In a 2012 article in The New York Times called "China's Rise Isn't Our Demise," Vice President Joe Biden wrote a cogent summary of America's advantage in the world economy that has enormous implications for innovation in education.
 

"The United States is hard-wired for innovation. Competition is in the very fabric of our society. It has enabled each generation of Americans to give life to world-changing ideas - from the cotton gin to the airplane, the microchip, the Internet.
 

We owe our strength to our political and economic system and to the way we educate our children - not merely to accept established orthodoxy but to challenge and improve it... Our universities remain the ultimate destination for the world's students and scholars."
 

Nothing in Biden's article was new or surprising. Every American understands that our success in the world economy depends on education and innovation.