"Let me translate Mr. Gates’s words," Thomas Friedman wrote in his New York Times OP-ED about Bill Gates’ address to a conference of U.S Governors: ‘If we don’t fix American education, I will not be able to hire your kids.’

"I consider that, well, kind of important." Friedman concluded.

The words Mr. Friedman was translating for his readers went something like this:

"American high schools are obsolete.

"By obsolete, I don’t just mean that our high schools are broken, flawed and underfunded. … By obsolete, I mean that our high schools — even when they are working exactly as designed — cannot teach our kids what they need to know today.

"Training the work force of tomorrow with the high schools of today is like trying to teach kids about today’s computers on a 50-year-old mainframe. … Our high schools were designed 50 years ago to meet the needs of another age. Until we design them to meet the needs of the 21st century, we will keep limiting — even ruining — the lives of millions of Americans every year."

Friedman’s translation is worth repeating: ‘If we don’t fix American education, I will not be able to hire your kids.’

That is, indeed, a big deal. Friedman supports his case from a conversation with Harvard president Lawrence Summers:

"For the first time in our history, we are going to face competition from low-wage, high-human-capital communities, embedded within India, China and Asia," [In order to thrive,] "it will not be enough for us to just leave no child behind. We also have to make sure that many more young Americans can get as far ahead as their potential will take them. How we meet this challenge is what will define our nation’s political economy for the next several decades."

Friedman’s conclusion goes to the highest levels of engagement:

"India and China know they can’t just depend on low wages, so they are racing us to the top, not the bottom. Producing a comprehensive U.S. response — encompassing immigration, intellectual property law and educational policy — to focus on developing our talent in a flat world is a big idea worthy of a presidency."

At the much lower but highly pragmatic level of local and state economies, are we or are we not going to call for and fund a thoroughgoing educational reformation? If we don’t, who will we blame when it turns out our children are splendidly prepared for a future that no longer exists?