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Originally Processed With FOIA(s): FOIA Number: S 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: 13583 Folder ID Number: 13583-003 Folder Title: National Education Address 10/1/91 [OA 6037] [1] Stack: Row: Section: Shelf: Position: G 26 17 3 5 Dan - / Tony Snow Jeannie should have THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON the stuff you need for September 30, 1991 01 SEP 30 A8: 49 a story. I'd suggest of throwing in a tag line some sort MEMORANDUM FOR PHILIP D. BRADY at the End FROM: CHARLES E.M. KOLB CEINK to accommodates SUBJECT: The President's "Back-to-School Address" comment At Roger Porter's request, I am forwarding to you a copy of the #4 principal suggested revisions to the President's "Back-to- office. School Address" that were submitted to the speechwriter by our We remain concerned by the following aspects of the speech: taken - #1 the jokes on page one are simply not appropriate lara of given the audience and the message. Both OPD and Kelb listened to the Education Department suggested that these be deleted. lommon ask the reference to "stanines" will be lost on most since of the audience. I'll confess it was lost on me. #2 the speech needs to include a story -- something KEEP #3 that younger children will find interesting and will be likely to remember. The audience is not just an eighth grade class but children in grades one through twelve. story #4 the speech should ask children to do something in response to the President's message. We should not underestimate the power of the President, especially when it comes to asking the American people to do something that's really in their best interest. An example might be asking them to think of their own future goals and how education can help achieve them. We hope these suggestions are helpful. Please feel free to call should you have any questions. If you do this all Across America, 273650SS Document No. WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM 91 SEP 30 A8: 29 9/27/91 ---- DATE: ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ALICE DEAL, JR. HIGH WASHINGTON, D.C. SUBJECT: BACK TO SCHOOL ADDRESS TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1991 ACTION FYI ACTION FYI VICE PRESIDENT HORNER SUNUNU MCCLURE SCOWCROFT PETERSMEYER DARMAN / PORTER BRADY ROGICH BROMLEY SMITH CARD SNOW DEMAREST FITZWATER GRAY HOLIDAY / REMARKS: The attached has been forwarded to the President. RESPONSE: PHILLIP D. BRADY Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary Ext. 2702 THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON 01 SEP 27 P7: 44 September 27, 1991 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT THROUGH: DAVE DEMAREST TONY SNOW T5 FROM: DAN MC GROARTY Dear SUBJECT: BACK TO SCHOOL ADDRESS I. SUMMARY At 12:00 noon, on Tuesday, October 1, you will deliver the Back to School Address. Your immediate audience at Alice Deal Junior High is Mrs. Mostoller's class of 28 Eight Graders. The extended audience is a nationwide audience of Eighth through Twelfth Graders, watching via PBS and other stations. After the classroom address, you will proceed to the school auditorium accompanied by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Florence Joyner to meet briefly with the rest of the student body. II. DISCUSSION Your trip into the classroom underscores the student's central place in the overall education strategy. You will talk to the students, rather than simply about them. You mention the "national report card" in the context of a challenge to today's students, rather than a status report on the state of our schools. Your message challenges students to take control -- encouraging them to take responsibility for their own education. You ask students to confront their futures -- to face the very real prospect of dropping out, using drugs and failing to take advantage of their time in school. McGroarty/Bunton September 27, 1991 7:30 pm [SCHOOL.TS] PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ALICE DEAL JR. HIGH, WASHINGTON, D.C. OCTOBER 1, 1991 12:10 P.M. Thank you, Ms. Mostoller [MOSS-tah-ler], for allowing me to visit your classroom today -- to talk to your students, and millions more in classrooms all across the country. / You know, long before I became President, I was a parent. I remember the times my kids came up with a really tough question, or a difficult decision. I tried my best never to shut them down with a quick "No." I would simply say those three magic words that made that problem disappear: "Ask your Mother. " // No parent's perfect. Especially when you're in your teens - - and your parents hit that awkward age. // Let me tell you why I've made the trip up from the White House to Alice Deal Junior High. I'm not here to teach a. lesson -- to tell you what to do, or what to think. Maybe you're accustomed to adults talking about you and at you -- well, today, I'm here to talk to you: about why education matters, about why what you do today -- and what you don't do -- can change your future. // Every day, we hear more bad news about our schools. Maybe you saw today's headline about the release of the new National Goals Report. [[HOLD UP PAPER OR NEWS CLIP. ]] In math, for instance, this "national report card" shows that, nationwide, 2 five of six Eighth Graders don't know the math they need to move up to the Ninth Grade. In spite of troubling statistics like this one, I don't see this report as just bad news -- and I'll tell you why. This report card tells us a lot about what you know, and what you don't know. It gives us something to build on. It shows us our strengths -- and the weaknesses we've got to correct. It sets forth a challenge to all of us: work harder, learn more -- revolutionize American education. I know you've heard about "stanines" and percentiles, surveys and statistics, but here's what all the fancy talk means: Education means the difference between a good future and a lousy one. Reports don't give us the right to make excuses. Our scores tell us where we are -- and where we need to go. All over America, schools succeed -- even against all odds. Kids from all over the District of Columbia petition to get into Alice Deal -- because parents know this school works. It works because of teachers like Ms. Mostoller, who decided at the age of 25 she wanted to teach. She was standing in a supermarket checkout line when she saw a magazine ad about college. She went back, worked her way through school in seven years, waiting tables to pay tuition. She made it -- and so can you. // This school works because of students like the ones with me today -- students like Rachel Rusch [RUSH], a member of Alice Deal's award-winning "Math Counts" team. Rachel and six others kids in this class alone have taken part in the Johns Hopkins 3 Talent Search: You took the college-entrance exams on an experimental basis last year as 7th Graders. Even in junior high, some of you scored well enough to get into college right now. // So let's just put it on the line. You've got the brains. Now you must put them to work. Progress starts when we ask more -- of ourselves, our schools, and yes you, our students. We made a start by setting six National Education Goals to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. By the year 2000, at least nine in every ten students should graduate from high school. We should be first in the world in math and science. Every American child should start school ready to learn; every American adult should be literate - - and every American school should be safe and drug-free. Reaching those goals is the aim of a strategy I call America 2000 -- a crusade to transform American education school by school, community by community. // But what does all this mean for the kids right here in this room? Fast-forward five years from now. Unless things change, between now and 1996 as many as one in four of today's 8th Graders will not graduate with their class. In some cities, the drop out rate is twice that high or higher. Imagine: Out of a total of nearly 3 million of your fellow classmates nationwide, an army of more than half-a-million dropouts. I ask every student watching today: look around you. Count four students -- start with yourself. No one dreams of becoming a dropout, but far too many do. Which one of you won't make it? 4 // The fact is, every one of you can. // Let's make a pact right here. Let's work to see that five years from now, you and your friends will be more than sad statistics. Give yourself a decent shot at your dreams. Stay in school. Get that diploma. Let's go back to the future. In the fall of 1996, nearly half of today's Eighth Graders who get their diplomas will enter the working world. More than half the graduates will stay in school -- and become the college class of the year 2000. The question each student watching today should ask is: Where will I be five years from now? Will I be holding down a good job and working toward a better one -- or will I be out of school and out of work? Will I be on a college campus -- or out running the streets? Think about that tonight -- when you're at the kitchen table doing homework; while your parents are coming here to Alice Deal to meet your teachers -- like so many millions do this time of year at Back to School Nights across America. I'm asking you to put two and two together: Make the connection -- between the homework you do tonight -- the test you take tomorrow -- and where you'll be five, fifteen and fifty years from now. You see, the real world doesn't begin somewhere else, and some time in the distant future. The real world starts right here. What you do here will have consequences your whole lives. Let me tell you something many of you may find hard to believe. You're in control. [[You're thinking: How can the 5 President say that about kids like us who don't even have their drivers' licenses?]] But think about it, and you'll see what I mean. Think about drugs. You see films. You hear police experts and tough speakers from the outside. You get stern lectures from everyone -- movie stars, athletes, teachers, parents, friends. But you know and I know that all the drug prevention programs -- all the pledges -- all the preaching in the world won't pull you through that critical moment when someone offers drugs. At that moment, everything comes down to you. Yes or No: You've got to choose, and the answer will change your life. Your parents won't make the decision. Your teachers won't make the decision. Your friends won't make the decision. It's up to you: It takes guts to take control. // Studies show a decline in drug use -- and every student who draws the line against drugs deserves credit for that. / But drugs and violence continue to threaten every school, every small town and suburb in America. As students, you have a right to be physically safe at school. You should never have to worry that a quarrel in the hallway will lead to a gunfight in the playground. You shouldn't have to fear for your life if you criticize someone who wears a beeper in class. Fear should never follow you into the classroom. // If you have to take the long way home after school so you don't cross paths with the gang hanging on the corner, if outsiders roam the halls of your school hassling students, you 6 must take control. Go to your teacher, go to your principal, go to your parents -- as difficult as it may be, go to the school board if you have to. Demand discipline. If good people chicken out, bad people take control. So let's drive the drugs and guns and senseless violence out of our schools. // When it comes to your own education: take control. Don't say school is boring, and blame it on your teachers. Make your teachers work hard. Tell them you want a first-class education. Tell them you're here to learn. Block out the kids who think it's not cool to be smart. I can't understand for the life of me what's so great about being stupid. If someone goofs off today, they're cool. But what about years from now, when they're stuck in a dead-end job? Don't let peer pressure stand between you and your dreams. Take control -- challenge yourself. Only you know how hard you work. Maybe you can fake your way into a job -- but you won't keep it for long if you don't have the know-how to get the job done. Maybe you can cram the week before the marking period ends, and turn that C into a B. But you can't con your way past the SAT and into college. / If you don't work hard -- who gets hurt? If you cheat -- who pays the price? If you cut corners, if you hunt for the easy A -- who comes up short? Easy: You do. You're in control -- but you're not alone. People want to help you succeed. Here at Deal, teachers like Ms. Mostoller -- from your principal, Mr. Moss, to your custodian, Mr. Francis, / Right now in classrooms across this country -- in the communities 7 you call home -- no matter how bleak, no matter how empty things sometimes seem -- there's a teacher, a parent, a friend or family member ready to help you. They want to see you make it. If you take school seriously, you won't have to settle for a job -- any job. You'll have a career. If you make it your business to learn, one day you'll be a better parent. You may not think about it now, but one day your children will want to look up at you and say, "I've got the smartest Mom and Dad in the world." Don't you disappoint them. But most of all, if you educate yourself, you'll enjoy life. You'll have what it takes to make a difference in the world -- to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Look around you. Ask yourself who gets the most enjoyment out of life -- it's the people who live to learn. // Let me leave you with a simple message: Every time you walk through that classroom door, make it your mission to get a good education. Don't do it just because your parents -- or even this President -- tells you. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your future. // Thank you -- and good luck to every one of you this school year. // And now, Ms. Mostoller, back to your lesson. # # # THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release October 1, 1991 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT IN NATIONAL EDUCATION ADDRESS Alice Deal Junior High School Washington, D.C. 12:15 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Ms. Mostoller, and thanks for allowing me to visit your classroom to talk to you and all these students, and millions more in classrooms all across the country. You know, long before I became President I was a parent. I remember the times that my kids came up with a really tough question or a difficult decision. I tried my best never to shut them down with a quick" no." I would simply say those three magic words that made that problem disappear: "Ask your Mother." (Laughter.) Let me tell you why I've made the trip up from the White House to Alice Deal Junior High. I'm not here to teach a lesson. You already have a very good teacher. I'm not here to tell you what to do or what to think. Maybe you're accustomed to adults talking about you and at you -- well, today, I'm here to talk to you and challenge you. Education matters, and what you do today, and what you don't do can change your future. Every day, we hear more bad news about our schools. Maybe you saw today's headline -- I don't know if you had a chance to look at it -- about the release of the new National Goals Report. Get the camera to come in and take a look at this for a moment. In math, for instance, this national report card shows that, nationwide, five of six 8th graders don't know the math they need to move up to the 9th grade. In spite of troubling statistics like this one, I don't see this report, however, as just bad news, and I'll tell you why. This report tells us a lot about what you know and what you don't know. It gives us something to build on. It shows us our strengths and the weaknesses that we've got to correct. It sets forth a challenge to all of us: Work harder, learn more, revolutionize American education. I know you've heard about stanines and percentiles, surveys and statistics, but here's what all that fancy talk really means: Education means the difference between a good future and a lousy one. Reports don't give us the right to make excuses. Our scores will tell us where we are and where we need to go. I mentioned earlier the bad news we hear about schools today. But what we don't hear enough about are the success stories. You know, all over America, thousands of schools do succeed, even against tough odds, even against all odds. Kids from all over the District of Columbia petition to get into Alice Deal School here because parents know this school works. It works because of teachers like the one standing over here, Ms. Mostoller, who decided at the age of 25 -- maybe you all know this, but a lot of people around the MORE - 2 - country don't -- she decided at the age of 25 that she wanted to teach. She was standing in a supermarket checkout line when she saw a magazine ad about college. She went back to school, worked her way through in seven years, waiting tables to pay tuition. She made it, and so can you. This school here works because of students like the ones with me today -- students like Rachel Rusch -- where's Rachel? Right there, okay -- a member of Alice Deal's award-winning "Math Counts" team. Rachel, you tell me if I'm wrong, but you and six other students in this class alone have taken part in the Johns Hopkins Talent Search. They took the college entrance exams on an experimental basis last year as 7th graders. Even in junior high, some of them scored well enough to get into college right now. So let's just put it on the line. You've got the brains. Now, put them to work certainly, not for me, but for you. Progress starts when we ask more of ourselves, our schools and, yes, you, our students. We made a start nationally now by setting six National Education Goals to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. By the year 2000, at least nine in every 10 students should graduate from high school. We should be first in the world in math and science. We need to regularly test student's abilities. Every American child should start school ready to learn; every American adult should be literate; and every American school should be safe and drug-free. Reaching those goals is the aim of a strategy that we call America 2000 -- a crusade for excellence in American education -- school by school, community by community. But what does all this mean -- you might say, what is he doing, what does this all mean for the students right here in this room? Fast-forward -- five years from now. Unless things change, between now and 1996 as many as one in four of today's 8th graders will not graduate with their class. In some cities, the dropout rate is twice that high or higher. Imagine: Out of a total of nearly three million of your fellow classmates nationwide, an army of more than half a million dropouts. I ask every student watching today: Look around you. Count four students -- start with yourself. No one dreams of becoming a dropout, but far too many do. Which one of you won't make it through school? The fact is, every one of you can. Let's make a pact then right here. Let's work to see that five years from now, you and your friends will be more than sad statistics. Give yourself a decent shot at your dreams. Stay in school. Get that diploma. Let's go back to the future. In the fall of 1996 -- five years from now -- nearly half of today's 8th graders who get their diplomas will enter the working world. More than half the graduates will stay in school -- and become the college class of the year 2000. The question each student watching today should ask is: Where will I be -- where will I be five years from now? Will I be holding down a good job and maybe working toward a better one, or will I be out of school and out of work? Will I be on a college campus -- or out running the streets? Think about that tonight when you're at a kitchen table doing some homework; while your parents are meeting your teachers like so many millions do this year at back-to-school nights all across our great country. I'm asking you to put two and two together: Make the connection between the homework you do tonight, the test you take tomorrow and where you'll be five, 15, even 50 years from now. You MORE - 3 - see, the real world doesn't begin somewhere else, some time way down there in the distant future. The real world starts right here. What you do here will have consequences for your whole lives. Let me tell you something -- many of you may find very hard to believe this. You're in control. You're thinking: How can the President say that about kids like us when we don't even have our driver's license? But think about it, and you'll see what I mean. Think about drugs. You see films. You hear police experts and tough speakers from the outside. You get stern lectures from everyone -- movie stars, athletes, teachers, parents, friends. But you know and I know that all the drug prevention programs, all the pledges, all the preaching in the world won't pull you through that critical moment when someone offers drugs. At that moment, everything comes down to you. Yes or no -- you've got to choose, and the answer will change your life. Your parents won't make the decision. Your teachers won't make the decision. Your friends won't make the decision. It's up to you. It takes guts to take control. A sound body and a sound mind -- they go together -- as my friend -- and he is a friend -- Arnold Schwarzenegger says. He's crossing the nation talking with students about the importance of fitness. And real fitness means no drugs. Studies show a decline in drug use -- and that's good, that's encouraging, I think. And every student who draws the line against drugs really deserves credit for that. But drugs and violence continue to threaten every school, every small town and suburb in America. And as students, you have a right to be physically safe at school. You should never have to worry that a quarrel in the hallway will lead to gunfire in the playground. Fear should never follow you into the classroom. If you have to take the long way home after school so you don't cross paths with the gang hanging on the corner, if outsiders roam the halls of your school hassling kids, hassling students, you must take control. Go to your teacher, or go to your principal, or go to your parents -- as difficult as it may be, go to the school board if you have to. Demand discipline. If good people chicken out, bad people take control. Together, we can -- I really believe this -- we can drive the drugs and guns and senseless violence out of our schools. When it comes to your own education, what I'm saying is take control. Don't say school is boring and blame it on your teachers. Make your teachers work hard. Tell them you want a first- class education. Tell them that you're here to learn. Block out the kids who think it's not cool to be smart. I can't understand for the life of me what's so great about being stupid. If someone goofs off today, are they cool? Are they still cool years from now when they're stuck in a dead-end job? Don't let peer pressure stand between you and your dreams. Take control -- challenge yourself. Only you know how hard you work. Maybe you can fake -- maybe, just maybe you can fake your way into a job -- but you won't keep it for long if you don't have the know-how to get the job done. Maybe you can cram the week before that marking period ends, and turn that C into a B. But you can't con your way past the SAT and into college. If you don't work hard, who gets hurt? If you cheat, who pays the price? If you cut corners, if you hunt for the easy A, who comes up short? Easy answer to that one: You do. You're in control -- but you are not alone. People want you to succeed. They want to help you succeed. Here at Deal, MORE - 4 - teachers like your outstanding teacher standing here with us today, Ms. Mostoller -- from your principal, Mr. Moss, to your custodian, Mr. Francis. Right now in classrooms across this country -- in the communities you call home -- when things get tough, when answers are hard to come by -- there's a teacher, a parent, a friend or family member ready to help you. They want to see you make it. If you take school seriously, you won't have to settle for a job -- just any job. You'll have a career. If you make it your business to learn, one day you'll be a better parent. You may not think about it now, but one day your children will want to look up at you and say, "I've got the smartest Mom and Dad in the world." Don't disappoint them. Let me leave you with a simple message: Every time you walk through that classroom door, make it your mission to get a good education. Don't do it just because your parents -- or even the President -- tells you. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your future. And while you're at it, help a little brother or sister to learn -- or maybe even Mom or Dad. Let me know how you're doing. Write me a letter -- and I'm serious about this one -- write me a letter about ways you can help us achieve our goals. I think you know the address. Now we're going to walk over to the school auditorium to say hello to the rest of the student body. To all the students across the country who watched us here in this great classroom today, may I simply say thank you and good luck to you this school year. And now, Ms. Mostoller, if you'll kindly lead the way. Thank you all very much. Nice to be with you. (Applause.) END 12:27 P.M. EDT ALICE DEAL JR. HIGH, WASHINGTON, D.C. OCTOBER 1, 1991 12:10 P.M. THANK YOU, MS. MOSTOLLER [MOSS-TAH-LER], FOR ALLOWING ME TO VISIT YOUR CLASSROOM TODAY -- TO TALK TO YOUR STUDENTS, AND MILLIONS MORE IN CLASSROOMS ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY. / [[YOU KNOW, LONG BEFORE I BECAME PRESIDENT, I WAS A PARENT. I REMEMBER THE TIMES MY KIDS CAME UP WITH A REALLY TOUGH QUESTION, OR A DIFFICULT DECISION. I TRIED MY BEST NEVER TO SHUT THEM DOWN WITH A QUICK "NO." I WOULD SIMPLY SAY THOSE THREE MAGIC WORDS THAT MADE THAT PROBLEM DISAPPEAR: "ASK YOUR MOTHER." //]] LET ME TELL YOU WHY I'VE MADE THE TRIP UP FROM THE WHITE HOUSE TO ALICE DEAL JUNIOR HIGH. I'M NOT HERE TO TEACH A LESSON -- TO TELL YOU WHAT TO DO, OR WHAT TO THINK. MAYBE YOU'RE ACCUSTOMED TO ADULTS TALKING ABOUT YOU AND AT YOU -- WELL, TODAY, I'M HERE TO TALK TO YOU AND CHALLENGE YOU: ABOUT WHY EDUCATION MATTERS, ABOUT WHY WHAT YOU DO TODAY -- AND WHAT YOU DON'T DO -- CAN CHANGE YOUR FUTURE. // - 2 - EVERY DAY, WE HEAR MORE BAD NEWS ABOUT OUR SCHOOLS. MAYBE YOU SAW TODAY'S HEADLINE ABOUT THE RELEASE OF THE NEW NATIONAL GOALS REPORT. [[HOLD UP PAPER OR NEWS CLIP.1] IN MATH, FOR INSTANCE, THIS "NATIONAL REPORT CARD" SHOWS THAT, NATIONWIDE, FIVE OF SIX EIGHTH GRADERS DON'T KNOW THE MATH THEY NEED TO MOVE UP TO THE NINTH GRADE. IN SPITE OF TROUBLING STATISTICS LIKE THIS ONE, I DON'T SEE THIS REPORT AS JUST BAD NEWS -- AND I'LL TELL YOU WHY. THIS REPORT CARD TELLS US A LOT ABOUT WHAT YOU KNOW, AND WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW. IT GIVES US SOMETHING TO BUILD ON. IT SHOWS US OUR STRENGTHS -- AND THE WEAKNESSES WE'VE GOT TO CORRECT. IT SETS FORTH A CHALLENGE TO ALL OF US: WORK HARDER, LEARN MORE -- REVOLUTIONIZE AMERICAN EDUCATION. - 3 - I KNOW YOU'VE HEARD ABOUT "STANINES" AND PERCENTILES, SURVEYS AND STATISTICS, BUT HERE'S WHAT ALL THE FANCY TALK MEANS: EDUCATION MEANS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GOOD FUTURE AND A LOUSY ONE. REPORTS DON'T GIVE US THE RIGHT TO MAKE EXCUSES. OUR SCORES TELL US WHERE WE ARE -- AND WHERE WE NEED TO GO. I MENTIONED EARLIER THE BAD NEWS WE HEAR ABOUT SCHOOLS TODAY. BUT WHAT WE DON'T HEAR ENOUGH ABOUT ARE THE SUCCESS STORIES. YOU KNOW, ALL OVER AMERICA, THOUSANDS OF SCHOOLS DO SUCCEED: EVEN AGAINST ALL ODDS. KIDS FROM ALL OVER THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PETITION TO GET INTO ALICE DEAL -- BECAUSE PARENTS KNOW THIS SCHOOL WORKS. IT WORKS BECAUSE OF TEACHERS LIKE MS. MOSTOLLER, WHO DECIDED AT THE AGE OF 25 SHE WANTED TO TEACH. SHE WAS STANDING IN A SUPERMARKET CHECKOUT LINE WHEN SHE SAW A MAGAZINE AD ABOUT COLLEGE. SHE WENT BACK TO SCHOOL, WORKED HER WAY THROUGH IN SEVEN YEARS, WAITING TABLES TO PAY TUITION. SHE MADE IT -- AND so CAN YOU. // - 4 - THIS SCHOOL HERE WORKS BECAUSE OF STUDENTS LIKE THE ONES WITH ME TODAY -- STUDENTS LIKE RACHEL RUSCH [RUSH], A MEMBER OF ALICE DEAL'S AWARD-WINNING "MATH COUNTS" TEAM. RACHEL AND SIX OTHER STUDENTS IN THIS CLASS ALONE HAVE TAKEN PART IN THE JOHNS HOPKINS TALENT SEARCH: THEY TOOK THE COLLEGE-ENTRANCE EXAMS ON AN EXPERIMENTAL BASIS LAST YEAR AS 7TH GRADERS. EVEN IN JUNIOR HIGH, SOME OF THEM SCORED WELL ENOUGH TO GET INTO COLLEGE RIGHT NOW. // so LET'S JUST PUT IT ON THE LINE. YOU'VE GOT THE BRAINS. NOW, PUT THEM TO WORK -- NOT FOR ME, BUT FOR YOU. - 5 - PROGRESS STARTS WHEN WE ASK MORE -- OF OURSELVES, OUR SCHOOLS, AND YES YOU, OUR STUDENTS. WE MADE A START BY SETTING SIX NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS TO MEET THE CHALLENGES OF THE 21ST CENTURY. BY THE YEAR 2000, AT LEAST NINE IN EVERY TEN STUDENTS SHOULD GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL. WE SHOULD BE FIRST IN THE WORLD IN MATH AND SCIENCE. EVERY AMERICAN CHILD SHOULD START SCHOOL READY TO LEARN; EVERY AMERICAN ADULT SHOULD BE LITERATE -- AND EVERY AMERICAN SCHOOL SHOULD BE SAFE AND DRUG-FREE. REACHING THOSE GOALS IS THE AIM OF A STRATEGY WE CALL AMERICA 2000 -- A CRUSADE FOR EXCELLENCE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION -- SCHOOL BY SCHOOL, COMMUNITY BY COMMUNITY. // - 6 - BUT WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN FOR THE STUDENTS RIGHT HERE IN THIS ROOM? FAST-FORWARD -- FIVE YEARS FROM NOW. UNLESS THINGS CHANGE, BETWEEN NOW AND 1996 AS MANY AS ONE IN FOUR OF TODAY'S 8TH GRADERS WILL NOT GRADUATE WITH THEIR CLASS. IN SOME CITIES, THE DROP OUT RATE IS TWICE THAT HIGH OR HIGHER. IMAGINE: OUT OF A TOTAL OF NEARLY 3 MILLION OF YOUR FELLOW CLASSMATES NATIONWIDE, AN ARMY OF MORE THAN HALF-A- MILLION DROPOUTS. I ASK EVERY STUDENT WATCHING TODAY: LOOK AROUND YOU. COUNT FOUR STUDENTS -- START WITH YOURSELF. NO ONE DREAMS OF BECOMING A DROPOUT, BUT FAR TOO MANY DO. WHICH ONE OF YOU WON'T MAKE IT THROUGH SCHOOL? - 7 - // THE FACT IS, EVERY ONE OF YOU CAN. // LET'S MAKE A PACT RIGHT HERE. LET'S WORK TO SEE THAT FIVE YEARS FROM NOW, YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS WILL BE MORE THAN SAD STATISTICS. GIVE YOURSELF A DECENT SHOT AT YOUR DREAMS. STAY IN SCHOOL. GET THAT DIPLOMA. LET'S GO BACK TO THE FUTURE. IN THE FALL OF 1996, NEARLY HALF OF TODAY'S EIGHTH GRADERS WHO GET THEIR DIPLOMAS WILL ENTER THE WORKING WORLD. MORE THAN HALF THE GRADUATES WILL STAY IN SCHOOL -- AND BECOME THE COLLEGE CLASS OF THE YEAR 2000. THE QUESTION EACH STUDENT WATCHING TODAY SHOULD ASK IS: WHERE WILL I BE FIVE YEARS FROM NOW? WILL I BE HOLDING DOWN A GOOD JOB AND WORKING TOWARD A BETTER ONE -- OR WILL I BE OUT OF SCHOOL AND OUT OF WORK? WILL I BE ON A COLLEGE CAMPUS -- OR OUT RUNNING THE STREETS? - 8 - THINK ABOUT THAT TONIGHT -- WHEN YOU'RE AT THE KITCHEN TABLE DOING HOMEWORK; WHILE YOUR PARENTS ARE COMING HERE TO ALICE DEAL TO MEET YOUR TEACHERS -- LIKE SO MANY MILLIONS DO THIS TIME OF YEAR AT BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHTS ACROSS AMERICA. I'M ASKING YOU TO PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER: MAKE THE CONNECTION -- BETWEEN THE HOMEWORK YOU DO TONIGHT -- THE TEST YOU TAKE TOMORROW -- AND WHERE YOU'LL BE FIVE, FIFTEEN AND FIFTY YEARS FROM NOW. YOU SEE, THE REAL WORLD DOESN'T BEGIN SOMEWHERE ELSE, AND SOME TIME IN THE DISTANT FUTURE. THE REAL WORLD STARTS RIGHT HERE. WHAT YOU DO HERE WILL HAVE CONSEQUENCES YOUR WHOLE LIVES. LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING MANY OF YOU MAY FIND HARD TO BELIEVE. YOU'RE IN CONTROL. [[YOU'RE THINKING: HOW CAN THE PRESIDENT SAY THAT ABOUT KIDS LIKE US WHEN WE DON'T EVEN HAVE OUR DRIVERS' LICENSES?]] BUT THINK ABOUT IT, AND YOU'LL SEE WHAT I MEAN. - 9 - THINK ABOUT DRUGS. YOU SEE FILMS. YOU HEAR POLICE EXPERTS AND TOUGH SPEAKERS FROM THE OUTSIDE. YOU GET STERN LECTURES FROM EVERYONE -- MOVIE STARS, ATHLETES, TEACHERS, PARENTS, FRIENDS. BUT YOU KNOW AND I KNOW THAT ALL THE DRUG PREVENTION PROGRAMS -- ALL THE PLEDGES -- ALL THE PREACHING IN THE WORLD WON'T PULL YOU THROUGH THAT CRITICAL MOMENT WHEN SOMEONE OFFERS DRUGS. AT THAT MOMENT, EVERYTHING COMES DOWN TO YOU. YES OR NO: YOU'VE GOT TO CHOOSE, AND THE ANSWER WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. YOUR PARENTS WON'T MAKE THE DECISION. YOUR TEACHERS WON'T MAKE THE DECISION. YOUR FRIENDS WON'T MAKE THE DECISION. IT'S UP TO YOU: IT TAKES GUTS TO TAKE CONTROL. // A SOUND BODY AND A SOUND MIND -- THEY GO TOGETHER -- AS MY FRIEND ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER SAYS. HE'S CROSSING THE NATION TALKING WITH STUDENTS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF FITNESS. AND REAL FITNESS MEANS NO DRUGS. - 10 - STUDIES SHOW A DECLINE IN DRUG USE -- AND EVERY STUDENT WHO DRAWS THE LINE AGAINST DRUGS DESERVES CREDIT FOR THAT. / BUT DRUGS AND VIOLENCE CONTINUE TO THREATEN EVERY SCHOOL, EVERY SMALL TOWN AND SUBURB IN AMERICA. AS STUDENTS, YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO BE PHYSICALLY SAFE AT SCHOOL. YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE TO WORRY THAT A QUARREL IN THE HALLWAY WILL LEAD TO GUNFIRE IN THE PLAYGROUND. YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO FEAR FOR YOUR LIFE IF YOU CRITICIZE SOMEONE WHO WEARS A BEEPER IN CLASS. FEAR SHOULD NEVER FOLLOW YOU INTO THE CLASSROOM. // IF YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME AFTER SCHOOL so YOU DON'T CROSS PATHS WITH THE GANG HANGING ON THE CORNER, IF OUTSIDERS ROAM THE HALLS OF YOUR SCHOOL HASSLING STUDENTS, YOU MUST TAKE CONTROL. GO TO YOUR TEACHER, GO TO YOUR PRINCIPAL, GO TO YOUR PARENTS -- AS DIFFICULT AS IT MAY BE, GO TO THE SCHOOL BOARD IF YOU HAVE TO. DEMAND DISCIPLINE. IF GOOD PEOPLE CHICKEN OUT, BAD PEOPLE TAKE CONTROL. TOGETHER, WE CAN DRIVE THE DRUGS AND GUNS AND SENSELESS VIOLENCE OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS. // - 11 - WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR OWN EDUCATION: TAKE CONTROL. DON'T SAY SCHOOL IS BORING, AND BLAME IT ON YOUR TEACHERS. MAKE YOUR TEACHERS WORK HARD. TELL THEM YOU WANT A FIRST-CLASS EDUCATION. TELL THEM YOU'RE HERE TO LEARN. BLOCK OUT THE KIDS WHO THINK IT'S NOT COOL TO BE SMART. I CAN'T UNDERSTAND FOR THE LIFE OF ME WHAT'S so GREAT ABOUT BEING STUPID. IF SOMEONE GOOFS OFF TODAY, ARE THEY COOL? ARE THEY STILL COOL YEARS FROM NOW, WHEN THEY'RE STUCK IN A DEAD-END JOB? DON'T LET PEER PRESSURE STAND BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR DREAMS. TAKE CONTROL -- CHALLENGE YOURSELF. ONLY YOU KNOW HOW HARD YOU WORK. MAYBE YOU CAN FAKE YOUR WAY INTO A JOB -- BUT YOU WON'T KEEP IT FOR LONG IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE KNOW-HOW TO GET THE JOB DONE. MAYBE YOU CAN CRAM THE WEEK BEFORE THE MARKING PERIOD ENDS, AND TURN THAT C INTO A B. BUT YOU CAN'T CON YOUR WAY PAST THE SAT AND INTO COLLEGE. / IF YOU DON'T WORK HARD -- WHO GETS HURT? IF YOU CHEAT -- WHO PAYS THE PRICE? IF YOU CUT CORNERS, IF YOU HUNT FOR THE EASY A -- WHO COMES UP SHORT? EASY: YOU DO. YOU'RE IN CONTROL -- BUT - 12 - YOU'RE NOT ALONE. PEOPLE WANT TO HELP YOU SUCCEED. HERE AT DEAL, TEACHERS LIKE MS. MOSTOLLER FROM YOUR PRINCIPAL, MR. MOSS, TO YOUR CUSTODIAN, MR. FRANCIS. / RIGHT NOW IN CLASSROOMS ACROSS THIS COUNTRY -- IN THE COMMUNITIES YOU CALL HOME -- WHEN THINGS GET TOUGH, WHEN ANSWERS ARE HARD TO COME BY -- THERE'S A TEACHER, A PARENT, A FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER READY TO HELP YOU. THEY WANT TO SEE YOU MAKE IT. IF YOU TAKE SCHOOL SERIOUSLY, YOU WON'T HAVE TO SETTLE FOR A JOB -- ANY JOB. YOU'LL HAVE A CAREER. IF YOU MAKE IT YOUR BUSINESS TO LEARN, ONE DAY YOU'LL BE A BETTER PARENT. YOU MAY NOT THINK ABOUT IT NOW, BUT ONE DAY YOUR CHILDREN WILL WANT TO LOOK UP AT YOU AND SAY, "I'VE GOT THE SMARTEST MOM AND DAD IN THE WORLD." DON'T YOU DISAPPOINT THEM. BUT MOST OF ALL, IF YOU EDUCATE YOURSELF, YOU'LL ENJOY LIFE. YOU'LL HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD -- TO BE A PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER THAN YOURSELF. LOOK AROUND YOU. ASK YOURSELF WHO GETS THE MOST ENJOYMENT OUT OF LIFE -- IT'S THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE TO LEARN. // - 13 - LET ME LEAVE YOU WITH A SIMPLE MESSAGE: EVERY TIME YOU WALK THROUGH THAT CLASSROOM DOOR, MAKE IT YOUR MISSION TO GET A GOOD EDUCATION. DON'T DO IT JUST BECAUSE YOUR PARENTS -- OR EVEN THIS PRESIDENT -- TELLS YOU. DO IT FOR YOURSELVES. DO IT FOR YOUR FUTURE. AND WHILE YOU'RE AT IT, HELP A LITTLE BROTHER OR SISTER TO LEARN -- OR MAYBE EVEN MOM OR DAD. LET ME KNOW HOW YOU'RE DOING. WRITE ME A LETTER ABOUT WAYS YOU CAN HELP US ACHIEVE OUR GOALS. I THINK YOU KNOW MY ADDRESS. THANK YOU -- AND GOOD LUCK TO EVERY ONE OF YOU THIS SCHOOL YEAR. // AND NOW, MS. MOSTOLLER, BACK TO YOUR LESSON. # # # THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON September 27, 1991 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT THROUGH: DAVE DEMAREST TONY SNOW TS FROM: DAN MC GROARTY Dr.r SUBJECT: BACK TO SCHOOL ADDRESS I. SUMMARY At 12:00 noon, on Tuesday, October 1, you will deliver the Back to School Address. Your immediate audience at Alice Deal Junior High is Mrs. Mostoller's class of 28 Eight Graders. The extended audience is a nationwide audience of Eighth through Twelfth Graders, watching via PBS and other stations. After the classroom address, you will proceed to the school auditorium accompanied by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Florence Joyner to meet briefly with the rest of the student body. II. DISCUSSION Your trip into the classroom underscores the student's central place in the overall education strategy. You will talk to the students, rather than simply about them. You mention the "national report card" in the context of a challenge to today's students, rather than a status report on the state of our schools. Your message challenges students to take control -- encouraging them to take responsibility for their own education. You ask students to confront their futures -- to face the very real prospect of dropping out, using drugs and failing to take advantage of their time in school. McGroarty/Bunton September 27, 1991 7:30 pm [SCHOOL.TS] PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ALICE DEAL JR. HIGH, WASHINGTON, D.C. OCTOBER 1, 1991 12:10 P.M. Thank you, Ms. Mostoller [MOSS-tah-ler], for allowing me to visit your classroom today -- to talk to your students, and millions more in classrooms all across the country. / You know, long before I became President, I was a parent. I remember the times my kids came up with a really tough question, or a difficult decision. I tried my best never to shut them down with a quick "No." I would simply say those three magic words that made that problem disappear: "Ask your Mother.' II // No parent's perfect. Especially when you're in your teens - - and your parents hit that awkward age. / X Let me tell you why I've made the trip up from the White House to Alice Deal Junior High. I'm not here to teach a lesson -- to tell you what to do, or what to think. Maybe you're accustomed to adults talking about you and at you -- well, today, and to challenge you: I'm here to talk to you about why education matters, about why what you do today --- and what you don't do -- can change your future. // Every day, we hear more bad news about our schools. Maybe you saw today's headline about the release of the new National Goals Report. [[HOLD UP PAPER OR NEWS CLIP. ]] In math, for instance, this "national report card" shows that, nationwide, 2 five of six Eighth Graders don't know the math they need to move up to the Ninth Grade. In spite of troubling statistics like this one, I don't see this report as just bad news -- and I'll tell you why. This report card tells us a lot about what you know, and what you don't know. It gives us something to build on. It shows us our strengths -- and the weaknesses we've got to correct. It sets forth a challenge to all of us: work harder, learn more -- revolutionize American education. I know you've heard about "stanines" and percentiles, surveys and statistics, but here's what all the fancy talk means: Education means the difference between a good future and a lousy one. Reports don't give us the right to make excuses. Our I mentioned carlier the bad news we hear abant schools do today. But what enough after about hear are scores tell us where we are and where we need to go. All over America, schools succeed -- even against all odds. the ^ success Kids from all over the District of Columbia petition to get into stories. you Alice Deal -- because parents know this school works. It works know, because of teachers like Ms. Mostoller, who decided at the age of 25 she wanted to teach. She was standing in a supermarket checkout line when she saw a magazine ad about college. She went to school back worked her way through school in seven years, waiting tables to pay tuition. She made it -- and so can you. // here This school works because of students like the ones with me today -- students like Rachel Rusch [RUSH], a member of Alice Deal's award-winning "Math Counts" team. Rachel and six others kids in this class alone have taken part in the Johns Hopkins 3 They Talent Search: You took the college-entrance exams on an experimental basis last year as 7th Graders. Even in junior tom high, some of you scored well enough to get into college right now. // So let's just put it on the line. You've got the brains. Now you must put them to work not for me, but for you. Progress starts when we ask more -- of ourselves, our schools, and yes you, our students. We made a start by setting six National Education Goals to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. By the year 2000, at least nine in every ten students should graduate from high school. We should be first in the world in math and science. Every American child should start school ready to learn; every American adult should be literate - - and every American school should be safe and drug-free. Reaching those goals is the aim of a strategy call America 2000 for ycellencein -- a crusade to transform American education school by school, community by community. // But what does all this mean for the kids right here in this room? Fast-forward five years from now. Unless things change, between now and 1996 as many as one in four of today's 8th Graders will not graduate with their class. In some cities, the drop out rate is twice that high or higher. Imagine: Out of a total of nearly 3 million of your fellow classmates nationwide, an army of more than half-a-million dropouts. I ask every student watching today: look around you. Count four students -- start with yourself. No one dreams of becoming a dropout, but far too many do. Which one of you won't make it drough school? 4 // The fact is, every one of you can. // Let's make a pact right here. Let's work to see that five years from now, you and your friends will be more than sad statistics. Give yourself a decent shot at your dreams. Stay in school. Get that diploma. Let's go back to the future. In the fall of 1996, nearly half of today's Eighth Graders who get their diplomas will enter the working world. More than half the graduates will stay in school -- and become the college class of the year 2000. The question each student watching today should ask is: Where will I be five years from now? Will I be holding down a good job and working toward a better one -- or will I be out of school and out of work? Will I be on a college campus -- or out running the streets? Think about that tonight -- when you're at the kitchen table doing homework; while your parents are coming here to Alice Deal to meet your teachers -- like so many millions do this time of year at Back to School Nights across America. I'm asking you to put two and two together: Make the connection -- between the homework you do tonight -- the test you take tomorrow -- and where you'll be five, fifteen and fifty years from now. You see, the real world doesn't begin somewhere else, and some time in the distant future. The real world starts right here. What you do here will have consequences your whole lives. Let me tell you something many of you may find hard to believe. You're in control. [[You're thinking: How can the 5 when we President say that about kids like us A who don't even have their our drivers' licenses?] But think about it, and you' 11 see what I mean. Think about drugs. You see films. You hear police experts and tough speakers from the outside. You get stern lectures from everyone -- movie stars, athletes, teachers, parents, friends. But you know and I know that all the drug prevention programs -- all the pledges -- all the preaching in the world won't pull you through that critical moment when someone offers drugs. At that moment, everything comes down to you. Yes or No: You've got to choose, and the answer will change your life. Your parents won't make the decision. Your teachers won't make the decision. Your friends won't make the decision. It's up to you: It takes guts to take control. // Studies show a decline in drug use -- and every student who draws the line against drugs deserves credit for that. / But drugs and violence continue to threaten every school, every small town and suburb in America. As students, you have a right to be physically safe at school. You should never have to worry that a quarrel in the hallway will lead to / gunfight in the playground. You shouldn't have to fear for your life if you criticize someone who wears a beeper in class. Fear should never follow you into the classroom. / / If you have to take the long way home after school SO you don't cross paths with the gang hanging on the corner, if outsiders roam the halls of your school hassling students, you 6 must take control. Go to your teacher, go to your principal, go to your parents -- as difficult as it may be, go to the school board if you have to. Demand discipline. If good people chicken out, bad people take control. So let's drive the drugs and guns and senseless violence out of our schools. // When it comes to your own education: take control. Don't say school is boring, and blame it on your teachers. Make your teachers work hard. Tell them you want a first-class education. Tell them you're here to learn. Block out the kids who think it's not cool to be smart. I can't understand for the life of me what's so great about being stupid. If someone goofs off today, they're cool. But what Are they still cool about years from now, when they're stuck in a dead-end job? Don't let peer pressure stand between you and your dreams. Take control -- challenge yourself. Only you know how hard you work. Maybe you can fake your way into a job -- but you won't keep it for long if you don't have the know-how to get the job done. Maybe you can cram the week before the marking period ends, and turn that C into a B. But you can't con your way past the SAT and into college. / If you don't work hard -- who gets hurt? If you cheat -- who pays the price? If you cut corners, if you hunt for the easy A -- who comes up short? Easy: You do. You're in control -- but you're not alone. People want to help you succeed. Here at Deal, teachers like Ms. Mostoller -- from your principal, Mr. Moss, to your custodian, Mr. Francis / Right now in classrooms across this country -- in the communities when things get tough, when answers are come hard by to you call home -- no matter how bleak, no matter how empty things sometimes seem -- there's a teacher, a parent, a friend or family member ready to help you. They want to see you make it. If you take school seriously, you won't have to settle for a job -- any job. You'll have a career. If you make it your business to learn, one day you'll be a better parent. You may not think about it now, but one day your children will want to look up at you and say, "I've got the smartest Mom and Dad in the world." Don't you disappoint them. But most of all, if you educate yourself, you'll enjoy life. You'll have what it takes to make a difference in the world -- to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Look around you. Ask yourself who gets the most enjoyment out of life -- it's the people who live to learn. // Let me leave you with a simple message: Every time you walk through that classroom door, make it your mission to get a good education. Don't do it just because your parents -- or even this President -- tells you. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your future. // And while your at it, help a little brother or sister to learn or maybe even man or Dad. Let meknow Thank you -- and good luck to every one of you this school dong; how your year. // And now, Ms. Mostoller, back to your lesson. I'm in the book. # # # Document No. 273650ss gl WHITE P1:44 pl: HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM DATE: 9/26/91 ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: FRIDAY, 9/27/91 2:00 pm PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ALICE DEAL JR. HIGH, WASHINGTON, D.C. SUBJECT: OCTOBER 1, 12:10 pm ACTION FYI ACTION FYI VICE PRESIDENT HORNER SUNUNU MCCLURE SCOWCROFT PETERSMEYER DARMAN PORTER < BRADY ROGICH BROMLEY SMITH N/C SNOW CARD DEMAREST FITZWATER GRAY N/C HOLIDAY REMARKS: Please forward your comments directly to Tony Snow, Rm. 122, x2930, no later than 2:00 pm, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 with a copy to this office. Thank you. RESPONSE: PHILLIP D. BRADY Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary Ext. 2702 McGroarty/Bunton September 26, 1991 12:30 pm 91 SEP 26 P12 22 [SCHOOL.' TS] PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ALICE DEAL JR. HIGH, WASHINGTON, D.C. OCTOBER 1, 1991 12:10 P.M. Thank you, Mrs. Mosteller, for allowing me to visit your classroom today. [[TO STUDENTS] And let me thank all of you for letting millions of kids in classrooms all across the country tune in to hear what I'm about to say. You know, long before I became President, I was a parent. I remember the times my kids came up with a really tough question, or a difficult decision. I tried my best never to shut them down with a quick "No." I would simply say those three magic words that made that problem disappear: "Ask your Mother." // No parent's perfect. Especially, now -- when you've reached your teens, and your parents hit that awkward age. // Let me tell you why I've made the trip up from the White House to Alice Deal Junior High. I'm not here to teach a lesson. I'm not here to tell you what to do, or what to think. When it comes to education, you're accustomed to adults talking about you and at you -- well, today, I'm here to talk to you. Every day, we hear more bad news about our schools. Maybe you saw today's headline about the release of the new National Goals Report. Report Card. [[HOLD UP PAPER OR NEWS CLIP. ]] In math, for card" 5 out of 6 8 Grader instance, the national report shows that of all Eighth Graders colleagues tested nationwide don it know the math they need to know to go in 1990, just a fraction 18 percent could function on at even the 7th Grade level. to the 9th Grade. 2 In spite of statistics like this one, I don't see this new all report as bad news -- and I'll tell you why. This report card tells us a lot more about what you know, and what you don't know. It gives us something to build on. It shows us our strengths -- and the weaknesses we've got to correct. It sets forth a challenge to work harder, to learn more, to revolutionize American education. I know you've heard about stanines and percentiles, surveys and statistics, but here's what all the fancy talk means: Education means the difference between a good future and a lousy one. Scores tell us where we are, and where we need to go. But they don't give us the right to make excuses. All over America, schools succeed -- against all odds. Kids from all over the District of Columbia petition to get into Alice Deal -- because parents know this school works. It works because of teachers like Mrs. Mosteller, who decided at the age of 25 she wanted to teach. She went back to school, worked her way through college, spent seven years waiting tables to pay tuition. [[She made it -- and so can you. ]] // This school works because of students like you. Some of you have taken part in the Johns Hopkins Talent Search: You took the college-entrance exams on an experimental basis as 7th Graders. last year And even in junior high, some of you scored well enough to get into many colleges. [[ACKNOWLEDGE STUDENTS BY NAME]] // So let's just put it on the line. You've got the brains. Now you must put them to work. 3 Fast-forward five years from now. Nationwide, between now and 1996, as many as one in five of today's 8th Graders will not graduate with their class. In some cities, the drop out rate will climb twice that high or higher. Imagine that: Out of a total of nearly 3 million of your fellow classmates nationwide, an army of more than half-a-million dropouts. I ask every student watching today: look around you. Count five students -- start with yourself. No one dreams of becoming a dropout, but far too many do. Which one of you won't make it? // Let's make a pact right here. Let's work to see that five years from now, you and your friends will be more than sad statistics. Give yourself a decent shot at your dreams. Stay in school. // Let's go back to the future. In the fall of 1996, just under half of today's eighth Graders who get their diplomas will enter the working world. More than half the graduates will stay in school -- and become the college class of the year 2000. The question for each student watching today is: Where will you be five years from now? Will you be holding down a good job and working toward a better one -- or will you be out of school and out of work? Will you be on a college campus -- or out running the streets? Think about that tonight -- when you're at the kitchen table doing homework; while your parents are coming here to Alice Deal to meet your teachers -- like so many millions do this time of year at Back to School Nights across America. 4 I'm asking you to put two and two together: Make the connection -- between the homework you do tonight -- the test you take tomorrow -- and where you'll be five, fifteen and fifty years from now. You see, the real world doesn't begin somewhere else, and some time in the distance future. The real world starts right here. What you do here will have consequences your whole lives. Let me tell you something many of you may find hard to believe. You're in control. [[You're thinking: How can the President say that about kids who don't even have their drivers' licenses?] But think about it, and you'll see what I mean. Think about drugs. You see films. You hear police experts and tough speakers from the outside. You get stern lectures from everyone -- movie stars, athletes, teachers, parents, friends. But you know and I know that all the drug prevention programs -- all the pledges -- all the preaching in the world won't pull you through that critical moment when someone offers drugs. At that moment, everything comes down to you. Yes or No: You've got to choose, and the answer will change your life. Your parents won't make the decision. Your teachers won't make the decision. Your friends won't make the decision. It's up to you: It takes guts to take control. // Drugs and violence threaten every school, every small town and suburb in America. As students, you have a right to be physically safe at school. You should never have to worry that a quarrel in the hallway will lead to a gunfight in the playground. 5 You shouldn't have to fear for your life if you criticize someone who wears a beeper in class. Fear should never follow you into the classroom. // If you have to take the long way home after school so you don't cross paths with the gang hanging on the corner, if outsiders roam the halls of your school hassling students, you must take control. Go to your teacher, go to your principal, go to your parents -- as difficult as it may be, go to the school board of you have to. Demand discipline. If good people chicken out, bad people take control. So let's drive the drugs and guns and senseless violence out of our schools. // When it comes to your own education: take control. Don't say school is boring, and blame it on bad teachers. Find the good teachers. Tell them you want an education. Tell them you're here to learn. Block out the kids who think it's not cool to be smart. I can't understand for the life of me what's so great about being stupid. If someone goofs off today, they're cool -- they're McClore- delate. Homer Simpson. But what about years from now, when they're stuck in a dead-end job? Don't let peer pressure stand between you and your dreams. Take control -- challenge yourself. Only you know how hard you work. Maybe you can fake your way into a job -- but you won't keep it if you don't have the know-how to get the job done. Maybe you can cram the week before the marking period ends, and turn that C into a B. But you can't con your way past the SAT 6 and into college. And you certainly can't con your way through the working world. / If you don't work hard -- who gets hurt? If you cheat -- who pays the price? If you cut corners, if you ? hunt for the easy A -- who comes up short? Easy: You do. You're in control -- but you're not alone. People want to help you succeed. Here at Deal, teachers like Mrs. Mosteller -- your principal, Mr. Moss. / Right now in classrooms across this country -- in the communities every you kid calls / home -- no matter how bleak, no matter how empty things sometimes seem -- there's a teacher, a parent, a friend or family member ready to help you. They want to see you make it. [[TRANSITION: SEGUE TO AUDITORIUM WITH SPECIAL GUEST ]] If you take school seriously, you won't have to settle for just a job. You'll have a career. If you make it your business to learn, one day, you'll be a better parent. You may not think about it now, but one day your children will want to look up at you and say, "I've got the smartest Mom and Dad in the world." Don't you disappoint them. But most of all, if you educate yourself, you'll enjoy life. You'll have what it takes to make a difference in the world -- to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Look around you. Ask yourself who gets the most enjoyment out of life -- it's the people who live to learn. // Let me leave you with a simple message: Every time you walk in that classroom door, make it your mission to get a good education. Don't do it because your parents -- or even this 7 President -- tells you. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your future. // Thank you -- and good luck to every one of you this school year. // And now, Mrs. Mosteller, back to your lesson. # # # PERSONAL STORY? McGroarty/Bunton September 26, 1991 12:30 pm 31 SEP 26 P12: 22 [SCHOOL.TS] PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ALICE DEAL JR. HIGH, WASHINGTON, D.C. OCTOBER 1, 1991 12:10 P.M. Thank you, Mrs. Mosteller, for allowing me to visit your classroom today. [[TO STUDENTS]] And let me thank all of you for letting millions of kids in classrooms all across the country JOIN US HERE IN OUR NATION'S CAPITOL TODAY. tune in to hear what I'm about to say You know, long before I became President, I was a parent. I remember the times my kids came up with a really tough question, or a difficult decision. I tried my best never to shut them down fut with a quick "No." I would simply say those three magic words that made that problem disappear: "Ask your Mother." // No parent's perfect. Especially, now when you -ve reached. C your teens, and your parents hit that awkward age. LLC Let me tell you why I've made COME the trip up from the White House to Alice Deal Junior High. I'm not here to teach a lesson. stat I wanted I'm not here to tell you what to do, or what to think. When it comes to education, you re accustomed to adults talking about you to spend some time with you today talking about why education and at you well, today, I'm here to talk to you. matters, why what you do today -- or what you don't do will make a difference in terms of your future. Every day, we hear more bad news about our schools. Maybe you saw today's headline about the release of the new National EDUCATIC GOALS Report Card. [[HOLD UP PAPER OR NEWS CLIP. ]] In math, for instance, the national report shows that of all Eighth Graders Lamor tested in 1990, just a fraction -- 18 percent could function at even the 7th Grade level. are ONE IN FIVE EDUCATION IT TELLS US HOW FAR WE NEED TO GO TO REACH/GOALS WE'VE SET FOR THE YEAR 2000 AND THAT YEAR is NOT so VERY FAR AWAY AS IT MAY SEEM TO SOME OF you NOW. 2 In spite of statistics like this one, I don't see this new report as bad news -- and I'll tell you why. This report card tells us a lot more about what you know, and what you don't know. It gives us something to build on. It shows us our strengths -- and the weaknesses we've got to correct. It sets forth a FOR ALL OF US - challenge/to work harder, to learn more, to revolutionize American education. [AND EACH AND EVERY ONE OF you [CAN/MUST] CONTRIBUT TO THIS I know you've heard about stanines and percentiles, surveys NATIONAL [AND FOR and statistics But here's what all ailt the ALL fancy talk means: EFFOR is -HOSE Education means the difference between a good future and a lousy IOUNGER ¡TUDENTS one. Scores tell us where we are, and where we need to go. But OUT THERE they don't give us the right to make excuses. WHO LIKE ME- -DON'TYET All over America, schools succeed -- against all odds. Kids Now from all over the District of Columbia petition to get into Alice UHAT A ITANINE Deal -- because parents know this school works. It works because 15--I of teachers like Mrs. Mosteller, who decided at the age of 25 she GUESS WE HAVE wanted to teach. She went back to school, worked her way through some THING TO LOOK college, spent seven years waiting tables to pay tuition. [[She SET HER GOALS AND WORKED HARD TO MEET THEM FORWARD made it -- and so can you.]] // To] This schools works because of students like you. Some of you have taken part in the Johns Hopkins Talent Search: You took the college-entrance exams on an experimental basis as 7th Graders. And even in junior high, some of you scored well enough to get into many colleges. [[ACKNOWLEDGE STUDENTS BY NAME]]. // So let's just put it on the line. You've got the brains. Now you must put them to work. IF WE CONTINUES AS WE ARE TODAY - WITH NO CHANGES,-- 3 Fast-forward five years from now. Nationwide, between now and 1996, as many as one in five of today's 8th Graders will not graduate with their class. In some cities, the drop out rate COULD will climb twice that high or higher. Imagine that: out of a stat total of nearly 3 million of your fellow classmates nationwide, an army of more than half-a-million dropouts. I ask every student watching today: look around you. Count five students -- start with yourself. No one dreams of becoming HAVE EVERY CAN a dropout, but far too many do. Which one of you won't make it? // Let's make a pact right here. Let's work to see that five-AND AND TEAN WE DON'T HAVE years from now, you and your friends will be more than sad statistics. Give yourself a decent shot at your dreams. Stay In school. 111 GET THAT DIPLOMA. WHEN YOU Let's go back to the future. In the fall of 1996, just HAVE THOSE DEGREES, MANY OF you under half of today eighth Graders who get their diplomas will CHOOSE MANY OF YOU CHOOSE TO TO enter the working world. More than half the graduates will, stay in school -- and become the college class of the year 2000. The question for each student watching today is: Where will OR TEN you be five/years from now? Will you be holding down a good job D² and working toward a better one -- or will you be out of school and out of work? Will you be on a college campus -- or out ONE running the streets? THING 15 HOME Think about that tonight -- when you're at the kitchen table OR SURE U YOU doing homework; while your parents are coming here to Alice Deal TAVE THAT to meet your teachers -- like so many millions do this time of ZIPLOMA, YOU'RE year at Back to School Nights across America." WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS? AND DON'T SHY AWAY FROM ON YOUR WAY--IF YOU DON'T, YOU'RE SETTING THEM HIGH, YOU CAN ON YOUR WAY TO NOWHERE. CAN Do IT.- BUT THAT ROAD BEGINS TODAY. WHAT STEP 4 I'm asking you to put two and two together: Make the connection -- between the homework you do tonight -- the test you take tomorrow -- and where you'll be five, fifteen and fifty years from now. You see, the real world doesn't begin somewhere else, and some time in the distance future. The real world starts right here. What you do here will have consequences your AND IT'S UP TO YOU TO PARTICIPATE IN YOUR EDUCATION- whole lives. TO MAKE THE DIFFERENCE. Let me tell you something many of you may find hard to believe. You're in control. [[You're thinking: How can the President say that about kids who don't even have their drivers' licenses?]] But think about it, and you'll see what I mean. Think about drugs. You see films. You hear police experts and tough speakers from the outside. You get stern lectures from everyone -- movie stars, athletes, teachers, parents, friends. But you know and I know that all the drug prevention programs -- all the pledges -- all the preaching in the world won't pull you through that critical moment when someone offers drugs. At that moment, everything comes down to you. Yes or No: You've got to choose, and the answer will change your life. Your parents won't make the decision. Your teachers won't make the decision. Your friends won't make the decision. It's up to you: It takes guts to take control. // Drugs and violence threaten every school, every small town and suburb in America. As students, you have a right to be physically safe at school. You should never have to worry that a quarrel in the hallway will lead to a gunfight in the playground. 5 You shouldn't have to fear for your life if you criticize someone who wears a beeper in class. Fear should never follow you into the classroom. // If you have to take the long way home after school so you don't cross paths with the gang hanging on the corner, if outsiders roam the halls of your school hassling students, you must take control. Go to your teacher, go to your principal, go to your parents -- as difficult as it may be, go to the school board of you have to. Demand discipline. If good people chicken out, bad people take control. So let's drive the drugs and guns and senseless violence out of our schools. // When it comes to your own education: take control. Don't. YOUR MAKE YOUR say school is boring, and blame it on bad teachers. Find the TEACHERS WORK HARD good teachers. Tell them you want an education. Tell them ASK THE TOUGH QUESTIONS. IF EDUCATION WERE A you're here to learn. BUSINESS, YOU'D BE THE STOCKHOLDERS. DON'T BELIEVE ANYONE WHO SAYS Block out the kids who think it's not cool toybe to be smart. I WORK HARD AND can't understand for the life of me what's so great about being stupid. If someone goofs off today, they're cool -- they're Homer Simpson. But what about years from now, when they're stuck WITHOUT A in a dead end job? Don't let peer pressure stand between you and your dreams. SET YOUR SIGHTS ON YOUR GOALS AND GO FOR IT. - Baseball insent Take control -- challenge yourself. You know how hard AND WHETHER you work. Maybe you can fake your way into a job -- but you YOU ARE DOING won't keep it if you don't have the know-how to get the job done. FINAL EXAM OUR Maybe you can cram the week before the marking period ends, and BEST. turn that C into a B. But you can't con your way past the SAT IF YOU'RE UP TO MAKING THE Finals, INVESTMENT NOW THE DIVIDENDS WILL BE ENORMOUS. 6 and into college. And you certainly can't con your way through LIFE the working world. / If you don't work hard -- who gets hurt? If you cheat -- who pays the price? If you cut corners, if you hunt for the easy A -- who comes up short? Easy: You do. You're in control -- but you're not alone. People want to help you succeed. Here at Deal, teachers like Mrs. Mosteller -- your principal, Mr. Moss. / Right now in classrooms across this country -- in the communities every kid calls home -- no matter how bleak, no matter how empty things sometimes seem -- there's a teacher, a parent, a friend or family member ready to help you. They want to see you make it. [[TRANSITION: SEGUE TO AUDITORIUM WITH SPECIAL GUEST 1]- If you take school seriously, you won't have to settle for just a job. You'll have a career. If you make it your business to learn, one day, you'll be a better parent. You may not think about it now, but one day your children will want to look up at you and say, "I've got the smartest Mom and Dad in the world." Don't you disappoint them. But most of all, if you educate yourself, you'll enjoy life. You'll have what it takes to make a difference in the world -- to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Look around you. Ask yourself who gets the most enjoyment out of life -- it's the people who live to learn II AND LEARN TO LIVE. Let me leave you with a simple message: Every time you walk in that classroom door, make it your mission to get a good education. Don't do it because your parents -- or even this 7 President -- tells you. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your future. // Thank you -- and good luck to every one of you this school year. // And now, Mrs. Mosteller, back to your lesson # # # Insert 1 I wanted to spend some time with you today talking about why education matters, why what you do today -- or what you don't do today -- will make a difference in terms of your future. Hardly a day goes by that we don't hear more bad news about STUDENTS education. Test scores are down. Our kids are outperformed by STUDENTS kids in other countries. Maybe some of you even saw today's headline about our new National Report Card that was released yesterday. That Report Card showed that among those 8th graders tested last year, only 18% were able to function at a 7th grade level. Some people will say that this information is discouraging. In my view, and I hope in your view, this information should be challenging. One of the things that I believe makes us different as Americans is that we have always been able to respond to a challenge. Whether it's putting men on the moon in ten years, or whether it's trying to out-compete in next year's Olympic games, we always try, we try hard, and most of the time we succeed. I suspect that many of you are interested in next year's basketball, track Olympic games. And whether you are interest in skiing, gymnastics, or swimming tennis, you know that you have to work hard in - 2 - sports if you're going to do well. To compete, you have to put in the hours, the time, the effort, and the sweat to do well, to be a winner. And you know that when athletes do well, their country does well. It's the same thing in education. But this competition, unlike the Olympics, is with us every day, year in and year out. The Olympics only come once every four years. The competition and the challenge that you face occurs each and every day, and how well you do will determine not only your future but the future of America and the kind of world in which you will live. Two years ago last weekend, I met with the Nation's governors in Charlottesville, Virginia, where we held a summit on American education. And from that summit we have developed six national education goals for America's future. They're tough of goals, they're demanding goals. They require discipline and hard work from all students if we are going to be first in the world in math and science by the end of this decade, for example. We have challenged ourselves to do better in areas such as math, science, history, geography, and English, and we want to make sure that our schools are safe, disciplined, and drug-free SO that learning can actually take place. I won't run down all of the goals; your teachers and your principal have them and they should talk with you about what they mean, why they matter, and what you can do to help achieve them. - 3 - I wanted to ask you to spend a few minutes now talking about what school means to you. Within the next five years, if we believe the statistics, one out of five of today's 8th graders will not be graduating. In some places in America, that dropout rate is much higher. So look around you and ask yourselves will I be that one student who doesn't make it, or will I be someone graduating with pride? Some of you may have heard President Kennedy's famous phrase, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." I want to borrow from President Kennedy's words and change them just a little to ask: "What can you do for your country and for yourself?' The most important thing is to make the connection between where you are today in school and where you hope to be in the future. The real world doesn't begin somewhere way off in the future; it begins right here, right now. What you do in school today and tomorrow and well into the future will have consequences for the rest of your lives. A strong America will require people who have the education, the skills, the know-how, and the discipline to compete and to do well in the future. - 4 - Insert 2 - If I could leave just one message with you today -- one thought for you to ponder -- it's that you are the ones who control your future. Some of you may become investors, others of you may aspire to become the businessmen and women of the next century. Still others may become the teachers for the next OR PARENTS, OR ATHLETES, generation, or writers, or journalists, or future presidents. Whatever your choice may be, what you do today will have an GOALS- effect on whether you realize your future hopes And so, when it comes to your own education, take control. Don't just say that school is boring. or that the teachers are OK MAKE YOUR WORK HARD. ASK KOOD, TOUGH QUESTIONS. bad. Seek out the good teachers/ tell them that you want an education, and that you are here to learn. I'm told that some kids think that being smart or doing well in school is not cool. Don't let them kid you. You won't get ahead in life and realize your dreams unless you start working at it today. Don't let this kind of peer pressure stand between you and your dreams. Like SO many things in life, what you get out of something depends on what you put into it. That's why hard work today will pay off for you in the future. Maybe you can cram for a test the week before the grading period ends. And maybe doing - 5 - so will turn that "C" into a "B." But cramming won't help you do well when it comes to college admissions, and you certainly can't cram your way through the working world. In school I played a lot of baseball, and I found that the effort that I needed to do well in baseball was the same effort needed to do well in school. Practice, repetition, hard work, commitment -- all of those pay dividends on the baseball diamond, and they pay dividends in school and thereafter for all of us. I know you have heard a lot about drugs and drug use. You see films and hear from police experts and others, including movie stars, athletes, teachers, parents, and friends. But we both know that drug prevention comes down to you, whether you say "yes" or whether you say "no." Only you can choose, and the answer will change your life. Your parents won't make the decision. Your teachers won't make the decision. Your friends won't make the decision. Only you can make the decision to take control of your life and say no to drugs. Staying drug free ensures that you will have the basic ingredient necessary for learning -- a sound body and a sound mind. thout these, the basic environment for learning doesn't exist. Today, unfortunately, drugs and violence are threatening our schools across America. While drug use is declining, far too - 6 - many of our students and teachers are worried about their physical safety in school. You should never have to worry that a quarrel in the hallway will erupt into gunfights on the playground. You should not have to fear for your life from people who wear beepers in classrooms. Fear should never follow you into the classroom. So if you are worried about gangs inside or outside the school or others who threaten your learning environment, go to your teacher, your principal, and your parents. Demand discipline. If good people chicken out, the bad people take control. So let's help drive drugs, guns, and violence out of our schools. SEP-27-91 FRI 14:42 VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY FAX NO. 2027853948 P.01 VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE Institute for Public Policy Studies (202) 785-2985 Educational Excellence Network 1112 Sixteenth Street, NW Suite 500 Washington, DC 20036 Date: 9/27/91 TELECOPIER TRANSMITTAL COVER SHEET TO: Don McGroarity FROM: Chester E. Finn, Jr. This transmission consists of 10 pages including this cover sheet. If there are any problems with this transmission, please call Mary Ellen Hanssen at (202)785-2985. FAX NUMBER: (202)785-3948 SEP-27-91 FRI 14:42 VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY FAX NO. 2027853948 P.02 SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 I 9-27-91 112:52PM ; 20278639481# 2 Possible GOACS INSERT: 11.3 You should know why we believe government -- here in Washington, and right down to your local school district can us help. We made a start by setting six National Education Goals - ameriguous This - targets for the year 2000 that America must reach if we hope to meet the challenges of the 21st century. By the year 2000, at least nine in every ten students should graduate from high school. We should be first in the world in math and science. Every American child should start school ready to learn; every American adult should be literate -- and every American school should be safe and drug-free. 111 : Today, I want to speak to you not about programs or policies -- but about your future; about the real world rushing up to meet you in the few short years before you graduate from high school. 1. America 2000 isn't about "government helping". It's about the country mobilizing itself. The "government" in Washington is nothing but catalyst. 2. mistake to leave out the goal #3 specifics, which mention the subjects that the Pres * govs. think are most important. Kids need to hear that SEP-27-91 FRI 14:43 VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY FAX NO. 2027853948 P.03 SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 ; 9-27-91 12:53PM ; T 20278539481# 3 McGroarty/Bunton September 26, 1991 12:30 pm 31 SEP 26 P12: 22 [SCHOOL.TS] PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ALICE DEAL JR. HIGH, WASHINGTON, D.C. OCTOBER 1, 1991 12:10 P.M. Thank you, Mrs. Mosteller, for allowing me to visit your classroom today. [[TO STUDENTS]] And let me thank all of you for letting millions of kids in classrooms all across the country tune in to hear what I'm about to say. You know, long before I became President, I was a parent. I remember the times my kids came up with a really tough question, or a difficult decision. I tried my best never to shut them down with a quick "No." I would simply say those three magic words that made that problem disappear: "Ask your Mother." 11 No parent's perfect. Especially, now when you've reached your teens, and your parents hit that awkward age. // Let me tell you why I've made the trip up from the White House to Alice Deal Junior High. I'm not here to teach a lesson. I'm not here to tell you what to do, or what to think. When it comes to education, you're accustomed to adults talking about you and at you -- well, today, I'm here to talk to you. Every day, we hear more bad news about our schools. Maybe you saw today's headline about the release of the new National Report Card. [[HOLD UP PAPER OR NEWS CLIP.]] In math, for instance, the national report shows that of all Eighth were Graders tested in 1990, just a fraction -- 18 percent seuld function succeeding at even the 7th Grade level. SEP-27-91 FRI 14:43 VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY FAX NO. 2027853948 P.04 SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 ; 9-27-91 :12:53PM ; T 20278539486# 4 2 In spite Troubling of statistics like this one, I don't see this new report as bad news -- and I'll tell you why. This report card yet tells us a lot nevel about what you know, and what you don't know. It gives us something to build on. It shows us our strengths -- and the weaknesses we've got to correct. It sets forth a challenge to work harder, to learn more, to revolutionize American education. I know you've heard about stanines and percentiles, surveys and statistics, but here's what all the fancy talk means: Education means the difference between a good future and a lousy one. Scores tell us where we are, and where we need to go. But they don't give us the right to make excuses. All over America, schools succeed - against all odds. Kids from all over the District of Columbia petition to get into Alice Deal -- because parents know this school works. It works because of teachers like Mrs. Mosteller, who decided at the age of 25 she wanted to teach. She went back to school, worked her way through college, spent seven years waiting tables to pay tuition. [[She made it 1 and so can you. 11 This school works because of students like you. Some of you have taken part in the Johns Hopkins Talent Search: You took the college-entrance exams on an experimental basis as 7th Graders. And even in junior high, some of you scored well enough to get into many colleges. [[ACKNOWLEDGE STUDENTS BY NAME]]. // so let's just put it on the line. You've got the brains. Now you must put them to work. All of you. SEP-27-91 FRI 14:44 VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY FAX NO. 2027853948 P.05 -SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 ; 9-27-91 :12:54PM ; 2027853840,# 0 3 GOALS INSERT Fast-forward five years from now. Nationwide, between now and 1996, as many as one in five of today's 8th Graders will not graduate with their class. In some cities, the drop out rate is will climb twice that high or higher. Imagine that: out of a total of nearly 3 million of your fellow classmates nationwide, an army of more than half-a-million dropouts. I ask every student watching today: look around you. count five students -- start with yourself. No one dreams of becoming a dropout, but far too many do. Which one of you won't make it? 11 Let's make a pact right here. Let's work to see that five years from now, you and your friends will be more than sad statistics. Give yourself a decent shot at your dreams. Stay in school. 11 Let's go back to the future. In the fall of 1996, just really under half of today's eighth Graders who get their diplomas will enter the working world. More than half the graduates will stay in school -- and become the college class of the year 2000. The question for each student watching today is: Where will you be five years from now? Will you be holding down a good job and working toward a better one -- or will you be out of school and out of work? Will you be on a college campus -- or out running the streets? Think about that tonight -- when you're at the kitchen table doing homework; while your parents are coming here to Alice Deal to meet your teachers --- like so many millions do this time of year at Back to School Nights across America. SEP-27-91 FRI 14:45 VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY FAX NO. 2027853948 P.06 - SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 1 9-27-91 12:54PM ; 20278539481# D 4 I'm asking you to put two and two together: Make the connection -- between the homework you do tonight -- the test you take tomorrow -- and where you'll be five, fifteen and fifty years from now. You see, the real world doesn't begin somewhere else, and some time in the distance future. The real world starts right here. What you do here will have consequences your whole lives. Let me tell you something many of you may find hard to believe. You're in control. [[You're thinking: How can the like us President say that about kids who don't even have their drivers' licenses?]] But think about it, and you'll see what I mean. Think about drugs. You see films. You hear police experts and tough speakers from the outside. You get stern lectures from everyone -- movie stars, athletes, teachers, parents, friends. But you know and I know that all the drug prevention programs - all the pledges - all the preaching in the world won't pull you through that critical moment when someone offers drugs. At that moment, everything comes down to you. Yes or No: You've got to choose, and the answer will change your life. Your parents won't make the decision. Your teachers won't make the decision. Your friends won't make the decision. It's up to you: It takes guts to take control. II It takes even more Sits Drugs and violence threaten every school, every small town to and suburb in America. As students, you have a right to be many physically safe at school. You should never have to worry that a of quarrel in the hallway will lead to a gunfight in the playground. t, the SEP-27-91 FRI 14:45 VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY FAX NO. 2027853948 P.07 SENI BY:Xerox lelecopier 7020 ; 9-27-81 12:55PM i 20270089485# '/ 5 You shouldn't have to fear for your life if you criticize someone who wears a beeper in class. Fear should never follow you into the classroom. 11 If you have to take the long way home after school so you a don't cross paths with the gang hanging on the corner, if outsiders roam the halls of your school hassling students, you must take control. Go to your teacher, go to your principal, go to your parents -- as difficult as it may be, go to the school Irsut on decent Servior on board of you have to. Demand discipline. If good people chicken out, bad people take control. So let's drive the drugs and guns and senseless violence out of our schools. 11 When it comes to your own education: Too, take control. Don't say school is boring, and blame it on bad teachers. Find the good teachers. Tell them you want an / education. Tell them you're here to learn. Block out the kids who think it's not cool to be smart. I can't understand for the life of me what's so great about being stupid. If someone goofs off today, they're cool -- they're Homer Simpson. But what about years from now, when they're stuck kid in a dead-end job? Don't let pser pressure stand between you and your dreams. understand wont Take control challenge yourself. only you know how hard you work. Maybe you can fake your way into a job -- but you phrap for long won't keep it if you don't have the know-how to get the job done. Now, Maybe you can cram the week before the marking period ends, and turn that C into a B. But you can't con your way past the SAT SEP-27-91 FRI 14:46 VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY FAX NO. 2027853948 P.08 DENI DT*AUTUX relecopier 7020 , 1-27-91 ,12.00PM , 20278539481# 8 6 and into college. And you certainly can't con your way through the working world. / If you don't work hard -- who gets hurt? If you cheat -- who pays the price? If you cut corners, if you hunt for the easy A - who comes up short? Easy: You do. You're in control -- but you're not alone. People want to help you succeed. Here at Deal, teachers like Mrs. Mosteller -- your principal, Mr. Moss. / Right now in classrooms across this country - in the communities every kid calls home -- no matter how bleak, no matter how empty things sometimes seem -- there's a teacher, a parent, a friend or family member ready to help you. They want to see you make it. LITRANSITION: SEGUE TO AUDITORIUM WITH SPECIAL If you take school seriously, you won't have to settle for some Job. Instead just a job. You'll have a career, If you make it your business to learn, one day, you'll be a better parent. You may not think about it now, but one day your children will want to look up at you and say, "I've got the smartest Mom and Dad in the world." Don't you disappoint them. But most of all, if you educate yourself, you'll enjoy life. You'll have what it takes to make a difference in the world -- to be a part of something bigger than vourself. Look around you. Ask yourself who gets the most enjoyment out of life -- it's the people who live to learn. 11 Thru Let me leave you with a simple message: Every time you walk in that classroom door, make it your mission to get a good education. Don't do it because your parents -- or even this SEP-27-91 FRI 14:47 VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY FAX NO. 2027853948 P.09 DENI DT'AURUX lelecopier 7020 1 1 112.00PM 1 20278539481# # 7 President -- tells you. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your future. 11 through Thank you -- and good luck to every one of you this school year. 11 And now, Mrs. Mosteller, back to your lesson. # # # and long after JAN-10-1900 07:11 FROM TO 94566218 P.01 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION UNITED STATES OF OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY MEMORANDUM FOR TONY SNOW ack FROM: LESLYE A. ARSHT acida 401- DATE: September 27, 1991 3046. SUBJECT: October 1 Speech comments I know that you talked with Lamar this morning. Here are the specific comments and those of others here in the Department. This memo has been sent directly to Daniel Casse as well. Overall, we think the speech lacks focus. It needs to specifically address the issue of goals. Lamar's comments are the following: "This is not bad news about schools; it is more than schools; bad news about education, how we are accepting our education responsibilities, both in and out of school." "The report shows you read about as well and know about as much math and science as your parents knew 20 years ago when they were your age. [But, it also shows that five out of six of you don't know the math you need to know to be promoted in June to your next grade or to succeed in this modern world. "Not 'Report Card,' but 'National Education Goals Report. 1 " "Something to the effect: We've set these six goals two years ADD SECTION ago. Everybody's for them -- Gallup Poll, teachers groups -- we talk a lot about everyone's responsibilities, but in the end it has to be your responsibility. So I am asking you to adopt these GOALSTIN goals for yourself, for your school, for your community." AMED addition, I know that the speech writers hate it when we comment on the "jokes" as opposed to the substance in a speech, but Diane 0002 Ravitch feels very strongly that the "Ask your Mother" retort -- is exactly counter to the message that we are trying to send parents We need parents to have a new attitude about their responsibilities which of coun toward fathers. their children's education -- and that obviously includes the Piset the We also think that the speech goes to great lengths to say what the President isn't in the classroom to do, but we never say why he is has there. These children have a role to play in the nation's future. before Education is the most important way to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. (We aren't saying the President should be preachy 400 MARYLAND AVE.. S.W. WASHINGTON D.C. 20202 JAN-10-1900 07:11 FROM TO 94566218 P.02 Page 2 - Memorandum for Tony Snow about this, but we think he needs to assert it.) Actually, we feel the same way about mentioning "America 2000". We have a strategy for meeting the goals and if these children are to associate what is going on in their communities (in terms of the organizing that's going on) they need to hear at least a mention of it from the President. Especially since that can lead him to say what the kids can do to help: a) personal responsibility (drugs, teen pregnancy, alcohol, violence). The President could acknowledge that there are temptations that take kids off the track -- pressures that are difficult to resist, personal decisions that are hard. this b) hard work in school. c) community activity (every one of you knows something or how to do something that a younger or older person does not --- "be a X point of light" for someone). We also think that for kids to personalize this message they need to hear about some role models -- people from humble beginnings, who worked and studied hard and because of their own persistence changed their lives and potentially the world. Colin Powell comes to mind, Clarence Thomas, but obviously there are women and others who would serve here. I am faxing word changes and other comments on a marked up copy of the draft-- I want to highlight a couple of points several people made here: The graph at the end of page one uses old information NOT the information to be released on Monday. Lamar's graph #2 would 11 REPLACE it. Despite the fact that Monday's report from the Governors has been referred to informally as a "report card" -- the Goals Panel does not call it that-- they call it a "Goals Report". Many adults here did not know what "stanines" are -- we strongly suggest REPLACING it with "averages." Attachment JAN-10-1900 07:12 FROM TO 94566218 P.03 SENI BY:1ne white House ; 9-26-91 ; 2:48PM ; CABINET AFFAIRS- :# 3 91 SEP 27 PI: 49 McGroarty/Bunton September 26, 1991 12:30 pm 31 SEP 26 P12: 22 [SCHOOL.TS] PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ALICE DEAL JR. HIGH, WASHINGTON, D.C. OCTOBER 1, 1991 12:10 P.M. Thank you, Mrs. Mosteller, for allowing me to visit your classroom today. [[TO STUDENTS]] And let me thank all of you for letting millions of kids in classrooms all across the country tune in to hear what I'm about to say. You know, long before I became President, I was a parent. I remember the times my kids came up with a really tough question, or a difficult decision. I tried my best never to shut them down WRONG message with a quick "No." I would simply say those three magic words that made that problem disappear: "Ask your Mother.' 11 No parent's perfect. Especially, now -- when you've reached your teens, and your parents hit that awkward age. // Let me tell you why I've made the trip up from the White House to Alice Deal Junior High. I'm not here to teach a lesson. I'm not here to tell you what to do, or what to think. When it comes to education, you're accustomed to adults talking about you the and at you -- well, today, I'm here to you take to you About role Every you day, plan hear in inportant problem We more bed news bout OUP schools. Maybe faing you saw today's headline about the release of the new National the Goals Report. nati Report Card. [[HOLD UP PAPER OR NEWS CLIP. 1] In math, for instance, the national report shows that of all Eighth Graders tested in 1990, just a fraction -- 18 percent -- could function delete Inconcet both at even the 7th Grade level. and data old JAN-10-1900 07:12 FROM TO 94566218 P.04 SENT BY:The White House 0-28-91 2:48PM ; CABINET AFFAIRS- i# 4 2 In spite of statistics like this one, I don't see this new report as bad cause news for dispair and I'll tall you why. This report card is importat because tells us & lot more about what you know, and what you dealt know gives us something to build on. It shows us our strengths -- It shows us how for we have to tranch. and the weaknesses We we get to correct. It sets forth a challenge to work harder, to learn more, to revolutionize American education. I know you've heard about stanines and parcentiles, surveys and statistics, but here's what P11 the fancy talk means: good message Education means the difference between a good future and & lousy one. Scores tell us where we are, and where we need to go. But they don't give us the right to make excuses. All over America, schools succeed -- against all odds. Kids from all over the District of Columbia petition to get into Alice Deal -- because parents know this school works. It works because of teachers like Mrs. Mostaller, who decided at the age of 25 she wanted to teach. She went back to school, worked her way through college, spent seven years waiting tables to pay tuition. [[She made it --- and so can you.]] .17 This school works because of students like you. Some of you have taken part in the Johns Hopkins Talent Search: You took the college-entrance exams on an experimental basis as 7th Graders. And even in junior high, some of you scored well enough to get into many colleges. [[ACKNOWLEDGE STUDENTS BY NAME]]. 11 NOT yess on Now the so let's just put 1t on the line. You vo get the brains. you must put them to work. You Ane althy your sights high And focusm An Results GoAls - JAN-10-1900 07:13 FROM TO 94566218 P.05 SENT BY:The White House ; 9-26-91 ; 2:49PM ; CABINET AFFAIRS- ;# 5 2000 AMERICA Fast-forward 3 five years from now. Nationwide, between now and 1996, as many as one in five of today's 8th Graders will not graduate with their class. In some cities, the drop out rate will climb twice that high or higher. Imagine that: out of a total of nearly 3 million of your fellow classmates nationwide, an army of more than half-a-million dropouts. I ask every student watching today: look around you. Count five students -- start with yourself. No one dreams of becoming a dropout, but far too many do. Which one of you won't make it? 11 Let's make a pact right here. Let's work to ⑉ that five years from now, you and your friends will be more than sad statistics. Give yourself a decent shot at your dreams. Stay in school. 11 Let's go back to the future. In the fall of 1996, just under half of today's eighth Graders who get their diplomas will enter the working world. More than half the graduates will stay in school -- and become the college class of the year 2000. The question for each student watching today is: Where will you be five years from now? Will you be holding down a good job and working toward a better one -- or will you be out of school and out of work? will you be on a college campus - or out running the streets? Think about that tenight -- when you're at the Kitchen table doing homework; while your parents are coming here to Alice Deal to meet your teachers -- like so many millions do this time of year at Back to School Nights across America. TO 94566218 P.06 JAN-10-1900 07:13 FROM newse , 2:48PM i CABINET AFFAIRS- ;# 6 4 I'm asking you to put two and two together: Make the connection --- between the homework you do tonight the test you take tomorrow -- and where you'll be five, fifteen and fifty years from now. You see, the real world doesn't begin somewhere elsa, and some time in the distance future. The real world starts right here. What you do here will have consequences your HERE the whole lives. is be required more than has days lorna. *MOST are competite all over the 1007 * to computer commute Presi dear Id world About Let me tell you something many of you may find hard to and easily knowledge stone as 42 had believe. You're in control. [{You're thinking: How can the President RAV that about vide who Annie even kave chatr Antivent licenses?]] But think about it, and you'll see what I mean. you well morn Think about drugs. You see films. You hear police experts encountion will thoughere num and tough speakers from the outside. You get stern lectures from his Peveryone -- movie stars, athletes, teachers, parents, friends. father worldwence t But you know and I know that all the drug prevention programs -- all the pledges -- all the preaching in the world Drugs difference won't pull you through that critical moment when someone offers & drugs. At that moment, everything comes down to you. Yes or No: You've got to choose, and the answer will change your life. Your parents won't make the decision. Your teachers won't make the decision. Your friends won't make the decision. It's up to you: It takes outs to take control. 11 Drugs and violence threaten every school, every small town and suburb in America. As students, you have a right to be physically safe at school. You should never have to worry that a quarrel in the hallway will lead to a gunfight in the playground. JAN-10-1900 07:14 FROM TO 94566218 P.07 SENT BY:The White House i 9-28-91 i 2:50PM ; CABINET AFFAIRS- ;# 7 5 You shouldn't have to fear for your life if you criticize someone who wears a beeper in class. Fear should never follow you into the classroom. 11 If you have to take the long way home after school so you don't cross paths with the gang hanging on the corner, if outsiders roam the halls of your school hassling students, you must take control. Go to your teacher, go to your principal, go to your parents -- as difficult as it may be, go to the school board you have to. Demand discipline. If good people chicken out, bad people take control. So let's drive the drugs and guns and senseless violence out of our schools. 11 When it comes to your own education: take control. Don't say school is boring, and blame it on bad teachers. Find the good teachers. Tell them you want an education. Tell them you're here to learn. Block out the kids who think it's not cool td be smart. I can't understand for the life of no what's so great about being BART 7 stupid. If someone goofs off today, they're cool - they're Homer Simpson. But what about years from now, when they're stuck in a dead-end job? Don't let peer pressure stand between you and your dreams. Take control -- challenge yourself. Only you know how hard you work. Maybe you can fake your way into a job -- but you won't keep it if you don't have the know-how to get the job done. Maybe you can cram the week before the marking period ends, and turn that C into a B. But you can't con your way past the SAT TO 94566218 P.08 JAN-10-1900 07:14 FROM . Y 6.50PM CABINET AFFAIRS+ ;# 8 6 and into college. And you certainly can't con your way through the working world. / If you don't work hard -- who gets hurt? If you cheat - who pays the price? If you cut corners, if you hunt for the easy A - who comes up short? Easy: You do. You're in control -- but you're not alone. People want to help you succeed. Here at Deal, teachers like Mrs. Mosteller - your principal, Mr. Moss. / Right now in classrooms across this country -- in the communities every kid calls home -- no matter how bleak, no matter how empty things sometimes seem - there's a teacher, a parent, a friend or family member ready to help you. They want to see you make it. [[TRANSITION: SEGUE TO AUDITORIUM WITH SPECIAL GUEST 11 If you take school seriously, you won't have to sattle for just a job. You'll have a career. If you make it your business to learn, one day, you'll be a better parent. You may not think about it now, but one day your children will want to look up at you and say, "I've got the smartest Mom and Dad in the world." Don't you disappoint them. But most of all, if you educate yourself, you'll you 11 enjoy life. You'll have what it takes to make a difference in the world -- to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Look around you. Ask yourself who gets the most enjoyment out of life -- it's the people who live to learn. 11 Let me leave you with a simple message: Every: time you walk in that classroom door, make it your mission to get a good education. Don't do it because your parents -- or even this JAN-10-1900 07:15 FROM TO 94566218 P.09 SENT-BY:The White House 9-26-91 251PM CABINET AFFAIRS- :# 9 7 President -- tells you. DO it for vourselves. Db it for your future. 11 Thank you - and good luck to every one of you this school year. 11 And now, Mrs. Mosteller, back to your lesson. # # # Document No. 273650ss WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM P2:50 P2: 50 DATE: 9/26/91 ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: FRIDAY, 9/27/91 2:00 pm PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ALICE DEAL JR. HIGH, WASHINGTON, D.C. SUBJECT: OCTOBER 1, 12:10 pm ACTION FYI ACTION FYI VICE PRESIDENT HORNER SUNUNU MCCLURE SCOWCROFT PETERSMEYER DARMAN PORTER BRADY ROGICH BROMLEY SMITH CARD SNOW DEMAREST FITZWATER GRAY HOLIDAY REMARKS: Please forward your comments directly to Tony Snow, Rm. 122, x2930, no later than 2:00 pm, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 with a copy to this office. Thank you. RESPONSE: See comments PHILLIP D. BRADY Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary Ext. 2702 McGroarty/Bunton September 26, 1991 12:30 pm 91 SEP 26 P12: 22 [SCHOOL.TS] PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ALICE DEAL JR. HIGH, WASHINGTON, D.C. OCTOBER 1, 1991 12:10 P.M. Thank you, Mrs. Mosteller, for allowing me to visit your classroom today. [[TO STUDENTS] And let me thank all of you for letting millions of kids in classrooms all across the country tune in to hear what I'm about to say. You know, long before I became President, I was a parent. I remember the times my kids came up with a really tough question, or a difficult decision. I tried my best never to shut them down with a quick "No." I would simply say those three magic words that made that problem disappear: "Ask your Mother.' // No parent's perfect. Especially, now -- when you've reached your teens, and your parents hit that awkward age. // Let me tell you why I've made the trip up from the White House to Alice Deal Junior High. I'm not here to teach a lesson. I'm not here to tell you what to do, or what to think. When it comes to education, you're accustomed to adults talking about you and at you -- well, today, I'm here to talk to you. that underlines the need for Every day, we hear more bad news about our schools Maybe radical you saw today's headline about the release of the new National school reform for a hew Report Card. [[HOLD UP PAPER OR NEWS CLIP. In math, for generation ORE: instance, the national report shows that of all Eighth Graders of schools. American tested in 1990, just a fraction -- 18 percent -- could function Country at demonstrate even the 7th Grade a satisfactory level of competence. Grady and Note: the companson to 7th grade level is X4844 I confusing and incomect, Scully X5178 2 In spite of statistics like this one, I don't see this new report as bad news -- and I'll tell you why. This report card our students ourstudents tells us a lot more- about what you know, and what you don't know. It gives us something to build on. It shows us our strengths -- and the weaknesses we've got to correct. It sets forth a seally challenge to work harder, to learn more, to revolutionize *5178 American education. I know you've heard about stanines and percentiles, surveys and statistics, but here's what all the fancy talk means: Education means the difference between a good future and a lousy and statistics one. Scores tell us where we are, and where we need to go. But Seully X5178 they don't give us the right to make excuses. All over America, schools succeed -- against all odds. Kids from all over the District of Columbia petition to get into Alice Deal -- because parents know this school works. It works because of teachers like Mrs. Mosteller, who decided at the age of 25 she wanted to teach. She went back to school, worked her way through college, spent seven years waiting tables to pay tuition. [[She made it -- and so can you. ]] // This school works because of students like you. Some of you have taken part in the Johns Hopkins Talent Search: You took the college-entrance exams on an experimental basis as 7th Graders. And even in junior high, some of you scored well enough to get into many colleges. [[ACKNOWLEDGE STUDENTS BY NAME]]. // So let's just put it on the line. You've got the brains. Now you must put them to work. 3 unless thingschange, Fast-forward five years from now. Nationwide,/between now and 1996, as many as one in five of today's 8th Graders will not Scally graduate with their class. In some cities, the drop out rate 55178 will climb twice that high or higher. Imagine that: Out of a total of nearly 3 million of your fellow classmates nationwide, an army of more than half-a-million dropouts. I ask every student watching today: look around you. Count five students -- start with yourself. No one dreams of becoming a dropout, but far too many do. Which one of you won't make it? // Let's make a pact right here. Let's work to see that five years from now, you and your friends will be more than sad statistics. Give yourself a decent shot at your dreams. Stay in school. // if present trends Let's go back to the future. In the fall of 1996, just continue, under half of today's eighth Graders who get their diplomas will enter the working world. More than half the graduates will stay sexlly in school -- and become the college class of the year 2000. 45178 The question for each student watching today is: Where will you be five years from now? Will you be holding down a good job and working toward a better one -- or will you be out of school and out of work? Will you be on a college campus -- or out running the streets? Think about that tonight -- when you're at the kitchen table doing homework; while your parents are coming here to Alice Deal to meet your teachers -- like so many millions do this time of year at Back to School Nights across America. 4 I'm asking you to put two and two together: Make the connection -- between the homework you do tonight -- the test you take tomorrow -- and where you'll be five, fifteen and fifty years from now. You see, the real world doesn't begin somewhere else, and some time in the distance future. The real world starts right here. What you do here will have consequences your whole lives. Let me tell you something many of you may find hard to believe. You're in control. [[You're thinking: How can the President say that about kids who don't even have their drivers' licenses?]] But think about it, and you'll see what I mean. Think about drugs. You see films. You hear police experts and tough speakers from the outside. You get stern lectures from everyone -- movie stars, athletes, teachers, parents, friends. But you know and I know that all the drug prevention programs -- all the pledges -- all the preaching in the world won't pull you through that critical moment when someone offers drugs. At that moment, everything comes down to you. Yes or No: You've got to choose, and the answer will change your life. Your parents won't make the decision. Your teachers won't make the decision. Your friends won't make the decision. It's up to you: It takes guts to take control. // Drugs and violence threaten every school, every small town and suburb in America. As students, you have a right to be physically safe at school. You should never have to worry that a quarrel in the hallway will lead to a gunfight in the playground. jasts How about a # tying "control" explicitly to the concept of taking responsibility for me sour actions. Grady valoral 5 You shouldn't have to fear for your life if you criticize someone who wears a beeper in class. Fear should never follow you into the classroom. / / If you have to take the long way home after school so you don't cross paths with the gang hanging on the corner, if outsiders roam the halls of your school hassling students, you must take control. Go to your teacher, go to your principal, go to your parents -- as difficult as it may be, go to the school fail to act board Φf you have to. Demand discipline. If good people chicken out, bad people take control. So let's drive the drugs and guns Scully and senseless violence out of our schools. // X5178 When it comes to your own education: take control. Don't say school is boring, and blame it on bad teachers. Find the good teachers. Tell them you want an education. Tell them you're here to learn. Block out the kids who think it's not cool to be smart. I can't understand for the life of me what's so great about being stupid. If someone goofs off today, they're cool -- they're Homer Simpson. But what about years from now, when they're stuck in a dead-end job? Don't let peer pressure stand between you and your dreams. Take control -- challenge yourself. Only you know how hard you work. Maybe you can fake your way into a job -- but you won't keep it if you don't have the know-how to get the job done. Maybe you can cram the week before the marking period ends, and turn that C into a B. But you can't con your way past the SAT 6 and into college. And you certainly can't con your way through the working world. / If you don't work hard -- who gets hurt? If you cheat -- who pays the price? If you cut corners, if you hunt for the easy A -- who comes up short? Easy: You do. You're in control -- but you're not alone. People want to help you succeed. Here at Deal, teachers like Mrs. Mosteller -- your principal, Mr. Moss. / Right now in classrooms across this country -- in the communities every kid calls home -- no matter how bleak, no matter how empty things sometimes seem -- there's a teacher, a parent, a friend or family member ready to help you. They want to see you make it. [ [TRANSITION: SEGUE TO AUDITORIUM WITH SPECIAL GUEST ]] If you take school seriously, you won't have to settle for just a job. You'll have a career. If you make it your business to learn, one day, you'll be a better parent. You may not think about it now, but one day your children will want to look up at you and say, "I've got the smartest Mom and Dad in the world." " Don't you disappoint them. But most of all, if you educate yourself, you'll enjoy life. You'll have what it takes to make a difference in the world -- to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Look around you. Ask yourself who gets the most enjoyment out of life -- it's the people who live to learn. // Let me leave you with a simple message: Every time you walk in that classroom door, make it your mission to get a good education. Don't do it because your parents -- or even this 7 President -- tells you. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your future. // Thank you -- and good luck to every one of you this school year. // And now, Mrs. Mosteller, back to your lesson. # # # SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 ; 9-27-91 ; 3:14PM ; 4562983- 6218;# 1 Document No. 273650ss WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM DATE: 9/26/91 ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: FRIDAY, 9/27/91 2:00 pm PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ALICE DEAL JR. HIGH, WASHINGTON, D.C. SUBJECT: OCTOBER 1, 12:10 pm ACTION FYI ACTION FYI VICE PRESIDENT HORNER SUNUNU MCCLURE SCOWCROFT PETERSMEYER DARMAN PORTER BRADY ROGICH BROMLEY SMITH CARD SNOW DEMARE FITZWATER GRAY HOLIDAY REMARKS: Please forward your comments directly to Tony Snow, Rm. 122, x2930, Thank you. no later than 2:00 pm, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 with a copy to this office. RESPONSE: PHILLIP D. BRADY Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary Ext. 2702 SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 ; 9-27-91 : 3:15PM ; 4562983-> 6218;# 2 McGroarty/Bunton September 26, 1991 12:30 pm 91 SEP 26 P12 22 [SCHOOL.TS] PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ALICE DEAL JR. HIGH, WASHINGTON, D.C. OCTOBER 1, 1991 12:10 P.M. Thank you, Mrs. Mosteller, for allowing me to visit your classroom today. [[TO STUDENTS]] And let me thank all of you for letting millions of kids in classrooms all across the country tune in to hear what I'm about to say. You know, long before I became President, I was a parent. I remember the times my kids came up with a really tough question, or a difficult decision. I tried my best never to shut them down with a quick "No." I would simply say those three magic words that made that problem disappear: "Ask your Mother." 11 No parent's perfect. Especially, now -- when you've reached your teens, and your parents hit that awkward age. 11 Let me tell you why I've made the trip up from the White House to Alice Deal Junior High. I'm not here to teach a lesson. I'm not here to tell you what to do, or what to think. When it Maybe comes to education, you're accustomed to adults talking about you and at you -- well, today, I'm here to talk to you. Every day, we hear more bad news about our schools. Maybe you saw today's headline about the release of the new National Report Card. [[HOLD UP PAPER OR NEWS CLIP. In math, for instance, the national report shows that of all Eighth Graders tested in 1990, just a fraction -- 18 percent -- could function at even the 7th Grade level. SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 ; 9-27-91 ; 3:15PM ; 4562983- 6218;# 3 2 In spite of statistics like this one, I don't see this new report as bad news -- and I'll tell you why. This report card tells us a lot more about what you know, and what you don't know. It gives us something to build on. It shows us our strengths -- and the weaknesses we've got to correct. It sets forth a challenge to work harder, to learn more, to revolutionize American education. I know you've heard about stanines and percentiles, surveys and statistics, but here's what all the fancy talk means: Education means the difference between a good future and a lousy one. Scores tell us where we are, and where we need to go. But they don't give us the right to make excuses. there are successful even the All over America, schools succeed against air odds. Kids from all over the District of Columbia petition to get into Alice Deal -- because parents know this school works. It works because of teachers like Mrs. Mosteller, who decided at the age of 25 she wanted to teach. She went back to school, worked her way through college, spent seven years waiting tables to pay tuition. [[She made it -- and so can you. ]] 11 like the ones with me today This took school works because of students like you. Some of you have taken part in the Johns Hopkins Talent Search: You Some took the college-entrance exams on an experimental basis as 7th Graders. And even in junior high, some of you scored well enough to get into many colleges. [[ACKNOWLEDGE STUDENTS BY NAME]]. 11 So let's just it put it on the line. You've got the brains. Now you must put to work. SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 ; 9-27-91 ; 3:16PM ; 4562983-> 6218;# 4 3 Fast-forward five years from now. Nationwide, between now and 1996, as many as one in five of today's 8th Graders will not graduate with their class. In some cities, the drop out rate will climb twice that high or higher. Imagine that: Out of a total of nearly 3 million of your fellow classmates nationwide, an army of more than half-a-million dropouts. I ask every student watching today: look around you. Count five students -- start with yourself. No one dreams of becoming a dropout, but far too many do. Which one of you won't make it? 11 Let's make a pact right here. Let's work to see that five years from now, you and your friends will be more than sad statistics. Give yourself a decent shot at your dreams. Stay in school. 11 Let's go back to the future. In the fall of 1996, just under half of today's eighth Graders who get their diplomas will enter the working world. More than half the graduates will stay in school -- and become the college class of the year 2000. The question for each student watching today is: Where will be five years from now? Will you be holding down a good job I be holding and working toward a better one -- or will you be out of school and out of work? Will your be on a college campus -- or out running the streets? Think about that tonight -- when you're at the kitchen table doing homework; while your parents are coming here to Alice Deal to meet your teachers -- like so many millions do this time of year at Back to School Nights across America. SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 ; 9-27-91 ; 3:16PM ; 4562983- 6218;# 5 4 I'm asking you to put two and two together: Make the connection -- between the homework you do tonight -- the test you take tomorrow -- and where you'll be five, fifteen and fifty years from now. You see, the real world doesn't begin somewhere else, and some time in the distance future. The real world starts right here. What you do here will have consequences your whole lives. Let me tell you something many of you may find hard to believe. You're in control. [[You're thinking: How can the President say that about kids who don't even have their drivers' licenses?] But think about it, and you'll see what I mean. Think about drugs. You see films. You hear police experts and tough speakers from the outside. You get stern lectures from everyone -- movie stars, athletes, teachers, parents, friends. But you know and I know that all the drug prevention programs -- all the pledges -- all the preaching in the world won't pull you through that critical moment when someone offers drugs. At that moment, everything comes down to you. Yes or No: You've got to choose, and the answer will change your life. Your parents won't make the decision. Your teachers won't make the decision. Your friends won't make the decision. It's up to you: It takes guts to take control. 11 Drugs and violence threaten every school, every small town and suburb in America. As students, you have a right to be physically safe at school. You should never have to worry that a quarrel in the hallway will lead to a gunfight in the playground. SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 ; 9-27-91 ; 3:17PM ; 4562983- 6218;# 6 5 You shouldn't have to fear for your life if you criticize someone who wears a beeper in class. Fear should never follow you into the classroom. 11 If you have to take the long way home after school so you don't cross paths with the gang hanging on the corner, if outsiders roam the halls of your school hassling students, you must take control. Go to your teacher, go to your principal, go to your parents -- as difficult as it may be, go to the school board of you have to. Demand discipline. If good people chicken out, bad people take control. So let's drive the drugs and guns and senseless violence out of our schools. 11 When it comes to your own education: take control. Don't say school is boring, and blame it on bad teachers. Find the good teachers. Tell them you want an education. Tell them you're here to learn. Block out the kids who think it's not cool to be smart. I can't understand for the life of me what's so great about being stupid. If someone goofs off today, they're cool --- they're Homer Simpson. But what about years from now, when they're stuck in a dead-end job? Don't let peer pressure stand between you and your dreams. Take control -- challenge yourself. only you know how hard you work. Maybe you can fake your way into a job -- but you won't keep it if you don't have the know-how to get the job done. Maybe you can cram the week before the marking period ends, and turn that C into a B. But you can't con your way past the SAT SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 ; 9-27-91 ; 3:17PM ; 4562983- 6218;# 7 6 and into college. And you certainly can't con your way through the working world. / If you don't work hard --- who gets hurt? If you cheat -- who pays the price? If you cut corners, if you hunt for the easy A -- who comes up short? Easy: You do. You're in control -- but you're not alone. People want to help you succeed. Here at Deal, teachers like Mrs. Mosteller -- your principal, Mr. Moss. / Right now in classrooms across this country -- in the communities every kid calls home -- no matter how bleak, no matter how empty things sometimes seem -- there's a teacher, a parent, a friend or family member ready to help you. They want to see you make it. [[TRANSITION: SEGUE TO AUDITORIUM WITH SPECIAL GUEST ]] If you take school seriously, you won't have to settle for just a job. You'll have a career. If you make it your business to learn, one day, you'll be a better parent. You may not think about it now, but one day your children will want to look up at you and say, "I've got the smartest Mom and Dad in the world." Don't you disappoint them. But most of all, if you educate yourself, you'll enjoy life. You'll have what it takes to make a difference in the world -- to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Look around you. Ask yourself who gets the most enjoyment out of life -- it's the people who live to learn. 11 Let me leave you with a simple message: Every time you walk in that classroom door, make it your mission to get a good education. Don't do it because your parents -- or even this SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 ; 9-27-91 ; 3:18PM ; 4562983-> 6218;# 8 7 President -- tells you. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your future. 11 Thank you -- and good luck to every one of you this school year. 11 And now, Mrs. Mosteller, back to your lesson. # # # McGroarty/Bunton September 26, 1991 12:30 pm 31 SEP 26 P12 22 [SCHOOL.TS] PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ALICE DEAL JR. HIGH, WASHINGTON, D.C. OCTOBER 1, 1991 12:10 P.M. Thank you, Mrs. Mosteller, for allowing me to visit your classroom today. [[TO STUDENTS]] And let me thank all of you for letting millions of kids in classrooms all across the country tune in to hear what I'm about to say. You know, long before I became President, I was a parent. I remember the times my kids came up with a really tough question, or a difficult decision. I tried my best never to shut them down with a quick "No." I would simply say those three magic words that made that problem disappear: "Ask your Mother." // No parent's perfect. Especially, now -- when you've reached your teens, and your parents hit that awkward age. // Let me tell you why I've made the trip up from the White House to Alice Deal Junior High. I'm not here to teach a lesson. I'm not here to tell you what to do, or what to think. When it comes to education, you're accustomed to adults talking about you and at you -- well, today, I'm here to talk to you. Every day, we hear more bad news about our schools. Maybe you saw today's headline about the release of the new National Report Card. [[HOLD UP PAPER OR NEWS CLIP. ]] In math, for instance, the national report shows that of all Eighth Graders tested in 1990, just a fraction -- 18 percent -- could function at even the 7th Grade level. 2 In spite of statistics like this one, I don't see this new report as bad news -- and I'll tell you why. This report card tells us a lot more about what you know, and what you don't know. It gives us something to build on. It shows us our strengths -- and the weaknesses we've got to correct. It sets forth a challenge to work harder, to learn more, to revolutionize American education. I know you've heard about stanines and percentiles, surveys and statistics, but here's what all the fancy talk means: Education means the difference between a good future and a lousy one. Scores tell us where we are, and where we need to go. But they don't give us the right to make excuses. All over America, schools succeed -- against all odds. Kids from all over the District of Columbia petition to get into Alice Deal -- because parents know this school works. It works because of teachers like Mrs. Mosteller, who decided at the age of 25 she wanted to teach. She went back to school, worked her way through college, spent seven years waiting tables to pay tuition. [[She made it -- and so can you. ]] // This school works because of students like you. Some of you have taken part in the Johns Hopkins Talent Search: You took the college-entrance exams on an experimental basis as 7th Graders. And even in junior high, some of you scored well enough to get into many colleges. [[ACKNOWLEDGE STUDENTS BY NAME] // So let's just put it on the line. You've got the brains. Now you must put them to work. 3 GOALS INSERT Fast-forward five years from now. Nationwide, between now and 1996, as many as one in five of today's 8th Graders will not graduate with their class. In some cities, the drop out rate will climb twice that high or higher. Imagine that: Out of a total of nearly 3 million of your fellow classmates nationwide, an army of more than half-a-million dropouts. I ask every student watching today: look around you. Count five students -- start with yourself. No one dreams of becoming a dropout, but far too many do. Which one of you won't make it? // Let's make a pact right here. Let's work to see that five years from now, you and your friends will be more than sad statistics. Give yourself a decent shot at your dreams. Stay in school. // Let's go back to the future. In the fall of 1996, just under half of today's eighth Graders who get their diplomas will enter the working world. More than half the graduates will stay in school -- and become the college class of the year 2000. The question for each student watching today is: Where will you be five years from now? Will you be holding down a good job and working toward a better one -- or will you be out of school and out of work? Will you be on a college campus -- or out running the streets? Think about that tonight -- when you're at the kitchen table doing homework; while your parents are coming here to Alice Deal to meet your teachers -- like so many millions do this time of year at Back to School Nights across America. 4 I'm asking you to put two and two together: Make the connection -- between the homework you do tonight -- the test you take tomorrow -- and where you'll be five, fifteen and fifty years from now. You see, the real world doesn't begin somewhere else, and some time in the distance future. The real world starts right here. What you do here will have consequences your whole lives. Let me tell you something many of you may find hard to believe. You're in control. [[You're thinking: How can the President say that about kids who don't even have their drivers' licenses?] But think about it, and you'll see what I mean. Think about drugs. You see films. You hear police experts and tough speakers from the outside. You get stern lectures from everyone -- movie stars, athletes, teachers, parents, friends. But you know and I know that all the drug prevention programs -- all the pledges -- all the preaching in the world won't pull you through that critical moment when someone offers drugs. At that moment, everything comes down to you. Yes or No: You've got to choose, and the answer will change your life. Your parents won't make the decision. Your teachers won't make the decision. Your friends won't make the decision. It's up to you: It takes guts to take control. // Drugs and violence threaten every school, every small town and suburb in America. As students, you have a right to be physically safe at school. You should never have to worry that a quarrel in the hallway will lead to a gunfight in the playground. 5 You shouldn't have to fear for your life if you criticize someone who wears a beeper in class. Fear should never follow you into the classroom. // If you have to take the long way home after school so you don't cross paths with the gang hanging on the corner, if outsiders roam the halls of your school hassling students, you must take control. Go to your teacher, go to your principal, go to your parents -- as difficult as it may be, go to the school board of you have to. Demand discipline. If good people chicken out, bad people take control. So let's drive the drugs and guns and senseless violence out of our schools. // When it comes to your own education: take control. Don't say school is boring, and blame it on bad teachers. Find the good teachers. Tell them you want an education. Tell them you're here to learn. Block out the kids who think it's not cool to be smart. I can't understand for the life of me what's so great about being stupid. If someone goofs off today, they're cool -- they're Homer Simpson. But what about years from now, when they're stuck in a dead-end job? Don't let peer pressure stand between you and your dreams. Take control -- challenge yourself. Only you know how hard you work. Maybe you can fake your way into a job -- but you won't keep it if you don't have the know-how to get the job done. Maybe you can cram the week before the marking period ends, and turn that c into a B. But you can't con your way past the SAT 6 and into college. And you certainly can't con your way through the working world. / If you don't work hard -- who gets hurt? If you cheat -- who pays the price? If you cut corners, if you hunt for the easy A -- who comes up short? Easy: You do. You're in control -- but you're not alone. People want to help you succeed. Here at Deal, teachers like Mrs. Mosteller -- your principal, Mr. Moss. / Right now in classrooms across this country -- in the communities every kid calls home -- no matter how bleak, no matter how empty things sometimes seem -- there's a teacher, a parent, a friend or family member ready to help you. They want to see you make it. [TRANSITION: SEGUE TO AUDITORIUM WITH SPECIAL GUEST If you take school seriously, you won't have to settle for just a job. You'll have a career. If you make it your business to learn, one day, you'll be a better parent. You may not think about it now, but one day your children will want to look up at you and say, "I've got the smartest Mom and Dad in the world." Don't you disappoint them. But most of all, if you educate yourself, you'll enjoy life. You'll have what it takes to make a difference in the world -- to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Look around you. Ask yourself who gets the most enjoyment out of life -- it's the people who live to learn. // Let me leave you with a simple message: Every time you walk in that classroom door, make it your mission to get a good education. Don't do it because your parents -- or even this 7 President -- tells you. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your future. // Thank you -- and good luck to every one of you this school year. // And now, Mrs. Mosteller, back to your lesson. # # # Roger has Kids in 96 + 2019 How will this reach Elem. kids. Kids love to be challenged.

nara / coll_gb-spe / doc

National Education Address 10/1/91 [OA 6037] [1]

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