Obama: Other Nations Spent More on Education to Catch up with America’s Economy

"America thrives in the 20th century in large part because we made high school the norm and then we sent a generation to college, under GI bill -- including my grandfather. Then we dedicated ourselves to cultivating the most educated workforce in the world and we invested in what's one of the crown jewels of this country and that's our higher education system. And then dating back to Abraham Lincoln, we invested in land-grant college as we understood that this was a hallmark of America, this investment in education. But eventually the world caught on and caught up and that's why we have to lead the world in education again. That's why my administration is working to make high-quality early childhood education available to all of our kids. We know, if we invest in them early -- (Applause) -- it pays dividends on the backend. That's why we're working to bring high speed broadband to 99 percent of America's students within the next 4 years. We want to make sure every child is plugged in."