Charter schools have the potential to enrich and enhance our system of public education. They must never be conceived or implemented in a way that undermines or weakens that system. One of my most firmly held beliefs is my belief not just in education, but in public education, because in my view it represents the best chance we have of ensuring equal opportunity for all our children. That's a tradition that reaches back nearly four centuries, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed the first public education law on this continent, requiring that every child must be taught how to read. Since then, although we have come from different backgrounds, from different countries, from different cultures, from different sides of the track, by and large over the years we have shared a common experience of public schools.
Public education is a tradition that has served America well.
It has kept us free, it has kept us united, and while there may be ways to improve upon it, this is no time to abandon it. My fear is that if we allow our education system to be splintered into an interest-based set of private schools, the kids who need the most help will just fall through the cracks. For them, equal opportunity will be a promise unfulfilled, and they deserve more than that. We as a society deserve more than that. And that's why I believe in public schools, publicly funded, available and open to all, and of the very highest quality.