(Washington, DC)  --  The focus shifted from healthcare to education for President Obama during Saturday's weekly media address.  The President is sending an updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act Blueprint to Congress Monday.  He said the Act sets a goal of making sure all students graduate from high school prepared for college and a career.  The Act will, says the President, provide states, districts and schools "with the flexibility and resources to reach that goal."  He says politics of the moment in the U.S. is not what happens in the next election, but rather "what we do to lift up the next generation."  And he said few issues address more directly the nation's long term success than matters concerning the education we provide to our children. 

On a scale that measures education successes in other countries, the President says "our competitors understand that the nation that out-educates us today will out-compete us tomorrow."  The President says that over the last few decades, we've lost ground in the global arena of education.  The U.S, has in his view, fallen behind most wealthy countries in our high school graduation rates and we are also behind in the proportion of college graduates produced.  Mr. Obama cautioned that "unless we take action and unless we step up there are countless children who will never realize their full talent and potential."  He said he doesn't accept that future for them and he doesn't accept that future for our country.

Mr. Obama says that through this plan, quote, "we are setting an ambitious goal: all students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career no matter who you are or where you come from.  Achieving this goal will be difficult. It will take time.  And it will require the skills, talents and dedication of many: principals, teachers, parents and students."