Echoing President Barack Obama’s call that this democracy live up to the expectations of the youngest victim killed in the Tucson shooting, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said Friday that where education is concerned, the nation falls very short.
Evoking the youthful idealism of Christina Taylor Green, the 9-year-old killed Jan. 8 in a grocery store parking lot, Bennet said the nation must prepare all its children for success in the 21st-century economy.
“Only nine out of 100 children born in poverty will finish college,” the Colorado Democrat said during brief remarks at the 26th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Business Social Responsibility Awards at Denver’s Marriott City Center Hotel.
This should not be a country where one’s ZIP code determines one’s education opportunities, Bennet said.
His appearance was part of a series of education-focused events that will include classroom visits and discussions with educators in Colorado and across the nation, his office said.
Bennet thanked the business leaders at the awards ceremony for all they have done to support education and offered a short list of goals.
He said the country must reduce red tape so the people closest to the kids make the decisions about their educations. Leaders must work to find and keep great teachers, he said.
He was leaving Friday’s event early, he added, to help select a middle school for one of his daughters.
Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com
