Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
323150384
label
Junior and Community Colleges, 3/30/89
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
323150384
contentType
document
title
Junior and Community Colleges, 3/30/89
citationUrl
identifierLocal
13480-013
collections
Records of the White House Office of Speechwriting (George H. W. Bush Administration)
Speech Draft Files
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
323150384
levelOfDescription
fileUnit
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
dfeef47964220a3d
ocrText
Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
S
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
Series:
Speech File Draft Files
Subseries:
Chron File, 1989-1993
OA/ID Number:
13480
Folder ID Number:
13480-013
Folder Title:
Junior and Community Colleges 3/30/89
Stack:
Row:
Section:
Shelf:
Position:
G
25
6
1
7
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
March 28, 1989
INFORMATION
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
FROM:
MARK DAVIS
Speechwriter
SUBJECT:
Speech before the American Association of Junior and
Community Colleges, March 30.
This draft begins by thanking them for recognizing the First
Lady's efforts in fighting illiteracy. It frames the standards
of American education today as a threat to our competitive
position. And it concludes by identifying business/community
college partnerships as part of the solution.
*** Despite the title of their organization, these
institutions no longer wish to be called "junior colleges."
Davis/Blessey
March 28, 1989
6 p.m.
Draft 3
Title: Junior
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: AMER. ASSOC. OF COMMUNITY & JR. COLLEGES
WASHINGTON HILTON
MARCH 30, 1989/ 1:40 p.m.
Thank you. Dale (Parnell), Jim (Brady), Governors Martin
and Campbell.
((Bar, I am delighted that this distinguished group has
recognized your efforts to promote literacy
...
And to think,
all this time I thought she was cheating at Scrabble
...))
((As you know, Barbara has taken the lead in promoting
literacy for eight years now, traveling to schools across
America. One day she came back from Boston and told me that she
saw a gentleman sitting in the corner of a school room,
surrounded by children who were enraptured by his story-telling
and good-natured kidding. Every now and then, this man would ask
a child to spell a word by tracing the letters in the palm of his
hand, and he would tell them whether they got it right or not.
Barbara thought this was strange, and wondered if this was some
new kind of teaching technique. "No," the superintendent told
her, "he has to teach this way. You see, he's blind."
2
Think of it. This man was retired. He could have found a
thousand excuses to retreat into his own world of darkness. And
yet he ventured out into the light, to teach children to read
books that he would never again see. It is moments like these
that make Bar's effort against illiteracy so rewarding.) )
You have bestowed on her an honor that will be treasured by
Barbara and the whole Bush family for years to come. Still, Bar
and I can't get over the feeling that we should be giving you an
award. After all, you provide adult basic education on a scale
that is nothing short of heroic.
Benjamin Franklin was once asked what was the most pitiful
thing that could befall a human being. After a moment's
reflection, he replied: "A lonesome man on a rainy day who does
not know how to read." The costs of illiteracy can be calculated
in labor lost, and education dollars wasted. But we cannot
calculate the loss of human happiness caused by illiteracy -- all
the men and women across this country who will never hear the
narrative voice of Dickens, Twain, or for that matter Larry
McMurtry; who will never know that a book can be a true friend in
the still hours of the night.
3
Barbara and I are deeply moved by the plight of those who
lack the skills most of us take for granted. Rest assured, we
will continue to work with you to promote literacy skills
This nation grew into greatness because early Americans met
the challenge of building an educational system second to none.
With the dawn of a new century only eleven years away, we are
faced with a new challenge -- to revitalize and restore that
system our forebears bequeathed to us; to ensure that an American
education is once again the best in the world. In this crusade,
we can look to leadership from an American innovation in
education -- our nation's community colleges, more than a
thousand strong.
You best represent the American philosophy of education, for
all, for life. Americans believe that education is not a phase
to be successfully completed. We believe that education is a
lifelong endeavor. What scholars call the "life of the mind" is
as essential to the complete man or woman as water and air.
In fact, whole communities are enriched and enlightened by
the cultural resources you provide, from vast libraries, to night
schools, to stages for local theatrical productions. This
attitude toward education -- as something more than a requirement
of an industrial society, as an embellishment of life -- is
uniquely American.
4
Community colleges provide ten million Americans with
educational choice. A wide range of students benefit from your
institutions: from those in high school who are looking for
advanced courses; to low-income students who need a stepping
stone to a four-year program; to those who seek a 2-year degree;
to mature students who are returning to school to round out their
education. This is what we need more of up and down the line --
choice.
Secondary and even elementary schools can learn a lot from
the way in which you tap local talent, drawing on the knowledge
of experts from the private sector. When I lived in Odessa,
Texas, I wanted to share my knowledge as a teacher in the local
public school system. But I didn't have a teaching certificate,
and I was rejected. That seemed wrong to me then, and it seems
wrong to me now. We should open our classroom to every qualified
person with the talent, the knowledge and the desire to teach --
( (just as the Boston school did for that blind gentleman.) ) With
this in mind, I have proposed extending this same practice, often
called Alternative Teacher Certification, right down to the first
grade.
Accountability is the key to your success. State and
private universities, which accept your students, count on you to
instill a precise curriculum. The businesses of your city count
5
on you to match skills to the demands of the job market. And
most of all, students count on you to provide a ladder of
opportunity.
Opportunity is our most basic shared principle. Everyone
should have a high school education; especially those with high
school degrees. We share the conviction that there is no such
thing as an expendable student. We will never accept the notion
that vast numbers of illiterate and undereducated Americans can
be offset by a well-educated elite. That's not the American way.
For years, rescuing underachieving students has been a quest
of the heart. Today, it is also a test of national will, a test
critical to the very future of America. This may sound like an
overstatement. America, after all, is still a world leader when
it comes to producing Nobel Prize winners in physics, economics
and literature. But what is the advantage for a nation with
Nobel Prize-winning novelists, if their books are largely unread
in their own country? What is the advantage for a nation that
can invent the computer chip, if it doesn't have a skilled work
force that can use computers?
I am committed to increased investment in basic research.
But America can continue to lead the world in theoretical
science, and still lose the race in the application of knowledge.
H.G. Wells wrote. that "human history becomes more and more a race
6
between education and catastrophe." Catastrophe may not be
around the corner, but what had a ring of truth in the 1920s,
sounds ominously true in the 1980s, with our highly competitive
international market. Let me share a few stark facts with you.
In Japan, levels of functional literacy and student
achievement are extremely high, while the Japanese drop-out rate
remains very low. In America, however, functional literacy is
around 80 percent. The national drop-out rate is 28 percent.
And of those Americans who do graduate from high school and don't
graduate from college, as many as 27 percent cannot read or write
at the intermediate level. As many Americans become less
educated, the standards of the work place are becoming ever more
rigorous.
In the past, business could simply ignore the unlettered
few. But the balmy days of the baby boom are passing us by.
Between now and the year 2000, we will face a "baby bust," or a
shrinkage of the labor pool. According to Business Week, we will
have to train or retrain as many as 50 million workers in the
next dozen years alone. Think of it -- 50 million!
There is more opportunity today than ever before -- but only
for those who are prepared to take advantage of it. For those
workers who lack skills and basic education today, a comfortable
middle-class existence will be harder and harder to come by.
7
When some high school graduates can't find jobs in a market
begging for workers, then we've got a serious social imbalance,
an education gap. Let's bridge that gap. Let's bridge it as
fast as possible.
Community colleges provide such a bridge to higher
education, a ready resource for vocational training and adult
remedial education. You provide access for older citizens,
women, minorities, and the handicapped -- precisely the very
people who are being summoned to alleviate the coming labor
shortage. Your programs spell opportunity for the most
disadvantaged members of the work force. But they also spell
opportunity for business. The disadvantaged and business are
coming together in hundreds of programs from Colorado, to Kansas,
to Kentucky, called employer-college partnerships. This friendly
merger of business and academia is a sweeping force for social
improvement.
Let me conclude by paraphrasing a few words of advice,
offered at the turn-of-the century, but so appropriate for our
modern quest for excellence in education:
"Make no little plans: they have no magic to stir men's
blood and probably in themselves will not be realized. Make big
plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble (idea)
8
once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be
a living thing.'
These are the words of Daniel Burnham, who was the architect
of such a big plan -- Washington's Union Station, which stands
out as a visual delight in a city already crowded with great
monuments and statuary. Burnham's legacy is a truly living
monument, with its vaulted ceilings and gilded geometry above
bustling crowds of shoppers and commuters. But it would be
nothing but a wreck, an eyesore, if it had not been lovingly
restored. As important as it is to reclaim our civic capital of
burnished brass and polished marble, how much more important it
is to reclaim our human capital.
Think, then, of our educational system in this way, as a
vast and beautiful inheritance, which must be lovingly restored;
not once, but every generation. In this effort, make no little
plans. Think big. Aim high in hope and work. Continue to work
together, as a community, to help your students, to lift their
vision and lengthen their horizon.
For this, and all you do, you are earning the gratitude of a
nation. Thank you, and God Bless America.
#
#
#
REMARKS: AMER. ASSOC. OF COMMUNITY & JR. COLLEGES
WASHINGTON HILTON
MARCH 30, 1989/ 1:45 P.M.
THANK YOU. DALE (PARNELL), JIM (BRADY), GOVERNORS
MARTIN AND CAMPBELL, JESS PARRISH. JIM TATUM, GOOD TO
SEE YOU AGAIN.
. 2 ⑉
((BAR, I AM DELIGHTED THAT THIS DISTINGUISHED GROUP
HAS RECOGNIZED YOUR EFFORTS TO PROMOTE LITERACY
...
AND TO THINK, ALL THIS TIME I THOUGHT SHE WAS CHEATING
AT SCRABBLE .))
((As YOU KNOW, BARBARA HAS TAKEN THE LEAD IN
PROMOTING LITERACY FOR MORE THAN EIGHT YEARS NOW,
TRAVELING TO SCHOOLS ACROSS AMERICA.
- 3 -
ONE DAY SHE CAME BACK FROM BOSTON AND TOLD ME THAT SHE
SAW A GENTLEMAN SITTING IN THE CORNER OF A SCHOOL ROOM,
SURROUNDED BY CHILDREN WHO WERE ENRAPTURED BY HIS
STORY-TELLING AND GOOD-NATURED KIDDING. EVERY NOW AND
THEN, THIS MAN WOULD ASK A CHILD TO SPELL A WORD BY
TRACING THE LETTERS IN THE PALM OF HIS HAND, AND HE
WOULD TELL THEM WHETHER THEY GOT IT RIGHT OR NOT.
- 4 -
BARBARA THOUGHT THIS WAS STRANGE, AND WONDERED IF THIS
WAS SOME NEW KIND OF TEACHING TECHNIQUE. "No," THE
SUPERINTENDENT TOLD HER, "HE HAS TO TEACH THIS WAY.
You SEE, HE'S BLIND."
THINK OF IT. THIS MAN WAS RETIRED. HE COULD HAVE
FOUND A THOUSAND EXCUSES TO RETREAT INTO HIS OWN WORLD
OF DARKNESS.
- 5 -
AND YET HE VENTURED OUT INTO THE LIGHT, TO TEACH
CHILDREN TO READ BOOKS THAT HE WOULD NEVER AGAIN SEE.
IT IS MOMENTS LIKE THESE THAT MAKE BARBARA'S EFFORT ON
BEHALF OF LITERACY so REWARDING.))
WE ARE DEEPLY MOVED BY THE PLIGHT OF THOSE WHO LACK
THE SKILLS MOST OF US TAKE FOR GRANTED.
- 6 -
REST ASSURED, WE WILL CONTINUE TO WORK WITH YOU TO
PROMOTE LITERACY SKILLS
You HAVE BESTOWED ON HER AN HONOR THAT WILL BE
TREASURED BY ALL IN OUR FAMILY FOR YEARS TO COME.
STILL, BARBARA AND I CAN'T GET OVER THE FEELING THAT WE
SHOULD BE GIVING you AN AWARD.
- 7 .
AFTER ALL, YOU PROVIDE ADULT BASIC EDUCATION ON A SCALE
THAT IS NOTHING SHORT OF HEROIC.
THIS NATION GREW INTO GREATNESS BECAUSE EARLY
AMERICANS MET THE CHALLENGE OF BUILDING AN EDUCATIONAL
SYSTEM SECOND TO NONE.
- 8 -
WITH THE DAWN OF A NEW CENTURY ONLY ELEVEN YEARS AWAY,
WE ARE FACED WITH A NEW CHALLENGE -- TO REVITALIZE AND
RESTORE THAT SYSTEM OUR FOREBEARS BEQUEATHED TO US; TO
ENSURE THAT AN AMERICAN EDUCATION IS ONCE AGAIN THE
BEST IN THE WORLD.
- 9 -
IN THIS CRUSADE, WE CAN LOOK TO LEADERSHIP FROM AN
AMERICAN INNOVATION IN EDUCATION -- OUR NATION'S
COMMUNITY COLLEGES, MORE THAN A THOUSAND STRONG.
WHOLE COMMUNITIES ARE ENRICHED AND ENLIGHTENED BY
THE CULTURAL RESOURCES YOU PROVIDE, FROM VAST
LIBRARIES, TO NIGHT SCHOOLS, TO STAGES FOR LOCAL
THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS.
- 10 -
THIS ATTITUDE TOWARD EDUCATION -- AS SOMETHING MORE
THAN A REQUIREMENT OF AN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY, AS AN
EMBELLISHMENT OF LIFE -- IS UNIQUELY AMERICAN.
I BELIEVE SECONDARY AND EVEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS CAN
LEARN A LOT FROM YOUR SUCCESS, STARTING WITH YOUR
POLICY OF FLEXIBILITY.
- 11 -
BY THIS I MEAN THE WAY IN WHICH YOU TAP LOCAL TALENT
AND DRAW ON THE KNOWLEDGE OF EXPERTS FROM THE PRIVATE
SECTOR. WHEN A PH.D. ON SABBATICAL CANNOT VOLUNTEER AS
A TEACHER IN MANY SCHOOL DISTRICTS, SOMETHING IS VERY
WRONG.
- 12 -
THAT IS WHY I HAVE PROPOSED ALTERNATIVE TEACHER
CERTIFICATION, TO OPEN CLASSROOMS TO EVERY QUALIFIED
PERSON WITH THE TALENT, THE KNOWLEDGE AND THE DESIRE TO
TEACH.
WE MUST ALL PITCH IN TO RESTORE OUR EDUCATIONAL
SYSTEM. BUSINESS MUST GET INVOLVED AND WORK WITH OUR
SCHOOLS, TO ENSURE AMERICAN COMPETITIVENESS.
- 13 -
STUDENTS MUST UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF A SOLID EDUCATION
AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY IN TODAY'S JOB MARKET. AND
EDUCATION AT ALL LEVELS MUST FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE SET BY
COMMUNITY COLLEGES, WHICH ARE DIRECTLY ACCOUNTABLE TO
THE NEEDS OF STUDENTS, COMMUNITIES AND BUSINESSES.
THIS PRINCIPLE OF ACCOUNTABILITY SHOULD BE UNIVERSALLY
APPLIED TO ALL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
- 14 -
You ALSO SERVE A PARTICULAR need WITH THE
DISADVANTAGED AND THE DISABLED -- PROVIDING OPPORTUNITY
AND CHOICE FOR OLDER CITIZENS, WOMEN, MINORITIES, AND
THE HANDICAPPED.
BUT EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION ZS OUR HOST BASIC
SHARED PRINCIPLE. We CONVICTION THAT THERE
IS NO SUCH THING
- 15 -
WE WILL NEVER ACCEPT THE NOTION THAT VAST NUMBERS OF
ILLITERATE AND UNDEREDUCATED AMERICANS CAN BE OFFSET BY
A WELL-EDUCATED ELITE, THAT'S NOT THE AMERICAN WAY.
FOR YEARS, RESCUING UNDERACHIEVING STUDENTS HAS
BEEN A QUEST OF THE HEART. TODAY, IT IS ALSO A TEST OF
NATIONAL WILL, A TEST CRITICAL TO THE VERY FUTURE OF
AMERICA. THIS MAY SOUND LIKE AN OVERSTATEMENT.
- 16 -
AMERICA, AFTER ALL, IS STILL A WORLD LEADER WHEN IT
COMES TO PRODUCING NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS IN PHYSICS,
ECONOMICS AND LITERATURE. BUT WHAT IS THE ADVANTAGE
FOR A NATION WITH NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING NOVELISTS, IF
THEIR BOOKS CANNOT BE READ BY 27 MILLION FUNCTIONALLY
ILLITERATES IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY?
- 17 -
I AM COMMITTED TO INCREASED INVESTMENT IN BASIC
RESEARCH. BUT AMERICA CAN CONTINUE TO LEAD THE WORLD
IN THEORETICAL SCIENCE, AND STILL LOSE THE RACE IN THE
APPLICATION OF KNOWLEDGE. H.G. WELLS WROTE THAT "HUMAN
HISTORY BECOMES MORE AND MORE A RACE BETWEEN EDUCATION
AND CATASTROPHE."
- 18 -
CATASTROPHE MAY NOT BE AROUND THE CORNER, BUT WHAT HAD
A RING OF TRUTH IN THE 1920s, SOUNDS OMINOUSLY TRUE IN
THE 1980s, WITH OUR HIGHLY COMPETITIVE INTERNATIONAL
MARKET. LET ME SHARE A FEW STARK FACTS WITH YOU.
IN JAPAN, LEVELS OF FUNCTIONAL LITERACY AND
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT ARE EXTREMELY HIGH, WHILE THE
JAPANESE DROP-OUT RATE REMAINS VERY LOW.
- 19 -
IN AMERICA, HOWEVER, FUNCTIONAL LITERACY IS MUCH LOWER.
ABOUT ONE IN FIVE AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS DROP
OUT. AND OF THOSE AMERICANS WHO DO GRADUATE FROM HIGH
SCHOOL, ALMOST ONE IN FIVE CANNOT READ OR WRITE AT THE
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL.
- 20 -
WHILE MANY AMERICANS BECOME LESS EDUCATED, THE
STANDARDS OF THE WORK PLACE ARE BECOMING EVER MORE
RIGOROUS. AND THE BALMY DAYS OF THE BABY BOOM ARE
PASSING US BY.
- 21 -
BETWEEN NOW AND THE YEAR 2000, WE WILL FACE A "BABY
BUST," A SHRINKAGE OF THE LABOR POOL. ACCORDING TO
BUSINESS WEEK, WE WILL HAVE TO TRAIN OR RETRAIN AS MANY
AS 50 MILLION WORKERS IN THE NEXT DOZEN YEARS ALONE.
THINK OF IT -- 50 MILLION!
- 22 -
THERE IS MORE OPPORTUNITY TODAY THAN EVER BEFORE --
BUT ONLY FOR THOSE WHO ARE PREPARED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE
OF IT. FOR THOSE WORKERS WHO LACK SKILLS AND BASIC
EDUCATION TODAY, A COMFORTABLE MIDDLE-CLASS EXISTENCE
WILL BE HARDER AND HARDER TO COME BY.
- 23 -
WHEN SOME HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES CAN'T FIND JOBS IN A
MARKET BEGGING FOR WORKERS, THEN WE'VE GOT A SERIOUS
SOCIAL IMBALANCE, AN EDUCATION GAP. LET'S BRIDGE THAT
GAP. LET'S BRIDGE IT AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.
COMMUNITY COLLEGES PROVIDE SUCH A BRIDGE TO HIGHER
EDUCATION, A READY RESOURCE FOR VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND
ADULT REMEDIAL EDUCATION.
- 24 -
You PROVIDE ACCESS FOR PRECISELY THE VERY PEOPLE WHO
ARE BEING SUMMONED TO ALLEVIATE THE COMING LABOR
SHORTAGE. YOUR PROGRAMS SPELL OPPORTUNITY FOR THE MOST
DISADVANTAGED MEMBERS OF THE WORK FORCE. BUT THEY ALSO
SPELL OPPORTUNITY FOR BUSINESS.
- 25 -
THE DISADVANTAGED AND BUSINESS ARE COMING TOGETHER IN
HUNDREDS OF PROGRAMS FROM COLORADO, TO KANSAS, TO
KENTUCKY, CALLED EMPLOYER-COLLEGE PARTNERSHIPS. THIS
FRIENDLY MERGER OF BUSINESS AND ACADEMIA IS A SWEEPING
FORCE FOR SOCIAL IMPROVEMENT. EVERYONE MUST WORK
TOGETHER IF AMERICA IS TO REMAIN PROSPEROUS AND
COMPETITIVE IN THE YEARS AHEAD.
- 26 -
LET ME CONCLUDE BY PARAPHRASING A FEW WORDS OF
ADVICE, OFFERED AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, BUT so
APPROPRIATE FOR OUR MODERN QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE IN
EDUCATION:
"MAKE NO LITTLE PLANS: THEY HAVE NO MAGIC TO STIR
MEN'S BLOOD AND PROBABLY IN THEMSELVES WILL NOT BE
REALIZED.
- 27 -
MAKE BIG PLANS; AIM HIGH IN HOPE AND WORK, REMEMBERING
THAT A NOBLE (IDEA) ONCE RECORDED WILL NEVER DIE, BUT
LONG AFTER WE ARE GONE WILL BE A LIVING THING."
THESE ARE THE WORDS OF DANIEL BURNHAM, WHO WAS THE
ARCHITECT OF SUCH A BIG PLAN -- WASHINGTON'S UNION
STATION, WHICH STANDS OUT AS A VISUAL DELIGHT IN A CITY
ALREADY CROWDED WITH GREAT MONUMENTS AND STATUARY.
- 28 -
BURNHAM'S LEGACY IS A TRULY LIVING MONUMENT, WITH ITS
VAULTED CEILINGS AND GILDED GEOMETRY ABOVE BUSTLING
CROWDS OF SHOPPERS AND COMMUTERS. BUT IT WOULD BE
NOTHING BUT A WRECK, AN EYESORE, IF IT HAD NOT BEEN
LOVINGLY RESTORED.
- 29 -
As IMPORTANT AS IT IS TO RECLAIM OUR CIVIC CAPITAL OF
BURNISHED BRASS AND POLISHED MARBLE, HOW MUCH MORE
IMPORTANT IT IS TO RECLAIM OUR HUMAN CAPITAL.
THINK, THEN, OF OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN THIS WAY,
AS A VAST AND BEAUTIFUL INHERITANCE, WHICH MUST BE
LOVINGLY RESTORED; NOT ONCE, BUT EVERY GENERATION. IN
THIS EFFORT, MAKE NO LITTLE PLANS.
- 30 -
THINK BIG. AIM HIGH IN HOPE AND WORK. CONTINUE TO
WORK TOGETHER, AS A COMMUNITY, TO HELP YOUR STUDENTS,
TO LIFT THEIR VISION AND LENGTHEN THEIR HORIZON.
FOR THIS, AND ALL YOU DO, YOU ARE EARNING THE
GRATITUDE OF A NATION. THANK YOU, GOD BLESS YOU, AND
GOD BLESS AMERICA.
#
#
#
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY AND JUNIOR COLLEGES
SPEECH INSERT
BEFORE I BEGIN, I KNOW THAT YOU, LIKE MOST
AMERICANS, ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE MASSIVE OIL SPILL
OFF THE COAST OF ALASKA. THERE IS NO DOUBT THIS IS A
MAJOR TRAGEDY, BOTH FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND FOR THE
PEOPLE OF ALASKA.
- 2 -
ok
THIS MORNING I MET WITH EPA ADMINISTRATOR WILLIAM
names
REILLY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY SAMUEL SKINNER, AND
reversed
COAST GUARD COMMANDANT ADMIRAL PAUL Yost. THEY HAVE
to.
Skinna
JUST RETURNED FROM SURVEYING THE DAMAGE AND ASSESSING
Reilly THE PROGRESS OF CLEAN-UP EFFORTS. WE ARE DOING ALL WE
CAN AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL TO SPEED UP THIS UNDERTAKING.
I HAVE DIRECTED THAT DOT, EPA, AND THE COAST GUARD
CONTINUE TO GIVE THIS MATTER TOP PRIORITY.
- 3 -
I HAVE ALSO DIRECTED BILL REILLY TO REPORT BACK TO ME
AS SOON AS POSSIBLE REGARDING THE SEVERITY OF DAMAGE TO
THE ENVIRONMENT, PARTICULARLY TO MARINE LIFE AND THE
ALASKAN COASTLINE. THE CLEAN-UP FROM THIS DISASTER
WILL NOT BE EASY. BUT, AS WITH OTHER SERIOUS
DISASTERS, WE MUST AND WILL WORK TOGETHER AT ALL
LEVELS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE, To REMEDY THE DAMAGE THAT
HAS BEEN DONE.
###
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
March 30, 1989
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF
COMMUNITY AND JUNIOR COLLEGES
The Washington Hilton Hotel
Washington, D.C.
1:42 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: To Dale Pernell and Jeff Parish, others,
thank you for that warm reception for Barbara and for me. And I'm
just delighted to be here. I understand we do have two governors
here -- Jim Martin, whom I saw over here, and somebody told me Carole
Campbell was here, and I want to pay my respects to them -- both
leaders in the field of education.
Before making my remarks, I do want to make a comment on
a subject that is of concern to all American today. I know that you,
like most Americans, are concerned about this massive oil spill off
the coast of Alaska. And there's no doubt this is a major tragedy,
both for the environment and for the people up there.
This morning I met with the Secretary of Transportation,
Sam Skinner; with our new able EPA Administrator, Bill Reilly; with
our Coast Guard Commandant, Admiral Yost. And they've just returned
from surveying the damage and assessing the progress of the cleanup
effort. And we're doing all we can at the federal level to speed up
this undertaking. I've directed the Department of Transportation and
the Environmental Protection Agency and the Coast Guard to continue
to give this matter top priority. I've directed Bill Reilly to
report back to me as soon as possible regarding the severity of
damage to the environment, particularly to marine life and the
Alaskan coastline, with suggestions as to what we might do to
ameliorate the situation. The cleanup will not be easy. It's in
remote areas and it's very complicated. But as with other serious
disasters, we must and we will work together at all levels, public
and private to remedy the damage that has been done, and then to
safeguard the precious environment for the future.
But I wanted you to know that we did have a good meeting.
The report was not all negative, but there -- let's be frank, there's
some very serious problems up there right now. But I'm confident
with this able team and with the work of the Alaskan citizens there
who are concerned, that we can do our very best to see that the
damage is restricted.
Now, on to the business at hand. I am delighted,
Barbara, that this distinguished group has recogized your efforts.
or put it in the third person -- I'm grateful to all of you that have
recognized her efforts to promote literacy. And to think, all this
- 2 -
eight years now, traveling to the schools across this country. And
one day she came back from Boston and told me that she'd seen a
gentleman sitting in a chair in the corner of a schoolroom surrounded
by children who were enraptured by his storytelling and his
good-natured kidding. Every now and then, this man would ask a child
to spell a word by tracing the letters in the palm of his hand and he
would tell them whether they got it right or not. Barbara thought
that this is strange wondered if this was some new kind of
teaching technique that you may have designed. And, no, the
superintendant told her, "He has to teach this way. You see, he's
blind."
Think of it. He's retired. He could have found a
thousand excuses to retreat into his own world of darkness. And yet,
he ventured out into the light to teach children to read books that
he would never again see. And it's moments like these that make her
efforts on behalf of literacy so very rewarding. (Applause.)
We are deeply moved by the plight of those who lack the
skills that most of us just simply take for granted. And rest
assured, we're going to continue to work with you -- those of you out
there on the cutting edge -- to promote literacy skills. You've
bestowed on Barbara an honor that will be treasured by all in our
family for years to come. And still, she and I can't get over the
feeling that we should be giving you, the people in this room, an
award. After all, you provide adult basic education on a scale that
is nothing short of heroic.
This nation grew into greatness because early Americans
met the challenge of building an educational system second to none.
And with the dawn of a new century only 11 years away, we're faced
with a new challenge -- to revitalize and restore that system that
our forebears bequeathed to us; to ensure that an American education
is once again the best, the very best in the world. In this
important mission, we can look to leadership from an American
innovation in education -- our nation's community colleges, more than
a thousand strong.
Whole communities are enriched and enlightened by the
cultural resources you provide; vast libraries, and night schools,
and stages for local theatrical productions. And on and on it goes.
This attitude toward education as something more than a requirement
of an industrial society, as an embellishment of life, rather -- is
uniquely American.
I believe secondary and even elementary schools can learn
a lot from your success, starting with your policy of flexibility.
And by this I mean the way in which you tap local talent and draw on
the knowledge of experts from the private sector. When a Ph.D. on
sabbatical cannot volunteer as a teacher in many of our schools,
something's wrong. And that's why I've have proposed Alternative
Teacher Certification, to open classrooms to every qualified person
with the talent, and the knowledge, and mainly the desire to help the
kids, to teach.
- 3 -
principle. We share the conviction that there is no such thing as an
expendable student. We will never accept the notion that vast
numbers of illiterate and undereducated Americans can be offset by a
well-educated elite. That is not the American way. (Applause.)
For years, rescuing underachieving students has been a
quest of the heart. And today, it's also a test of our national
will, a test critical to the very future of America. This may sound
like an overstatement. America, after all, is still a world leader
when it comes to producing Nobel Prize winners in physics, in
economics and literature. But what's the advantage for a nation with
Nobel Prize-winning novelists, if their books cannot be read by 27
million functional illiterates in their own country? (Applause.)
I am committed to increased investment in basic research.
But America can continue to lead the world in theoretical science and
still lose the race in the application of knowledge. H.G. Wells
wrote that "Human history becomes more and more a race between
education and catastrophe." Catastrophe may not be around the
corner, but what had a ring of truth in the 1920s sounds ominously
true in the 1980s, with our highly competitive international market.
Let me share a few stark facts with you.
In Japan, levels of functional literacy and student
achievement are extremely high, while the Japanese drop-out rate
remains very low. In America, however, functional literacy is much
lower. About one in five American high school students drop out.
And of those Americans who do graduate from high school, almost one
in five cannot read or write at the intermediate level.
While many Americans become less educated, the standards
of the workplace are becoming ever more rigorous. And the balmy days
of the Baby Boom are passing us by. Between now and the year 2000,
we're going to face a "baby bust, a shrinkage of the basic labor
pool for this country. According to Business Week, we will have to
train or retrain as many as 50 million workers in the next dozen
years alone. Think of it -- 50 million.
There is more opportunity today than ever before --- but
only for those who are prepared to take advantage of it. For those
workers who lack skills and basic education today, a comfortable
middle-class existence will be harder and harder to come by. And
when some high school grads can't find jobs in a market begging for
workers, then we"ve got a serious social imbalance, we have an
education gap. Let's bridge that gap. Let's bridge it as fast as we
possibly can. (Applause.)
You're doing it. Community colleges provide such a
bridge to higher education, a ready resource for vocational training
and adult remedial education. You provide access for precisely the
very people who are being summoned to alleviate the coming labor
shortage. Some of your programs spell opportunity for the most
disadvantaged members of the work force. But they also spell
opportunity for business at the same time. The disadvantaged and
business are coming together in hundreds of programs -- from Colorado
to Kansas, to Kentucky -- called employer-college partnerships. And
- 4 -
These are the words of Daniel Burnham, who was the
architect of such a big plan -- Washington's Union Station, which
stands out as a visual delight in a city already crowded with great
monuments and statuary. Burnham's legacy is a truly living monument,
with its vaulted ceilings and its gilded geometry above bustling
crowds of shoppers and commuters. But it would be nothing but a
wreck, an eyesore, if it had not been lovingly restored. As
important as it is to reclaim our civic capital of burnished brass
and polished marble, how much more important it is to reclaim our
human capital.
Think, then, of our educational system in this way -- as
a vast and beautiful inheritance, which must be lovingly restored;
not once, but every generation. And in this effort, make no little
plans. Think big. Aim high in hope and work. Continue to work
together as a community, to help your students, to lift their vision
and lengthen their horizon.
For this, and all you are doing, and for those that
walked across this platform, a hardy thanks for all you have done.
For this, for all you do and for what you have done, you have earned
and you are earning the gratitude of a nation.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America. Thank
you all very, very much. (Applause.)
END
1:58 P.M. EST
K6
THE WHITE HOUSE
DAVIS
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
March 30, 1989
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF
COMMUNITY AND JUNIOR COLLEGES
The Washington Hilton Hotel
Washington, D.C.
1:42 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: To Dale Pernell and Jeff Parish, others,
thank you for that warm reception for Barbara and for me. And I'm
just delighted to be here. I understand we do have two governors
here -- Jim Martin, whom I saw over here, and somebody told me CarolA
Campbell was here, and I want to pay my respects to them -- both
leaders in the field of education.
Before making my remarks, I do want to make a comment on
a subject that is of concern to all American today. I know that you,
like most Americans, are concerned about this massive oil spill off
the coast of Alaska. And there's no doubt this is a major tragedy,
both for the environment and for the people up there.
This morning I met with the Secretary of Transportation,
Sam Skinner; with our new able EPA Administrator, Bill Reilly; with
our Coast Guard Commandant, Admiral Yost. And they've just returned
from surveying the damage and assessing the progress of the cleanup
effort. And we're doing all we can at the federal level to speed up
this undertaking. I've directed the Department of Transportation and
the Environmental Protection Agency and the Coast Guard to continue
to give this matter top priority. I've directed Bill Reilly to
report back to me as soon as possible regarding the severity of
damage to the environment, particularly to marine life and the
Alaskan coastline, with suggestions as to what we might do to
ameliorate the situation. The cleanup will not be easy. It's in
remote areas and it's very complicated. But as with other serious
disasters, we must and we will work together at all levels, public
and private to remedy the damage that has been done, and then to
safeguard the precious environment for the future.
But I wanted you to know that we did have a good meeting.
The report was not all negative, but there -- let's be frank, there's
some very serious problems up there right now. But I'm confident
with this able team and with the work of the Alaskan citizens there
who are concerned, that we can do our very best to see that the
damage is restricted.
Now, on to the business at hand. I am delighted,
Barbara, that this distinguished group has recogized your efforts.
or put it in the third person -- I'm grateful to all of you that have
recognized her efforts to promote literacy. And to think, all this
- 2 -
eight years now, traveling to the schools across this country. And
one day she came back from Boston and told me that she'd seen a
gentleman sitting in a chair in the corner of a schoolroom surrounded
by children who were enraptured by his storytelling and his
good-natured kidding. Every now and then, this man would ask a child
to spell a word by tracing the letters in the palm of his hand and he
would tell them whether they got it right or not. Barbara thought
that this is strange -- wondered if this was some new kind of
teaching technique that you may have designed. And, no, the
superintendant told her, "He has to teach this way. You see, he's
blind."
Think of it. He's retired. He could have found a
thousand excuses to retreat into his own world of darkness. And yet,
he ventured out into the light to teach children to read books that
he would never again see. And it's moments like these that make her
efforts on behalf of literacy so very rewarding. (Applause.)
We are deeply moved by the plight of those who lack the
skills that most of us just simply take for granted. And rest
assured, we're going to continue to work with you -- those of you out
there on the cutting edge -- to promote literacy skills. You've
bestowed on Barbara an honor that will be treasured by all in our
family for years to come. And still, she and I can't get over the
feeling that we should be giving you, the people in this room, an
award. After all, you provide adult basic education on a scale that
is nothing short of heroic.
This nation grew into greatness because early Americans
met the challenge of building an educational system second to none.
And with the dawn of a new century only 11 years away, we're faced
with a new challenge -- to revitalize and restore that system that
our forebears bequeathed to us; to ensure that an American education
is once again the best, the very best in the world. In this
important mission, we can look to leadership from an American
innovation in education -- our nation's community colleges, more than
a thousand strong.
Whole communities are enriched and enlightened by the
cultural resources you provide; vast libraries, and night schools,
and stages for local theatrical productions. And on and on it goes.
This attitude toward education as something more than a requirement
of an industrial society, as an embellishment of life, rather -- is
uniquely American.
I believe secondary and even elementary schools can learn
a lot from your success, starting with your policy of flexibility.
And by this I mean the way in which you tap local talent and draw on
the knowledge of experts from the private sector. When a Ph.D. on
sabbatical cannot volunteer as a teacher in many of our schools,
something's wrong. And that's why I've have proposed Alternative
Teacher Certification, to open classrooms to every qualified person
with the talent, and the knowledge, and mainly the desire to help the
kids, to teach.
- 3 -
principle. We share the conviction that there is no such thing as an
expendable student. We will never accept the notion that vast
numbers of illiterate and undereducated Americans can be offset by a
well-educated elite. That is not the American way. (Applause.)
For years, rescuing underachieving students has been a
quest of the heart. And today, it's also a test of our national
will, a test critical to the very future of America. This may sound
like an overstatement. America, after all, is still a world leader
when it comes to producing Nobel Prize winners in physics, in
economics and literature. But what's the advantage for a nation with
Nobel Prize-winning novelists, if their books cannot be read by 27
million functional illiterates in their own country? (Applause.)
I am committed to increased investment in basic research.
But America can continue to lead the world in theoretical science and
still lose the race in the application of knowledge. H.G. Wells
wrote that "Human history becomes more and more a race between
education and catastrophe." Catastrophe may not be around the
corner, but what had a ring of truth in the 1920s sounds ominously
true in the 1980s, with our highly competitive international market.
Let me share a few stark facts with you.
In Japan, levels of functional literacy and student
achievement are extremely high, while the Japanese drop-out rate
remains very low. In America, however, functional literacy is much
lower. About one in five American high school students drop out.
And of those Americans who do graduate from high school, almost one
in five cannot read or write at the intermediate level.
While many Americans become less educated, the standards
of the workplace are becoming ever more rigorous. And the balmy days
of the Baby Boom are passing us by. Between now and the year 2000,
we're going to face a "baby bust, a shrinkage of the basic labor
pool for this country. According to Business Week, we will have to
train or retrain as many as 50 million workers in the next dozen
years alone. Think of it -- 50 million.
There is more opportunity today than ever before -- but
only for those who are prepared to take advantage of it. For those
workers who lack skills and basic education today, a comfortable
middle-class existence will be harder and harder to come by. And
when some high school grads can't find jobs in a market begging for
workers, then we've got a serious social imbalance, we have an
education gap. Let's bridge that gap. Let's bridge it as fast as we
possibly can. (Applause.)
You're doing it. Community colleges provide such a
bridge to higher education, a ready resource for vocational training
and adult remedial education. You provide access for precisely the
very people who are being summoned to alleviate the coming labor
shortage. Some of your programs spell opportunity for the most
disadvantaged members of the work force. But they also spell
opportunity for business at the same time. The disadvantaged and
business are coming together in hundreds of programs -- from Colorado
to Kansas, to Kentucky -- called employer-college partnerships. And
USA
- 4 -
These are the words of Daniel Burnham, who was the
architect of such a big plan -- Washington's Union Station, which
stands out as a visual delight in a city already crowded with great
monuments and statuary. Burnham's legacy is a truly living monument,
with its vaulted ceilings and its gilded geometry above bustling
crowds of shoppers and commuters. But it would be nothing but a
wreck, an eyesore, if it had not been lovingly restored. As
important as it is to reclaim our civic capital of burnished brass
and polished marble, how much more important it is to reclaim our
human capital.
Think, then, of our educational system in this way -- as
a vast and beautiful inheritance, which must be lovingly restored;
not once, but every generation. And in this effort, make no little
plans. Think big. Aim high in hope and work. Continue to work
together as a community, to help your students, to lift their vision
and lengthen their horizon.
For this, and all you are doing, and for those that
walked across this platform, a hardy thanks for all you have done.
For this, for all you do and for what you have done, you have earned
and you are earning the gratitude of a nation.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America. Thank
you all very, very much. (Applause.)
END
1:58 P.M. EST
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
March 27, 1989
Memorandum to Chriss Winston
From:
Jim Pinkerton
l
Re:
Jr. + Comm. Coll. Drft.
Overall, I think this is a good speech. It covers the major
themes in a lively and well-written manner. But I do have some
specific comments.
Pg.1, graf 2, line 2 I know that jokes are virtually
impossible to clear through a committee process and this joke,
as is, should be no exception! As the draft reads now, the
audience will dwell on the word "cheating." However, I do think it
can be saved by adjusting it as follows: "Now I know how she got
so good at Scrabble!" My rewrite is not exactly a knee-slapper,
but people will at least recognize it as a lite attempt at humor.
2,1,3 To emphasize the transition from classic authors like
Dickens and Twain to the less-heralded McMurtry, I would insert
"for that matter" in front of "Larry McMurtry."
2 3,5 "than" should be "that"
2,3
I think of junior colleges as a "recent American
innovation. I hope that's a defensible statement!
2,4,1-2 The interpolation of "based on accessibility for all"
is clumsy and detracts from the profound point about "education for
life."
I would save the accessibility point for a separate
sentence.
3,1,5 I wouldn't use "embellishment." It sounds as if we
think education is some sort of frill. I might try but as a vital
part of the good life."
4,1,1-2 I am sure that many private schools accept jr.
college graduates as well. As is, the draft sounds elitist.
4,3,4 "countrymen" is sexist
4,4,7 so is "his"
2-2-2
5,2,4 The quote from Wells is way to alarmist. By our way
of thinking, "catastrophe" is not in the cards after 8 peaceful
and prosperous Reagan-Bush years. Our program is reformist, not
revolutionary. Let's not let our rhetoric get away from us; lest
we lest we elevate the sense of urgency so much that we lose
control of the issue.
6,2,1-2 This invocation of the 50s is empirically incorrect.
Worse, it plays into the hands of our political opponents because
it lends credence to their arguments about the allegedly
"disappearing middle class." I would get rid of the first four
lines and emphasize the importance of transmitting skills that will
enable all Americans to enter the economic mainstream.
#
CC: Roger Porter
Bill Roper
March 27, 1989
MEMORANDUM FOR JIM CICCONI
FROM;
DENISE SCHWARZ DS.
OFFICE OF CABINET AFFAIRS
SUBJECT;
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS; AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF
JUNIOR AND COMMUNITY COLLEGES
LOG #020358
We have reviewed the attached and have no comments.
Attachment
CC: Chriss Winston
Document No. 020358
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
03/24/89
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
C.O.B. Monday 03/27
DATE:
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF JUNIOR AND
COMMUNITY COLLEGES
(03/23 6 p.m. draft)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
>
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
BREEDEN
PINKERTON
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
PORTER-ROSE
DEMAREST
WINSTON
>
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide any comments/recommendations directly to Chriss
Winston (Rm. 122, x2930) by close of business on Monday, 03/27,
with an info copy to my office. Thanks.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Davis/Blessey
March 23, 1989
6.p.m.
Draft 2
Title: Junior
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: AMER. ASSOC. OF JR. & COMMUNITY COLLEGES
WASHINGTON HILTON
MARCH 30, 1989/ 1 p.m.
Thank you. Dale, Jim (Brady), Governors Martin and
Campbell. (Further acknowledgements.)
( (Bar, I am delighted that this distinguished group has
recognized your efforts to promote literacy
...
And to think,
all this time I thought she was cheating at Scrabble
))
In all sincerity, this honor will be treasured by Barbara
and the whole Bush family for years to come. Still, Bar and I
can't get over the feeling that we should be giving you an award.
After all, you provide remedial literacy training on a scale that
is nothing short of heroic.
Benjamin Franklin was once asked what was the most pitiful
thing that could befall a human being. After a moment's
reflection, he replied: "A lonesome man on a rainy day who does
not know how to read." The costs of illiteracy can be calculated
in labor lost, and education dollars wasted. But we cannot
2
calculate the loss of human happiness caused by illiteracy -- all
the men and women across this country who will never hear the
narrative voice of Dickens, Twain or Larry McMurtry; who will
never know that a book can be a true friend in the still hours of
the night.
Barbara and I are deeply moved by the plight of the
illiterate. And rest assured, we will continue to work with you
to promote literacy skills
This nation grew into greatness because early Americans met
the challenge of building an educational system second to none.
With the dawn of a new century only eleven years away, we are
faced with a new challenge -- to revitalize and restore that
system our forebears bequeathed to us; to ensure than an American
education is once again the best in the world. In this crusade,
we can look to leadership from a recent American innovation in
education --- our nation's community colleges, more than a
thousand strong.
You best represent the American philosophy of education,
based on accessibility for all, for life. Americans believe that
education is not a phase to be successfully completed. We
believe that education is a lifelong endeavor. What scholars
call the "life of the mind" is as essential to the complete man
or woman as water and air.
3
In fact, whole communities are enriched and enlightened by.
the cultural resources you provide, from vast libraries, to night
schools, to stages for local theatrical productions. This
attitude toward education -- as something more than a requirement
of an industrial society, as an embellishment of life -- is
uniquely American.
Inspired by your success, I am going to challenge our
educational system at every level to adopt a few creative
practices pioneered by the community colleges of America.
Community colleges provide ten million Americans with
educational choice. A wide range of students benefit from your
institutions, from those in high school who are looking for
advanced courses; to low-income students who need a stepping
stone to a four-year program; to those who seek a 2-year degree;
to mature students who are returning to school to round out their
education. This is what we need more of up and down the line --
choice.
Secondary and even elementary schools can learn a lot from
the way in which you tap local talent, drawing on the knowledge
of experts from the private sector. With this in mind, I have
proposed extending this same practice, often called Alternative
Teacher Certification, right down to the first grade.
4
Perhaps accountability is the key to your success. State
universities, which accept your students, count on you to instill
a precise curriculum. The businesses of your city count on you
to match skills to the demands of the job market. And most of
all, students count on you to provide a ladder of opportunity.
And opportunity is our most basic shared principle. We
share the conviction that there is no such thing as an expendable
student. We will never accept the notion that vast numbers of
illiterate and undereducated Americans can be offset by a well-
educated elite. That's not the American way.
We will not rest until we have found a way to school every
young American in the romance of our history and literature, and
the wonders of science. Until we can accomplish this, millions
of our countrymen will be unable to fully participate in, or even
understand, the civic life of their homeland.
For years, redeeming these underachieving students has been
a quest of the heart. Today, it is also a test of national will,
a test critical to the very future of America. This may sound
like an overstatement. America, after all, is still a world
leader when it comes to producing Nobel Prize winners in physics,
economics and literature. But what is the advantage for a nation
with a Nobel Prize-winning novelist, if his books are largely
5
unread in his own country? What is the advantage for a nation
that can invent fiber optic cable, if the art of splicing these
delicate strands is beyond the skills of our work force?
I am committed to increased investment in basic research.
But America can continue to lead the world in theoretical
science, and still lose the race in the application of knowledge.
H.G. Wells wrote that "human history becomes more and more a race
between education and catastrophe." What had a ring of truth in
the 1920s is ominous in the 1980s, with its highly competitive
internationalized market. Let me share a few stark facts with
you.
Last year, Japan's functional literacy rate was better than
95 percent. In America, it's down to about 80 percent. The
over 25%
national drop-out rate is XX percent. And of those Americans who
do graduate from high school, as many as 25 percent cannot read
or write at the eighth-grade level. As many Americans become
less educated, the standards of the work place are becoming ever
more rigorous.
In the past, business could simply ignore the unlettered
few. But the balmy days of the baby boom are passing us by.
Between now and the year 2000, we will face a "baby bust.' If
According to Business Week, this shrinkage of the labor pool will
make it necessary to train or retrain as many as 50 million
6
workers in the next dozen years alone. Think of it -- 50
million!
Back in the Eisenhower years, high-school drop-outs, if they
worked hard, could still enjoy a comfortable middle-class life.
A large suburban home, a new car in the driveway, and tuition
money -- this was a very attainable dream, the American dream.
But for those workers who lack skills and basic education today,
a comfortable middle-class existence will be harder and harder to
come by. When a high school graduate can't get a job in a market
begging for workers, then we've got a serious social imbalance,
an education gap. Let's bridge that gap. Let's bridge it as
fast possible.
Excellence in education is critical at all levels. But at a
minimum, we need to assure that the work force has the basic
skills needed to keep America competitive.
Community colleges are the starting gate for higher
education, a ready resource for vocational training and remedial
schooling. You provide access for older citizens, women,
minorities, and the handicapped -- precisely the very people who
are being summoned to alleviate the coming labor shortage. Your
programs spell opportunity for the most disadvantaged members of
the work force. But they also spell opportunity for business.
The disadvantaged and business are coming together in hundreds of
7
programs from Connecticut to California called employer-college
partnerships.
This friendly merger of business and academia is a sweeping
force for social improvement. Look at Dallas, where more than
one thousand businesses have "adopted" the city's 200 secondary
schools. Just look at North Carolina and South Carolina, where
state governments have brought businesses and community colleges
together to foster customized training and technical education.
You have shown that by working together, as communities, as
partners in progress, we can match people to jobs, bring hope to
the despairing, and build a world-class work force. I challenge
every state, every college, every business, to follow your
example.
Let me conclude by paraphrasing a few words of advice,
written at the turn-of-the century, but so appropriate for our
modern quest for excellence in education:
"Make no little plans: they have no magic to stir men's
blood and probably in themselves will not be realized. Make big
plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble (idea)
once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be
a living thing. "
8
The man who wrote these words, Daniel Burnham, was the
architect of such a big plan -- Washington's Union Station, which
stands out as a visual delight in a city already crowded with
great monuments and statuary. Burnham's legacy is a truly living
monument, with its vaulted ceilings and gilded geometry above
bustling crowds of shoppers and commuters. But it would be
nothing but a wreck, an eyesore, if it had not been lovingly
restored. As important as it is to reclaim our civic capital of
burnished brass and polished marble, how much more important it
is to reclaim our human capital.
Think, then, of our educational system in this way, as a
vast and beautiful inheritance, which must be lovingly restored;
not once, but every generation. In this effort, make no little
plans. Think big. Aim high in hope and work. Continue to work
together, as a community, to help your students, to lift their
vision and lengthen their horizon.
For this, and all you do, you are earning the gratitude of a
nation. Thank you, and God Bless America.
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
March 27, 1989
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS A. WINSTON
DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT
FOR COMMUNICATIONS
FROM:
MICHAEL J. ASTRUE MJA
ASSOCIATE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT
SUBJECT:
Presidential Remarks: American Association of
Junior and Community Colleges
Counsel's office has reviewed the above-referenced Presidential
remarks, and we have no legal objection to their delivery.
Thank you for submitting these remarks for our review.
CC: James W. Cicconi
Document No. 020358
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 03/24/89
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: C.O.B. Monday 03/27
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF JUNIOR AND
COMMUNITY COLLEGES
(03/23 6 p.m. draft)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
BREEDEN
PINKERTON
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
PORTER-ROSE
DEMAREST
WINSTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please provide any comments/recommendations directly to Chriss
Winston (Rm. 122, x2930) by close of business on Monday, 03/27,
with an info copy to my office. Thanks.
RESPONSE: on
GSW
3/27
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Davis/Blessey
March 23, 1989
6 p.m.
Draft 2
Title: Junior
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: AMER. ASSOC. OF JR. & COMMUNITY COLLEGES
WASHINGTON HILTON
MARCH 30, 1989/ 1 p.m.
Thank you. Dale, Jim (Brady), Governors Martin and
Campbell. (Further acknowledgements.)
((Bar, I am delighted that this distinguished group has
recognized your efforts to promote literacy
...
And to think,
all this time I thought she was cheating at Scrabble
))
In all sincerity, this honor will be treasured by Barbara
and the whole Bush family for years to come. Still, Bar and I
can't get over the feeling that we should be giving you an award.
After all, you provide remedial literacy training on a scale that
is nothing short of heroic.
Benjamin Franklin was once asked what was the most pitiful
thing that could befall a human being. After a moment's
reflection, he replied: "A lonesome man on a rainy day who does
not know how to read." The costs of illiteracy can be calculated
in labor lost, and education dollars wasted. But we cannot
2
calculate the loss of human happiness caused by illiteracy -- all
the men and women across this country who will never hear the
narrative voice of Dickens, Twain or Larry McMurtry; who will
never know that a book can be a true friend in the still hours of
the night.
Barbara and I are deeply moved by the plight of the
illiterate. And rest assured, we will continue to work with you
to promote literacy skills
This nation grew into greatness because early Americans met
the challenge of building an educational system second to none.
With the dawn of a new century only eleven years away, we are
faced with a new challenge -- to revitalize and restore that
system our forebears bequeathed to us; to ensure than an American
education is once again the best in the world. In this crusade,
we can look to leadership from a recent American innovation in
education -- our nation's community colleges, more than a
thousand strong.
You best represent the American philosophy of education,
based on accessibility for all, for life. Americans believe that
education is not a phase to be successfully completed. We
believe that education is a lifelong endeavor. What scholars
call the "life of the mind" is as essential to the complete man
or woman as water and air.
3
In fact, whole communities are enriched and enlightened by
the cultural resources you provide, from vast libraries, to night
schools, to stages for local theatrical productions. This
attitude toward education -- as something more than a requirement
of an industrial society, as an embellishment of life -- is
uniquely American.
Inspired by your success, I am going to challenge our
educational system at every level to adopt a few creative
practices pioneered by the community colleges of America.
Community colleges provide ten million Americans with
educational choice. A wide range of students benefit from your
institutions, from those in high school who are looking for
advanced courses; to low-income students who need a stepping
stone to a four-year program; to those who seek a 2-year degree;
to mature students who are returning to school to round out their
education. This is what we need more of up and down the line --
choice.
Secondary and even elementary schools can learn a lot from
the way in which you tap local talent, drawing on the knowledge
of experts from the private sector. With this in mind, I have
proposed extending this same practice, often called Alternative
Teacher Certification, right down to the first grade.
4
Perhaps accountability is the key to your success. State
universities, which accept your students, count on you to instill
a precise curriculum. The businesses of your city count on you
to match skills to the demands of the job market. And most of
all, students count on you to provide a ladder of opportunity.
And opportunity is our most basic shared principle. We
share the conviction that there is no such thing as an expendable
student. We will never accept the notion that vast numbers of
illiterate and undereducated Americans can be offset by a well-
educated elite. That's not the American way.
We will not rest until we have found a way to school every
young American in the romance of our history and literature, and
the wonders of science. Until we can accomplish this, millions
of our countrymen will be unable to fully participate in, or even
understand, the civic life of their homeland.
For years, redeeming these underachieving students has been
a quest of the heart. Today, it is also a test of national will,
a test critical to the very future of America. This may sound
like an overstatement. America, after all, is still a world
leader when it comes to producing Nobel Prize winners in physics,
economics and literature. But what is the advantage for a nation
with a Nobel Prize-winning novelist, if his books are largely
5
unread in his own country? What is the advantage for a nation
that can invent fiber optic cable, if the art of splicing these
delicate strands is beyond the skills of our work force?
I am committed to increased investment in basic research.
But America can continue to lead the world in theoretical
science, and still lose the race in the application of knowledge.
H.G. Wells wrote that "human history becomes more and more a race
between education and catastrophe." What had a ring of truth in
the 1920s is ominous in the 1980s, with its highly competitive
internationalized market. Let me share a few stark facts with
you.
Last year, Japan's functional literacy rate was better than
95 percent. In America, it's down to about 80 percent. The
national drop-out rate is XX percent. And of those Americans who
do graduate from high school, as many as 25 percent cannot read
or write at the eighth-grade level. As many Americans become
less educated, the standards of the work place are becoming ever
more rigorous.
In the past, business could simply ignore the unlettered
few. But the balmy days of the baby boom are passing us by.
Between now and the year 2000, we will face a "baby bust."
According to Business Week, this shrinkage of the labor pool will
make it necessary to train or retrain as many as 50 million
6
workers in the next dozen years alone. Think of it -- 50
million!
Back in the Eisenhower years, high-school drop-outs, if they
worked hard, could still enjoy a comfortable middle-class life.
A large suburban home, a new car in the driveway, and tuition
money -- this was a very attainable dream, the American dream.
But for those workers who lack skills and basic education today,
a comfortable middle-class existence will be harder and harder to
come by. When a high school graduate can't get a job in a market
begging for workers, then we've got a serious social imbalance,
an education gap. Let's bridge that gap. Let's bridge it as
fast possible.
Excellence in education is critical at all levels. But at a
minimum, we need to assure that the work force has the basic
skills needed to keep America competitive.
Community colleges are the starting gate for higher
education, a ready resource for vocational training and remedial
schooling. You provide access for older citizens, women,
minorities, and the handicapped -- precisely the very people who
are being summoned to alleviate the coming labor shortage. Your
programs spell opportunity for the most disadvantaged members of
the work force. But they also spell opportunity for business.
The disadvantaged and business are coming together in hundreds of
7
programs from Connecticut to California called employer-college
partnerships.
This friendly merger of business and academia is a sweeping
force for social improvement. Look at Dallas, where more than
one thousand businesses have "adopted" the city's 200 secondary
schools. Just look at North Carolina and South Carolina, where
state governments have brought businesses and community colleges
together to foster customized training and technical education.
You have shown that by working together, as communities, as
partners in progress, we can match people to jobs, bring hope to
the despairing, and build a world-class work force. I challenge
every state, every college, every business, to follow your
example.
Let me conclude by paraphrasing a few words of advice,
written at the turn-of-the century, but so appropriate for our
modern quest for excellence in education:
"Make no little plans: they have no magic to stir men's
blood and probably in themselves will not be realized. Make big
plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble (idea)
once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be
a living thing."
8
The man who wrote these words, Daniel Burnham, was the
architect of such a big plan -- Washington's Union Station, which
stands out as a visual delight in a city already crowded with
great monuments and statuary. Burnham's legacy is a truly living
monument, with its vaulted ceilings and gilded geometry above
bustling crowds of shoppers and commuters. But it would be
nothing but a wreck, an eyesore, if it had not been lovingly
restored. As important as it is to reclaim our civic capital of
burnished brass and polished marble, how much more important it
is to reclaim our human capital.
Think, then, of our educational system in this way, as a
vast and beautiful inheritance, which must be lovingly restored;
not once, but every generation. In this effort, make no little
plans. Think big. Aim high in hope and work. Continue to work
together, as a community, to help your students, to lift their
vision and lengthen their horizon.
For this, and all you do, you are earning the gratitude of a
nation. Thank you, and God Bless America.
#
#
#