The countries who do the best in international comparisons whether it's Finland or Japan Denmark or Singapore do well because they have professional teachers who are respected and they also have family and community which support learning.

I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries.

There are many countries where you can only believe more or you can believe less. But in the United States we have this incredible smorgasbord and it really interests me why people are drawn to one faith rather than another especially to a system of belief that to an outsider seems absurd or dangerous.

Other countries such as Israel successfully employ behavior detection techniques at their airports but the bloated ineffective bureaucracy of TSA has produced another security failure for U.S. transportation systems.

Of course Third World leaders love you. By ascribing third world ills to First World sins you absolve them of blame for their countries' failure to advance.

When you go visiting countries you start reading the history of the place and you start getting into the culture and then you have to leave. In my experience all countries have hidden treasures.

Have you ever watched someone become American? Last week at a national citizenship conference I organize thirty immigrants from 17 countries swore an oath and became citizens of the United States. It was a stirring experience for the hundreds of people in the room.

The historical experience of socialist countries has sadly demonstrated that collectivism does not do away with alienation but rather increases it adding to it a lack of basic necessities and economic inefficiency.

The Nordic countries are leading the way on women's equality recognizing women as equal citizens rather than commodities for sale.

Educational equality doesn't guarantee equality on the labor market. Even the most developed countries are not gender-equal. There are still glass ceilings and 'leaky pipelines' that prevent women from getting ahead in the workplace.