The American public school system must be reformed and revived, Secretary of Education Richard Riley told an audience of about 600 in a speech at the Arco Forum last night.

Riley, the former governor of South Carolina, was appointed Secretary of Education in January by President Clinton.

He said a declining public school system is one of the most important problems facing America today.

"Public education is at the very bedrock of our free enterprise system. I believe in it and I will fight for it," Riley said in the address, sponsored by the Institute of Politics, the Kennedy School of Government and the Graduate School of Education.

He said he recognizes that the system is in trouble.

No Quick Fix

"Our system needs major repair," Riley said. "We are stuck in the old assembly line industrial model of education."

But Riley said he disapproves of the "political magic, quick fix, silver bullet method of using public funds for private school vouchers."

Riley also spoke on the Clinton administration's proposals for improving education.

The Goals 2000 program, the School Work Initiative and Elementary and Secondary Education Act are the at the focus of the Clinton administration's plan, Riley said.

He stressed the importance of public support of these ideas. "[Reform] will only happen if good people roll up their sleeves and commit themselves to the belief that public education is very, very important," Riley said.

He described school children as the future of America.

"How we teach, what we teach, must change," Riley said.