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This speech discusses the importance of higher education, the challenges facing higher education in America today, and the role of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education in helping to make higher education more accessible and affordable. It further discusses initiatives in North Carolina to improve elementary, secondary, and higher education, and calls for states to expand their commitment to higher education. The speech goes on the examine the purposes of higher education, including promoting good citizenship, making people better human beings, and providing them with world-competitive skills. It looks at the role of public policy in higher education over the last several decades, noting the great achievements of the GI Bill in opening the doors of higher education to an entire generation after the World War II. The speech then focuses on two deficits in higher education today an opportunity deficit and a learning deficit. The former involves the limited opportunities that children from low-income families have for attending higher education, while the latter refers to the increasing numbers of students who attend college but do not graduate. (MDM)

Declaring that a "national emergency" exists in American education, the author outlines "Action for Excellence" recommendations developed by the Task Force on Education for Economic Growth, of which he was chairman, and discusses accomplishments in educational reform in the state of North Carolina, where he is governor. (JBM)