奥巴马于美国西班牙裔商会谈教育（在线收听）

In pockets of excellence across this country, we are seeing what children from all walks of life can, and will achieve, when we set high standards, have high expectations when we do a job of preparing them.

Instead, it's because politics and ideology had too often trumped our progress that we are in a situation that we’re in.

For decades, Washington has been trapped in the same stale debates that have paralyzed progress and perpetuated our educational decline. Too many supporters of my party have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though we know it can make a difference in the classroom. Too many in the Republican Party have opposed new investments in early education, despite compelling evidence of its importance.

So what we get here in Washington is the same old debate about, it's more money versus more reform, vouchers versus the status quo. There's been partisanship and petty bickering, but little recognition that we need to move beyond the worn fights of the 20th century, if we're going to succeed in the 21th century.

I think you'd all agree that the time for finger-pointing is over, the time for holding us, holding ourselves accountable, is here. What’s required is not simply new investments, but new reforms. It's time to expect more from our students. It's time to start rewarding good teachers, stop making excuses for bad ones. It's time to demand results from government at every level. It's time to prepare every child, everywhere in America, to out-compete any worker, anywhere in the world.