PART TWO OF TWO

SOURCE: http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/debate_transcript120907.pdf

MCCAIN: Choice and competition is the key to success in
education in America. That means charter schools, that means home
schooling, it means vouchers, it means rewarding good teachers and
finding bad teachers another line of work. It means...
(APPLAUSE)
It means rewarding good performing schools, and it really means
in some cases putting bad performing schools out of business.
About three or four weeks ago, I went to a wonderful, wonderful
school in the lower-income part of Philadelphia.
MCCAIN: It's run by a Hispanic organization called Esperanza.
Esperanza has set up a charter school. The kids wear uniforms. It's
98 percent Hispanic and 8 percent African American. Their grades are
phenomenal. Their dropout rate is low. Their parents are responsible
and they're engaged.
And guess what's happening? The public schools in Philadelphia
in the area are starting to improve as well, because of the choice and
competition that is employed by the parents there. I want every
American parent to have a choice, a choice as to how they want their
child educated, and I guarantee you the competition will dramatically
increase the level of education in America.
(APPLAUSE)
And I applaud our former Governor Bush for the great job he's
done on education in Florida and America.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Thank you, Senator.
Governor Romney, how can we improve education -- public education
in this country?
ROMNEY: Well, we've got a pretty good model. If you look at my
state, even before I got there, other governors and legislatures
worked real hard to improve education. And they did a number of
things that made a big difference.
One is, they started testing our kids to see who was succeeding,
making sure that failing schools were identified and then turning them
around. They fought for school choice. When I became governor, I had
to protect school choice because the legislature tried to stop it.
And then we also fought for English immersion. We wanted our
kids coming to school to learn English from the very beginning. And
then we did something that was really extraordinary. We said to every
kid that does well on these exams that we put in place before you can
graduate from high school, we're going to give you a John and Abigail
Adams scholarship, four years tuition-free to our state university or
state colleges for all the kids that graduate in the top quarter of
their class.
We care about the quality of education. I want to pay better
teachers more money. Teachers are underpaid, but I want to evaluate
our teachers and see which ones are the best and which ones are not.
(APPLAUSE)
ROMNEY: And let me tell how our kids are doing. Every two
years, we test the kids across the country, the NAPE exam. Our kids
-- my kids came out number one in English in fourth and eighth grade,
number one in math. In all four tests, our kids came out number one
in the nation.
These principles of choice, parental involvement, encouraging
high standards, scholarships for our best kids -- these turn our
schools into the kind of magnets that they can be for the entire
nation.
MODERATOR: Thank you, Governor.
(APPLAUSE)
We're going to continue talking about education. One our of
three Hispanic students don't finish high school.
Governor Huckabee, what would you do to stop dropouts of school.
HUCKABEE: Well, first of all, the reason a lot of kids don't
finish school and they drop out -- and by the way, you're right. The
Hispanic dropout rate is significantly higher than the general
population.
Six thousand kids, every day, drop out of school, 6,000. You
know, the only reason any of us are standing on this stage today is
because we have an education. Without it, we wouldn't be here.
HUCKABEE: An education is empowerment. The lack of it leads us
to incredible, just all kinds of obstacles in our path.
And we always talk about we need more math and science, and we,
and we're doing a better job. But one of the reasons we have kids
failing is not because they're dumb, it's they're bored. They're
bored with a curriculum that doesn't touch them.
We have schools that are about perpetuating the schools, not
helping the students.
I propose launching weapons of mass instruction, making sure that
we are launching not only the math and science...
(APPLAUSE)
... but music and art programs that touch the right side of the
brain, and not only educate the left side of the student's brain.
(APPLAUSE)
Because without a creative economy and a creative student, you
have a bored student, and that's one of the reasons we see so many of
them dropping out.
(APPLAUSE)
MODERATOR: Mayor Giuliani, dropout among Hispanics, how would
you solve that?
GIULIANI: Well, you know, Governor Huckabee reminds me of the
fact that I'm the product of a Catholic from the day I started in
kindergarten until the day I got out of college.
GIULIANI: And it was my parents...
(APPLAUSE)
It was my parents' choice. They made that choice for me. I
wouldn't have known. They made that choice. It was hard for them to
afford it. I was fortunate enough to get scholarships along the way
to help.
But the reality is, that's really the answer. And we're all
saying it in a different way. We can revolutionize public education
in this country by allowing for choice.
Has it ever occurred to you that we have the best higher
education system in the world, and we have a weakening K-12, including
for Hispanic students?
Now, why do we have the best higher education in the world and
this K-12 that's under great stress?
Because higher education is based on choice. It's based on you
pick a college because you want to go there. The government doesn't
force you to go there.
We should allow parents, like my parents were able to do; we
should empower them by giving them the money, giving them
scholarships, giving them vouchers, let them choose a public school, a
private school, a parochial school, a charter school, homeschooling.
Let's give the power to the parents, rather than to the government
bureaucrats. And we will turn around education within three years.
(APPLAUSE)
MODERATOR: Congressman Hunter, you know that problem of dropping
out of Hispanics...
HUNTER: You know, in California there was a great teacher named
Jaime Escalante, who taught calculus. And he taught calculus in the
barrio so effectively that his kids when they took the test were
accused of cheating by the school district because they scored so
high.
Jaime Escalante brought to the school system the one thing that
we need throughout America, and that is inspiration, because young
people are deciding what they want to do when they're in third,
fourth, fifth, sixth grade.
And what we're going to have to do -- and incidentally, Jaime
Escalante ultimately left that school district and the calculus
program went down because he had a run-in with the teachers union.
What we have to do in this country is to take away all this old
credentialing. We've got to bring in aerospace engineers and pilots
and mathematicians and scientists and business-people, and we have to
bring in people who can inspire kids at a young age to reach for the
stars, and then convince them to work hard enough to get there.
HUNTER: Inspiration, that's how we increase our capability in
education.
(APPLAUSE)
MODERATOR: Thank you.
Well, we have the last question for all of you. Hispanics are
the biggest minority in the United States, and by 2050, we're going to
be 25 percent of the population. Three months ago, I asked the same
thing to the Democratic candidates.
What would you think would be the biggest contribution from
Hispanics, but we want to ask you what is the role -- what role do you
think Hispanics will play in the development of our nation and our
society?
We're going to start with Governor Huckabee.
HUCKABEE: On our coins, it says, "E pluribus unum." It means
out of many, one.
Ronald Reagan said it best. He said that if we go to Germany,
we're not Germans, and if we go to Italy, we're not Italians. But
anyone who comes to America is an American.
HUCKABEE: One of the great aspects of this nation is that when
people come here and unite with us, they share not just our borders
and our boundaries. They share our hopes and our dreams and our
aspirations.
And if there's any one reason that this country is a magnet for
people, and clearly a magnet for many Hispanics who have found hope
and opportunity here, it's because they see in this country what we
ourselves who live here see. And that is that here, we can dream
great dreams and actually can see them.
Our equality is not based on our ancestry, our last name, it's
not based on how much money we make. It's based on the intrinsic
worth and value that every one of us have. It's why we share
something else, and I think that this nation is basically pro-life
because we recognize that intrinsic worth.
And I think what we offer is an opportunity to raise families and
to live dreams and to be free.
MODERATOR: Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
Congressman Hunter, what would be -- what role would Hispanics
play in the future of our society?
HUNTER: Well, first, I want them to play a role as Republicans.
And I want to invite, again, all the young people who are --
registering to vote -- tonight -- to just remember a couple of things.
One thing is that that lady in El Salvador who stood there in the
line for the elections after a Republican president, Ronald Reagan,
had protected El Salvador and provided for free elections, and she had
a bullet hole in her arm and she was asked, do you want to go to the
aid station, and she said, yes, but first, I vote.
So, remember, Republicans stand for freedom.
Secondly, I want you to remember the Republicans stand for life,
that the man who founded our party, Abraham Lincoln, did so on the
basis of the value of human beings.
And lastly, I'd like you to remember that, you know, Democrats
think this is a great country because of what government does for
people, while Republicans think this is a great country because of
what free people do for themselves.
HUNTER: I think Hispanics have a great role with this great
nation.
(APPLAUSE)
MODERATOR: Thank you.
Senator Thompson, you -- how far can Hispanics get in this
country?
THOMPSON: I think to help us be as strong as we can be and as
good as we can be as Americans, I think the most important thing for
Americans to be thinking about tonight is our national security, our
future prosperity, for the children coming up behind us and our
values.
The Hispanic community is traditionally strong in defending
liberty and defending our nation's honor. They have had to fight
their way, in many cases, just to come here and become a part of our
society.
The Hispanic community is well-known as having a work ethic that
is second to none.
THOMPSON: They ask for very little and contribute very much.
The Hispanic community is known for their values. They know that
marriage is between a man and a woman, for example. They know that
the family...
(APPLAUSE)
They know that the family is at the center of societies, and
strong families build better societies. Those are things that they
share with all other citizens of the United States...
MODERATOR: Thank you, Senator.
THOMPSON: ... and will make for a stronger country.
(APPLAUSE)
MODERATOR: Senator McCain, your vision of Hispanics in the
future.
MCCAIN: My vision of America in the future when Hispanics are a
very large percentage of our population is that we will be enriched.
We will be enriched by their music, their culture, their food, their
language, and most of all, their love of America.
Most of these people came from places where they were deprived of
human rights, whether it be a terrible place like Cuba, or a country
like Venezuela, where you have a two-bit dictator, depriving them of
their opportunities to move forward.
MCCAIN: I know what it's like to be deprived of one's human
rights, and I know that one of the things that Hispanics will do is
love this country and defend it, and defend the great beauty and
wonder of this nation, and keep it a shining city on a hill.
(APPLAUSE)
MODERATOR: Congressman Paul?
PAUL: The most important thing Hispanics can do is what all
Americans do: Join us in our effort to restore our Constitution and
our great country. We have lost our way. We have lost our way. We
have deserted our traditions on our foreign policy, on our economic
policy, our education policy, our monetary policy, and this country is
looking for help.
And people are joining us now to restore this.
PAUL: And this is not a Hispanic issue, it's an American issue.
What we want is the rule of law so we all have opportunity once
again. But we have to not only restore the Constitution, we have to
first read it and understand it and what it means to be free in this
country once again.
(APPLAUSE)
MODERATOR: Mayor Giuliani?
GIULIANI: Hispanic Americans have already reached great heights
in America. They've contributed so much. I saw that in my city.
They pushed us to be better. They have the basic values that make us
better, values of family, values of hard work, getting a good job,
education as the way to success.
Even when you asked that question, "What are Hispanics concerned
about?," they're concerned about a good education for their child,
they're concerned about having an opportunity to work.
These are basic American values. It's what the Cuban-Americans
have done, coming to this country. It was wonderful for us that we
had Cuban-Americans come here, it made us better, it made us better
Americans.
I see that with all the different Hispanic populations in New
York that are very, very diverse.
This is one country, but it's a country that's informed by all
these great traditions.
And when you say Hispanic, we also should recognize this is a
diverse tradition. It's from many different countries. They share
these common values, but they're coming here to be Americans, and
they're making us better by being here in America.
GIULIANI: And I think -- I think we do the right things; we have
the right approach; we have the right leadership, the sky's the limit
for Hispanic Americans.
But, you know something, the sky's the limit for all Americans if
we have the right kind of leadership.
(APPLAUSE)
MODERATOR: Thank you.
Governor Romney?
ROMNEY: America needs all Americans. We're in a time of real
need. We're the strongest nation on Earth; we're the hope of the
Earth. But we face some extraordinary challenges -- global jihadists,
violent jihadists, who want to bring down our nations and other
nations.
We face, as well, tough new competition coming from places like
China and India, unlike anything we've known before.
We spend way too much money in Washington, particularly on
entitlements that are growing more and more weighty on us.
ROMNEY: We have extraordinary challenges culturally as people
are deciding to have kids without being married. There are all sorts
of challenges in our country. And right now, we need to do what
Ronald Reagan did, which is call on America's strength.
As he faced the difficulties of the last century, he said, let's
have a strong military and a strong economy that can outcompete the
Russians. And let's make sure we have strong values and confidence in
ourselves.
The Hispanic community, like all other communities in this great
nation, need to come together and strengthen America. Because this is
the land of the brave and the home of the free. And Hispanics are
brave and they are free, as are all of the people of this great
nation.
Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
MODERATOR: Thank you.
Thank you very much to all the candidates for being here with us
tonight -- and Univision. Thank you so much for coming. Thanks a
lot.
END