My hope was that organizations would start including this range of skills in their training programs - in other words offer an adult education in social and emotional intelligence.

Research has shown time and time again that infants who receive the high-quality child care and early education programs do better in school have more developed social skills and display fewer behavior problems.

Scientific research and other studies have demonstrated that arts education can enhance American students' math and language skills and improve test scores which in turn increase chances of higher education and good jobs in the future.

As skills and energy became more of a demand people who didn't have skills just got left behind got shuttled to the side. Education didn't keep up with their promise. Education didn't prepare them for this new world. Jobs went overseas.

Education is not the piling on of learning information data facts skills or abilities - that's training or instruction - but is rather making visible what is hidden as a seed.

You can choose a future where more Americans have the chance to gain the skills they need to compete no matter how old they are or how much money they have. Education was the gateway to opportunity for me. It was the gateway for Michelle. And now more than ever it is the gateway to a middle-class life.

The willingness to learn new skills is very high.

Sticking to a diet required me to have a permanently low self-esteem. But happily I developed other skills beyond a fluctuating weight eventually building up a different source of self-worth.

Most young people haven't used their storytelling skills since they were 8 or 9 or 10 and wanted to persuade Mom and Dad to take them to the ball game.

Once I had all the facts in I found I didn't have the immoral courage to pull the caper. So I wrote it as a story. As a teenager I didn't have any skills for writing as such so it came out in 1500 words.