Glenn Youngkin: Education is the bedrock of attaining the American dream

The American Dream is essentially rooted in attaining a quality education, Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin told attendees at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute's RISE summit on Thursday.

Youngkin said he has made education similarly a bedrock of his tenure in Richmond, in that he is dedicated to improving the lives of Virginians and helping to offer the next generation a chance to live to their fullest potential.

"I wake up every morning, and I start a quiet time, because I need to first thank the Lord for putting me here… and I thank Him and say, ‘Please, Lord, what should I do today; how should I do it?’ – and education is always top of the agenda."

"When we thoroughly analyze the elements that go into unleashing opportunity, to fulfilling the American Dream, the top of the list is education."

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Youngkin said educating children with key skills is important, but that the paramount goal of a solid education is to infuse them with confidence and trust that they can pursue their life goals.

"And with that confidence comes the ability to innovate, to expand, to press envelopes, to create businesses, and of course to bring others along," he said, adding that as of late in the U.S. – and in Virginia, prior to his 2022 inauguration – there is a cycle that has been broken.

Youngkin said he took over a state education system that was facing not only the close of a period of less-interactive cyber-schooling due to coronavirus pandemic lockdowns, but also a state where its scholastic "excellence had been eroded" over time.

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Proficiency expectations of students had been "watered down," he recounted, and therefore, Virginia students were falling behind their peers on a national scale.

"What does that mean? Fewer correct answers on tests that translate into whether a student is proficient or not," he said.

"That is reducing standards and Virginia went from having some of the top standards in the nation to having the lowest proficiency standards in the nation. You couple that with the accreditation process where proficiency was reduced or watered down as one of the inputs into accreditation."

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Youngkin called the result of such issues an "honesty gap," or a disparity between what the public is being told and what is really happening in education.

The governor said he came into office in a state then ranked 44th of 50 in reopening schools post-pandemic.

"Was it any surprise that the learning loss in Virginia, among fourth graders, in reading and math, was the worst in the nation? No surprise. And so you have to go to work. And that's where Secretary [Aimee] Guidera and the whole team reacted quickly with all of Virginia," he said.

Multiple attempts to reach officials at the Democratic Party of Virginia by phone, as well as several 2025 statewide Democratic candidates, for comment were unsuccessful.