When we were attacked on Sept. 11, we knew the main reason for the attack was that Islamists hated our way of life, our virtues, our freedoms. What we never imagined was that the free press - an institution at the heart of those virtues and freedoms - would be among the first to surrender.

Real fatherhood means love and commitment and sacrifice and a willingness to share responsibility and not walking away from one's children.

The elementary school must assume as its sublime and most solemn responsibility the task of teaching every child in it to read. Any school that does not accomplish this has failed.

Our common language is English. And our common task is to ensure that our non-English-speaking children learn this common language.

America's support for human rights and democracy is our noblest export to the world.

The secretary of education does not work for the education establishment. The secretary works for the American people.

The formation of character in young people is educationally a different task from and a prior task to, the discussion of the great, difficult ethical controversies of the day.