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We need students to understand how the world has changed and be prepared to make contributions in a new way.

I realized if you can change a classroom, you can change a community, and if you change enough communities you can change the world.

Students in the '60s were responsible for great changes, politically and socially.

Students must have initiative; they should not be mere imitators. They must learn to think and act for themselves - and be free.

In college, I was always disappointed by lectures that covered social problems but failed to identify what I could do to change them. Part of the problem was that many professors simply didn't believe they had a role in converting awareness to action.

What I see is democratizing education will change everything.

No Child Left Behind taught us that parents, teachers and state and local leaders are more suited to address students' needs than a one-size-fits-all accountability system developed by Washington bureaucrats.

I had become increasingly concerned in recent years about the lack of civics education in our nation's schools. In recent years, the schools have stopped teaching it. And it's unfortunate.

Now things have changed for the better. Our reforms end seniority and tenure so we can hire and fire based on merit and pay based on performance. That means we can put the best and the brightest in our classrooms - and we can keep them there.

I encourage students to pursue an idea far enough so they can see what the cliches and stereotypes are. Only then do they begin to hit pay dirt.