Jan. 15 Democratic debate transcript

Morales: This one is to Senator Obama. This comes to us from one of our co-sponsors of tonight's debate, the 100 Black Men of America.

They ask, "To what do you attribute the disproportionately high dropout of black males at every level in our educational process, and what would you do to stem the tide of black men exiting the educational system?"

Sen. Obama:  Well, I think it's similar to the reason that Latinos have such a high dropout rate. What you see consistently are children at a very early age are starting school already behind.

And that's why I've said that I'm going to put billions of dollars into early childhood education that makes sure that our African-American youth, Latino youth, poor youth of every race, are getting the kind of help that they need so that they know their numbers, their colors, their letters.

Every dollar that we spend in early childhood education, we get $10 back in reduced dropout rates, improved reading scores. That's the kind of commitment we have to make early on.

We've got to improve K through 12. And that means not just talking about how great teachers are but rewarding them for their greatness by giving them higher salaries and giving them more support and professional development; and making sure that No Child Left Behind is not a tool to punish people, and we're not just basing how we fund our schools on a standardized test.

We need after-school programs and summer-school programs because minority youth and poor youth are less likely to get the kind of environment and supplemental activities that they need.

But let's be clear: We have good answers for how to make these schools work. What we don't have is a sense of urgency in the White House.

And, you know, I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents. I did not get money and privilege when I was young. But I did get a good education. And we've got to have that attitude for every single child in America.

And that also means -- last point I'll make, because sometimes this doesn't get talked enough about. We have to have our parents take their jobs seriously, and particularly African-American fathers who all too often are absent from the home, have not encouraged the kind of, you know, nurturing of our children that they need.

Obama: And as somebody who grew up without a father, I know how important that is. That is something that, as president, I intend to talk about.

The schools can't do it all by themselves. Parents have to parent.

Williams: Time up.

Time.

Tim Russert?

Russert: We arrived in...

Sen. Clinton:  Could we just follow up on this? Tim, could we just follow up on this?

Because, you know, again, this is a black/brown debate, and this is one of the most important issues. And I really commend Barack for, you know, taking on the full range.

You know, this has to start in the families. This is what I've done for 35 years. We've got to do more to give families the tools and the support that they should have so that they can be the best parents. You know, they are a child's first teachers.

And I want to commend the 100 Black Men, because I worked with the 100 Black Men in New York to help create the Eagle Academy, a high school for young African-American and Latino men.

And the 100 Black Men in New York said they would mentor these young men.

We also need more involvement from the community. It's not only the family; it's not only the school system. We all have a role to play. And that's going to be one of our highest priorities.

Williams: Senator Edwards, 30 seconds.

Former Sen. Edwards:  Thank you.

We need universal pre-K. Barack spoke about early childhood education. We need universal pre-K for every 4-year-old in America.

And we ought to go earlier than that with child care, nutrition needs, health care needs.

We also have a huge dropout rate. We have high schools that are essentially dropout factories. We have to create second chance schools. We have to create opportunities of those young people to be

-- even though a lot of them do, he's right, start to drop out from a very young age, we need to get them on the right track. But once they're in high school, if they drop out, these second chance schools have been remarkably successful in getting them back into school.

Williams: Now, Tim Russert?