I believe we can work together—Republicans and Democrats—to move beyond the out-of-date, and tired, and prescriptive No Child Left Behind law.

I believe we can replace it with a law that recognizes that schools need more support—and more money, more resources—than they receive today.

A law that recognizes that no family should be denied preschool for their children, and reflects the real scientific understanding that learning begins at birth, not somehow at age 5.

A law that recognizes the critically hard, important work educators across America are doing to support and raise expectations for our children, and lifts up the profession of teaching by recognizing that teachers need better preparation, better support, and more resources to do their hugely important job.

A law that says that educational opportunity isn’t an option, it’s a civil right, a moral imperative, and the best way we can strengthen our nation and attract and retain great jobs that expand the middle class.

Like so many of you in this room, my wife and I are parents, with two children in local public schools.

What we, as parents, want for our kids is an education that isn’t just about knowledge—it’s about those moments of excitement that we hear about at dinner at the end of the day, about creativity and wonder and curiosity.

Fundamentally, we want our kids to have wonderful choices in their lives.

And let’s work together to pass a law that says that every single child in America deserves this kind of education that we’d want for our own children. The days in which lawmakers support schools that are somehow good enough for someone else’s children, but not for their own—those days must be over.

And please take a minute and think about both the magnitude of the opportunity, and the urgency of the work ahead of us.

5
Select the correct answer.
Read the excerpt from a speech by US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. What is the speech’s purpose?

A.
to inform the country what students are learning in their local schools
B.
to gain support for a law that would improve student achievement
C.
to explain the roles of teachers in creating a better learning environment
D.
to support a law that requires children to begin learning at a very young age