Written Testimony of William H. Gates

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• Third, we need to provide a foundation for innovation by investing in ideas and capturing their value. The public sector in particular needs to continue to increase investments in R&D, especially in basic scientific research, to complement the R&D of the private sector and address new challenges. The R&D tax credit, which provides a critical, proven incentive for companies to increase their investment in U.S.-based research and development, needs to be made permanent. We also need a legal framework that rewards innovation.

I. Providing 21st Century Educational & Training Opportunities

America cannot maintain its innovation leadership if it does not educate world-class innovators and train its workforce to use innovations effectively. Unfortunately, available data suggest that we are failing to do so—in our math and science programs, in our job training programs, and especially in our high schools.

A. Improving America's high schools

America's greatest educational shortcoming today is what for much of our history was its greatest pride: our public schools. American schools have long been the cornerstone of this country's fundamental belief that all people have equal value and deserve an equal opportunity to lead productive lives. Yet all of the evidence indicates that our high schools are no longer a path to opportunity and success, but a barrier to both.

Our current expectations for what our students should learn in school were set fifty years ago to meet the needs of an economy based on manufacturing and agriculture. We now have an economy based on knowledge and technology. Despite the best efforts of many committed educators and administrators, our high schools have simply failed to adapt to this change. As any parent knows, however, our children have not—they are fully immersed in digital culture.

As a result, while most students enter high school wanting to succeed, too many end up bored, unchallenged and disengaged from the high school curriculum—"digital natives" caught up in an industrial-age learning model. Many high school students today either drop out or simply try to get by. For those who graduate, many lack the skills they need to attend college or to find a job that can support a family. Until we transform the American high school for the 21st century, we will continue limiting the lives of millions of Americans each year. The cost of inaction substantially increases each year that we fail to act. Consider the following facts:

America has one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the industrialized world. According to a study released by Education Week, three out of every 10 ninth-grade students will not graduate on time and about half of all African American and Hispanic ninth graders will not earn a diploma in four years. Of those who do graduate and continue on to college, over a quarter have to take remedial courses on material they should have learned in high school. Employers complain that high school graduates today lack the basic writing and analytic skills required to succeed even in entry level positions.

Every student in America should graduate from high school ready for college, career and life. Every child. No exceptions. Whether they are going off to college or into the work force or a combination of the two, it is the responsibility of public education to give our young people the skills, knowledge and preparation for life they need and deserve.

As we work toward this goal, I would urge Congress to place an equal focus on standards, measurements and data, and additional support for students and teachers. Educational standards have one central purpose—to ensure that students make the most of their abilities. For our country and our young people to be successful, all students should have access to schools and courses that prepare them for college, career and life. Many state standards in place today are unacceptably low.

For instance, only about half of our states require students to take three or four years of math to graduate from high school.