In his much-anticipated Cairo speech, President Obama rebuked the "negative stereotypes of Islam" and faced the Muslim world with a call for "mutual respect." Yet at the same moment, European sentiment seemed to be moving in the opposite direction.

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The Obama administration's creation of a new Cyber Czar position is the latest indication that a new emphasis on societal security is taking the place of America's old narrow-minded focus on terrorism. The Czar position breaks down the artificial divide between national security and homeland security, effectively invalidating a major anti-terrorism paradigm dominant since 9/11. Combined with a renewed emphasis on dealing with climate threats, the new position indicates a new direction for the U.S. - and not a day too soon. Now it's time to partner with Europe to continue that progress.

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The question is not whether the EU will again be ready to expand; it is where the EU ought to end.

In retrospect, the historic European Union expansion of May 2004 carries more than a hint of irony. The accession of eight former communist nations of Central Europe was in many ways a high point for Europe. The EU monitored these countries' transition towards liberal democracy; it influenced their political culture and guided economic transformation.

It wasn't a miracle, as one might mistakenly believe from listening to the European vulgate. But it is safe to say that the EU accompanied a remarkable development. When viewed alongside the quagmire that America was making for itself in Iraq at the time, enlargement became the epitome of Europe's power and of the scale of its ambitions.

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The European Parliament elections turned out to be a democratic disaster. Massive abstention underscored the strong disinterest - if not mistrust - many European citizens have toward the election of their European representatives. This is not good news, now that the European Parliament has begun to wield more authority. In addition, the anti-institutional vote was important. Political parties supporting more European integration actually represent only a small percentage of European citizens. The protest vote is likely to trigger -- or more precisely reopen -- a debate over the legitimacy and popularity of European institutions.

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"The future belongs to the nation that best educates its citizens," President Obama noted this spring. Politicians claim education as a priority on both sides of the Atlantic. German Chancellor Merkel declared education the "central task for the next century."

Big words -- yet the Great Recession is testing politicians' promises. In spite of increased fiscal spending, U.S. students in primary and secondary schools from coast to coast are watching their teachers being laid off en masse, while some districts are installing four-day school weeks to cope with the budget crises. At the same time, students across Europe are demonstrating for better education.

It is almost surreal: As Californians shrug at the 25,000 teachers to be laid off, students in Europe are calling for more teachers, greater spending, and educational reform. Do we not care enough, or are they making too much of a fuss?

The situation in the U.S. was already quite bad; now it is becoming worse. Whereas the student-teacher ration in European public secondary education is about 12:1, in the US it is closer to 17:1. And in the 2006 science evaluation of the OECD's Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the U.S. scored significantly lower than the OECD average -- lower than Finland, the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Germany, the UK, the Czech Republic, France and 11 other European countries. (The PISA survey is conducted every three years, so it will be interesting to see how these trends have continued, or changed, when 2009 data is released.)

European students might also reconsider asking for more money. With over $10,000 spent on secondary education per student, the U.S. exceeds the OECD average by over $2500 and the EU 19 average by $2,800. More money won't solve the problem, as top-ranked Finland illustrates: with only $7,325 spent on higher education, it continuously scores top places in the reading, writing and science categories of PISA.

Not all is running smoothly in Europe, of course. Integrating immigrants is still a huge problem in many countries, where second-generation immigrants sometimes do worse in school than their parents did. But so far, there have not been massive teacher layoffs -- even though budgets are tight.

The question is how we will remember these times. Will we look back and ask about the educational bailout that should have followed AIG and GM? If, following Obama's logic, the future belongs to the nation that best educates its citizens, it will be a tough road ahead for the recession generation currently in school. Apart from burdening U.S. students with paying off the fiscal expansion, laying off teachers further diminishes their ability to compete in a world demanding highly trained professionals. Perhaps they should be the ones protesting in the streets.

Nikolas Foster is a graduate student in Energy and Environmental Policy and International Economics at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC.