Our efforts to increase human capital through education began with investment. Fifty years ago, we did not allow women to attend our universities and African-Americans were obliged to attend segregated schools. We had to break down the barriers that were keeping people away from the table. It was a major step forward for Virginia, given our history, to make education truly equal.
We have made significant efforts to improve quality from a curricular perspective. Before the No Child Left Behind Act focused at a federal level on quality, Virginia adopted a Standards of Learning initiative, where, despite a history of local control of schools by counties and cities, we put a uniform curriculum in place as a base level. The objective was that no child, whether born in Alexandria, Richmond or rural Virginia, should endure an inferior quality of public education because of where he or she was born. We set out, therefore, to standardise the curriculum across the state in a significant way. This was a change for us and many others who have tended to leave curriculum matters to local governments.
Over time, once we had standardised the curriculum and established minimum expectations for primary and secondary level, we set out to improve standards to attain a higher quality of educational provision. Since becoming Governor, I have put across the message that achieving minimum standards is merely the first step and that base competence is not enough. To ensure we have a system that rewards excellence rather than merely encouraging competence, we have introduced incentives to encourage our school systems to go beyond the competence level. It should no longer be deemed adequate that 85% of pupils pass the competence test. Whether through advanced placements in high school, the international baccalaureate curriculum or having high school pupils jointly enrol in college courses, we have tried to push excellence measures.
In addition, under my administration, we have tried to revitalise career and technical education. We had let go of that in the United States as we sought to train everybody to go to college. However, there are many great technical places available, many of them going unfilled. We have done much to advance training for a career in technical opportunities in the school system.
Those are two things we have done on a curricular level that have helped us to improve. To give members some examples, I do not know whether there is an equivalent to the advanced placement test or whether it is used in Ireland. It is a nationally normed test to measure the excellence of high school students. Those who pass the test with a certain level receive college credit at virtually any college they wish to attend. It measures proficiency in college level work even when one is still in high school. Virginia now ranks third in the nation in the percentage of our students that take and pass these exams, which for a state that was so far back 50 years ago, is remarkable. As for other nationally normed tests, such as the scholastic aptitude test, SAT, which is the common college admission test, Virginia ranks near the top. Ultimately, this was about beginning by investing and breaking down barriers and thereafter putting in curricular requirements and continuing to elevate them. We wrestle with this every day.
While I do not hesitate to speak about the Senator's policies, it is simply that I know some of them in intimate detail, because I am involved, but know less of others. However, I certainly can provide my own views in this regard. I believe we need to do all we can to promote free trade among nations, both because it helps the economy and because such economic ties also build relationships. It is diplomacy by other means and one builds relationships that can be helpful. Among American politicians and in my party in particular, I am a little more on the free trade side than most.
However, as the saying goes, while I may be a free trader, I am not a sucker. We try to make sure, as we examine trade policies, that environmental and labour policies are considered and that intellectual property is respected. Moreover, in respect of tax policies, we want to make sure we do not unwittingly set up policies that, for example, encourage the offshoring of jobs. While we want to treat businesses fairly, we do not want to put in place policies that provide an incentive for businesses to avoid hiring Americans and going elsewhere. It is tough to find the right balance, particularly at a time when the dollar has been weakening, which has affected trade deficits, etc. However, I believe that more trade and greater commercial relationships are positive, both on the economic side and in terms of building up strengthened ties of friendships that can accomplish diplomatic ends.
