Rules of the Woodpile

This might be a good start to begin a State of the Union speech.



Text of the speech delivered by College Board President Gaston Caperton on November 14, 2005, at the 118th Annual Meeting of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges in Washington, D.C.

I have always been proud that our country was the foremost voice for enduring good and widespread progress. Today I fear that the United States, if not derailed, is moving in the wrong direction.

Tom Friedman's book, The World Is Flat, Senator Robert Byrd's book, Losing America, and former Secretary of Commerce Pete Peterson's book, Running on Empty, substantiate this concern.

Let me use a simple down-home explanation as to why I am worried.

In the early days, West Virginians lived in small communities where families shared a common woodpile. There were two rules: The first rule was when you took wood from the common pile, you were obligated to replace it with more. The second rule was never play with fire near the woodpile.

Economic facts tell us that we are clearly violating the first woodpile rule. Let me quote Herb Allison, CEO of TIAA-CREF, from a September speech. He said:

Consider this—if you add the $450 billion shortfall in corporate pensions to the projected $4-10 trillion deficit for Social Security, and throw in another $8-10 trillion shortfall in Medicare and Medicaid obligation, you're talking about $12-20 trillion of unfunded obligations in the United States for retirement and health care.

Add in another $1 trillion shortfall for state and municipal pension plans. Then we have our annual fiscal budget deficit. In July, well before Katrina, it was $333 billion. Our trade deficit is expected to be nearly $700 billion this year. Right now, we're borrowing $2 billion a day to fund our spending habits.

The current federal budget deficit, the current account deficit, and the saving deficit say that we Americans are taking more wood from the pile than we are replacing. We are also violating the second rule as we expose the woodpile to the fire of intolerant religion, coupled with a contentious political climate, a disregard for world poverty, and an expensive war.

These diversions are occurring in a highly competitive globalized economy, where America must be at its best. Let me be more specific: I am the grandson of a missionary. Religion was and is the center of my family's value system. What I have been recently hearing in the name of religion is like hearing beautiful music played off-key.

Jim Wallis, the author of the best-selling book God's Politics, writes:

Abraham Lincoln had it right when he said: "Our task should not be to invoke religion and the name of God by claiming God's blessing and endorsement for all our national policies and practices—saying, in effect, that God is on our side. Rather," Lincoln said, "we should pray and worry earnestly whether we are on God's side."

He explains:

There are the two ways that religion has been brought into public life in American history. The first way—God on our side—leads inevitably to self-righteousness, bad theology and, often, dangerous foreign policy.

The second way—asking if we are on God's side—leads to much healthier things, namely, repentance, humility, reflection, and even accountability.
I personally have learned to be wary that "God talk" is a "noisy gong and a clanging cymbal" when denunciation replaces forgiveness, fear replaces hope, hate replaces love, and war replaces peace.

Religion against religion. Conservative against liberal. Red against blue. Rich against poor. Worker against employer. All of this kills our spirit, dampens our energy, diminishes our hope, and stops our progress. Contentious politics combined with intolerant religion is a formula for disaster.

We protect the wood on the woodpile when our common interests are in America's best interest. We fan the flames with negative campaigns, and we protect the woodpile with intelligent and thoughtful discussion and civil debate.

Dr. Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, gave a commencement speech at Wesleyan University in May. She said:

You cannot have a reasoned discussion about abortion when one side is slandered as "baby killers" and the other side is smeared as "religious wing nuts." It is hard to pursue a reasoned debate about the Iraqi War when opponents of the war are accused of treason and the President of the United States is compared to Hitler.
Dr. Gutmann ended her talk with these words:

What a waste of the privilege of living in a free society. We need massive doses of deliberation and mutual respect if we are going to move our society and world to a better place.

The United States, long an international beacon of hope for millions, must give new meaning to the word receptivity in terms of dealing with the glaring problems of the poor. The world is watching and wondering whether America, the world's leading economic power, still has the will and the commitment to play its leadership role in substantially reducing world poverty.

The United States is today mired in a war that is consuming our human and material resources, with no real end in sight. I am reminded of the words of President Eisenhower when he said:

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

Regardless of political persuasion, one needs to acknowledge that we have lost precious lives and expended billions of dollars. The war, if left unchecked, clearly threatens our humanity and destroys our creative edge in the global race for social and economic leadership. Other nations, like China and India, are not stalled by a war.

What America must do is to courageously reassess our priorities. In an article in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman asked the question: "What if we were really having a national discussion about what is most important to the country today and on the minds of most parents?" He writes:

I have no doubt that it would be a loud, noisy dinner-table conversation about why so many U.S. manufacturers are moving abroad—not just to find lower wages, but to find smarter workers, a better infrastructure, and cheaper health care.

The conversation would be about why U.S. twelfth-graders recently performed below the international average for 21 countries in math and science.

All of us understand that education is the key to our nation's future. It is time to restate, in unequivocal terms: what has made the United States unique and strong is our education system. America must strengthen our education to continue our world leadership in this ever-expanding world of global competitiveness. That focus demands more resources and commitment to education excellence and equity.

America must courageously reassess its priorities, announcing, once and for all, that future international leadership is tied directly to educational fitness and quality.

America must not starve its system of education. It must have the will, energy, and courage to nurture it; making sweeping reforms where necessary and providing the resources needed to assure academic depth and strength. American education cannot climb the formidable mountain before it without the needed tools, the increased assets.

International progress will be neither cheap nor easy. What America needs are education leaders who are willing to ask the tough questions, to think through what it will take for the United States to retain its presence as a global leader in education, and to take action.

Going along and getting along is not enough. It will demand an objective review of how much we spend on areas such as defense and health care, and how we bring the federal debt under control.

Those who make the most noise about nonsubstantive political issues cannot distract us. Things must change; the clock is ticking. Education must better serve the people of our nation.

America has the wherewithal to march forward with legitimate hope if its leaders will acknowledge the realities of the day. And that will demand courage, compassion, and determination.

America has the force to lift the downtrodden while remembering that the fortunes of business and industry are key to developing the jobs and the resources necessary to do this. One can remember a time when industrial giants like AT&T were dominant, even monopolies; let us today make sure that American prowess as an international force for good is never a tarnished relic.

Educational leaders must speak with a united voice as never before. We have enormous political clout. We must use it in a way to help guarantee an enduring America, the nation that we revere. We cannot be complacent.

We must not play with fire around the woodpile and must always put more wood on the pile than we take!

In these times, there is too much at stake to let apathy replace diligence and carelessness replace responsibility. We must dare to dream and be risk takers.

As educators, America needs our collective best efforts as never before.