"Redesigning High Schools: An International Perspective." The opening plenary session focused on the results of the year's initiative in education, concentrating on the critical need to enact reforms that ensure the high school experience reflects the realities and expectations of higher education and today's global marketplace. Minister Yang and Mr. Thakore provided an international perspective to this crisis in the nation's schools. "Education, Technology and Global Competition." Thomas Friedman continued the education and international themes by talking about his book and about the changes in the international economy, globalization, and the new way of looking at the world that he suggests. After his presentation he answered a few governors' questions. Mr. Friedman's book is The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize Winner, a columnist for The New York Times, and the author of several books. Technical difficulties for approx. 75 seconds during Gov. Warner's introductory remarks.