it. that was the moment. now it's 15 years later. we have a 90% placement rates for our graduates. and the average earning increase is over 300%. 27 of our alums are homeowners. thank you. -- and 95% are actively engaged

in their communities. [applause] thank you. just a little piece about the power of education. thinking about a lead change. i want to introduce our next speaker. what did education look like when there were no classrooms? no core curriculum or textbooks. no nothing. our next speaker can tell us. he is a strong advocate of the principle of evolutionary psychology, or the belief that we will teach ourselves what we need to survive and thrive. it teaches evolutionary and -- he is an evolutionary psychologist in developmental educational psychology. he is the author of the 2013 book "free to learn: what unleashing the instinct to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life." please welcome me in joining dr.

peter gray. [applause] ♪ >> thank you and what a pleasure to be here. what a great topic. the end of school, yay! psychologistionary . what it means is i am interested in human nature. i am interested in how that came about. and most particularly, in that asked fact, children's nature -- i am particularly interested in the nature of children, and most particularly, in that aspect, the children's nature that lead them to become educated. the idea i am here to talk about is this. that children are biologically designed to educate themselves. they do it joyfully through

play, questioning. we don't need to educate children. all we need to do is provide the conditions for their playfulness and curiosity. conditions that would allow them to educate themselves. willfulness, their sociability have been honed by natural selection to serve a function of education. that we take those abilities away when we put them in school and prevent them from educating themselves. my argument is if we provide the conditions the children need to educate themselves, we really can do away with schools as we know them. some of you might be thinking that i am crazy. some of you more kindly might be thinking that i am a hopeless idealist.

but i assure you i am neither. i am hardheaded realist. have done a great deal of research on this topic. the idea that i'm talking about today is supported by a great deal of empirical observation and research which is elaborated on in my book but here i have a few minutes to try to convince you it is worth thinking about. the first way i want to think about this idea is by looking at hunter gatherer cultures. now, we were all hunter gatherers until relatively recently in history from a biological point of view. some people have survived the -- as hunter gatherers into modern times. anthropologist have found them and started their cultures. a few years ago a graduate , student of mine and i

conducted a survey about 10 different anthropologists that studied seven different hunter gatherer cultures among them on three different continents. we asked them questions about how children became educated in that culture. one question was how much time do children, in the culture you observe, have to play and explore on their own. the answer we got all the time was that the children and the teenagers are free to play and explore away from adults all day long every day and in the process, they become educated. the other question we asked was how do they play? , what forms do they play? -- what are the forms that they play? we found that they play at the very activities that are hardest to learn and are most important to learn for success in their culture. they play at hunting and gathering and finding roots and digging them up.

they play at building things like huts and dugout canoes, bows and arrows like musical and instruments and they play with music and dance. the other thing is that they have never seen writer, happier, -- the other thing the anthropologist told us, and i've seen it in writing many times more resilient and self-reliant children. the question is, could this work in our culture? and first glance you think of course it can't. there are things that they don't

have to learn like reading, writing, and arithmetic. it is not easy for children in i might think it wouldn't work except for the fact that for many years, i have been an observer and researcher at the valley school in massachusetts. this school was founded in 968. it has about 150 students at any given time. it has about eight staff members this is not elite education, it is eminently affordable. the other things about the school is the way it is administered and the educational philosophy of the school. the school operates as a