That summarizes the efforts we ve put into place in Maryland. At Lockheed Martin, we support the new governor, and the Legislature, in their efforts to continue to improve the public school system. With one out of every five school students in America, California is the dominant player in any national school curriculum initiative. Your adoption of standards puts in place a major link in a collective national commitment to making standards a key part of our educational future. It has been said that business, long-term, is the most logical supporter of standards.
Standards are the backbone of virtually every human endeavor.
Lou Gerstner, chairman and CEO of IBM, has made an impassioned plea on behalf of educational standards and accountability. In basketball, you score when the ball goes in the hoop, not when it hits the rim. In football, you score when you cross the goal line, not when you show up in uniform. In track and field, you must jump over the bar, not go under it or around it. All of this is not to suggest that making standards work will be easy.