The United States spends 100 times more money on research and development for healthcare than it does education. Does this mean then that Americans do not value education? These are the kinds of provocative questions that Chris Whittle, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Edison Schools, has been asking for more than two decades. Now, he has written a book to share these ideas with the American people. "Crash Course: Imagining a Better Future for Public Education" suggests such radical ideas as investing billions in research and development for public education, doubling teacher salaries, providing computers for every student, experimenting with the structure of the classroom and school day, and much more. On October 18, 2005, Chris spoke at the Center for Educational Innovation-Public Education Association (CEI-PEA) luncheon series about his ideas for the future of public education. Some in the audience arrived cautious, expecting that Chris would suggest radical privatization of the public schools as the solution to entrenched problems. They left energized by his vision for transforming American public school systems into systems that work for the post-industrial society. This paper presents an edited transcript of Chris's remarks.