Secretary McMahon’s Vision for 250 Years of American Innovation at the Great American State Fair

I know I join many Americans in expressing my gratitude for the visionaries at Freedom250 and the selfless volunteers who planned and executed this momentous celebration; our law enforcement and medical staff who kept all of us safe; and for President Trump who ensured our Semiquincentennial is honored with the reverence it deserves.

Last Saturday, millions of Americans gathered with proud and grateful hearts to commemorate two and a half centuries of our remarkable nation. Today, we are not merely six days past this milestone-we are six days into building the next 250 years.

There are many components essential to carrying the American story of freedom, prosperity, and security into the lives of future generations. This morning, we turn to one of the most vital: American innovation.

In just 250 years, our nation rapidly developed from a society powered by hand tools and animal labor to an expansive civilization of automation, robotics, and computing.

Each generation leapt ahead of the last to create and develop the technologies and infrastructure that redefined life on Earth as we know it. We moved from oil lamps to nuclear energy; from hand-fans and iceboxes to air-conditioning (I'm especially grateful for this one today!); from telegraphs to smartphones.

We advanced from home remedies to MRI machines and antibiotics; from horse-drawn wagons to cars, airplanes, and rockets. And we vaulted from sailing ships to mighty vessels and aircraft carriers - and from the Internet to artificial intelligence.

Our Founders would have been knocked off their feet in awe to know that the nation they forged would one day plant the American flag on the moon above them.

They knew that the American republic's success would change the course of history - and it did, by ushering in unprecedented freedom and prosperity around the world.

But they had no idea just how far-reaching the sacrifices they made and the risks they took would prove to be - that they were laying the foundations of a country, and a culture, capable of achievements beyond anything they could have imagined. Only in America.

Because American culture is one that prizes merit, pursues truth, upholds rigor, and trusts that free people, free markets, and free inquiry drive more progress than centralized authority ever could. Before America could become the world's greatest engine of technological innovation, it first had to become the world's greatest experiment in ordered liberty, self-government, and human possibility.

This is why education matters so deeply.

If we want the next great medical breakthrough, defense innovation, and generation of entrepreneurs to succeed, we must have an education system with both a culture and a structure that equips our most precious asset - our young people - to reach their full potential.

This is precisely what drives President Trump's mission to return education to the states and revitalize excellence in American education. In every aspect of his education agenda, President Trump is restoring what makes American innovation possible.

Let's start with competition.

For decades, Washington's top-down mandates have suffocated the freedom and healthy rivalry that make excellence and ingenuity flourish. Despite $3 trillion spent on a federal Department of Education and tens of thousands of pages of regulations issued, only about 3 in 10 students in the greatest nation in the world are proficient in math and reading.

By sunsetting this failed bureaucracy, we are empowering states to lead again - to test new approaches, compare outcomes, and scale what works.

And the proof is already in front of us. Look at Mississippi. After years of struggling with dismal literacy scores, Mississippi leaders embraced evidence-based interventions rooted in the Science of Reading, strengthened teacher preparation, and made literacy a statewide priority. As a result, they went from being ranked the second-worst state in the nation in 2013 in average fourth-grade reading scores to thetop ten in 2024.

As in any competitive landscape, progress by one raises expectations for all. Mississippi's success has already spurred states like Louisiana and Iowa to revamp their literacy instruction and pushed other states to find their own path to real progress, tailored to their unique challenges. We are giving states the full flexibility the law allows to craft bold solutions - free from Washington's heavy hand.

Innovation also flourishes through options - through the freedom to pursue the path that best aligns with a student's talents and aspirations.

America was never built by a single type of worker, learner, or mind. Many of the Founders themselves were farmers, lawyers, merchants, soldiers, and inventors. Our nation has always drawn strength from the different talents of free people. But a system that forces every child into the same mold - from kindergarten through college - smothers their ability to discover and develop their talents.

That is why we are supporting education freedom to allow parents to access scholarships, funds for after-school programs, and other services that help their child develop and unleash their full potential.

And President Trump's Workforce Pell program is revitalizing American industry from the ground up - propelling workers into fast, high-quality workforce training in welding, advanced manufacturing, engineering technologies, and other in-demand fields.

It expands opportunity far beyond the "college-for-all" model, which too often saddles young people with debt and degrees that don't match their talents or the nation's needs.

By opening multiple avenues for advancement, we are powering the future of this nation: helping students gain skills; employers gain talent; and strengthening the vital industries that will extend the reach of American ingenuity.

And finally, we must renew the foundations that forged every great American mind: merit and rigorous standards.

These vital components of American innovation cannot be restored by a single person, group, or Administration alone. They are cornerstones of the American ethos that all of us must cherish and defend.

Any breakthrough - from mastering an Algebra problem to developing the next line of code to propel a rocket - rests upon meeting, and then exceeding, a demanding baseline.

The pursuit of excellence requires risking, experiencing, and learning from failure. Yet in many schools, we have shielded students from encountering the possibility of the failure that fuels growth: reducing our expectations and theirs. We socially advance students while lowering the bar beneath them, instead of helping them develop the essential skills to read, calculate, write, and reason competently.

The Wright brothers did not achieve flight by pretending every attempt worked. They tested, crashed, recalculated, adjusted, and tried again until they met the test before them - and in doing so, set new standards for the world.

This is what America needs for the next 250 years.

So, as we stand here on the National Mall, surrounded by monuments to American greatness and six days into our next chapter, let us remember what this moment demands.

America did not become great by accident. We became great because we established, and vigorously maintained, the culture and institutions that allow our great people to reach their God-given potential.

By sustaining this work, we will ensure the next 250 years are even greater than the last.

Thank you. God bless you all and God bless the United States of America!