Given its demographics, Saudi Arabia cannot afford baby steps on this issue. Yet on issues of educational reform, the crown prince and his supporters will be fought tooth and nail by conservative elements within society - and the royal family - and therefore need to know that Washington and the American people are closely watching. Neither side can accept the conclusion of one discouraged Saudi journalist that "our education system has come through the storms unscathed and unchanged."
While issues of counterterrorism, Israeli-Palestinian peace and high oil prices can appear to have greater urgency, over the longer term nothing will benefit U.S.-Saudi relations more than tackling educational reform.
Unfortunately, the intense media focus on oil prices will only send the message back to the kingdom that Americans are no longer interested in reform. Has 9-11 receded so far in our memories that the U.S.-Saudi relationship is once again about nothing more than the price at the pump?
Rachel Bronson is a Senior Fellow and Director of Middle East Studies and the author of the forthcoming "Thicker than Oil: America's Uneasy Relationship with Saudi Arabia." Isobel Coleman is Senior Fellow and Director of the U.S. Foreign Policy and Women program. Both work at the Council on Foreign Relations.