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Lehigh Valley 2000 4/16/92 [OA 6100] [2]
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Lehigh Valley 2000 4/16/92 [OA 6100] [2]
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Document No. 321639ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
4/13/92
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: TUESDAY, 4/14/92 3:00pm
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LEHIGH VALLEY 2000
SUBJECT:
ALLENTOWN, PA - 4/16/92
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SKINNER
MCBRIDE N/C
s
SCOWCROFT
Rostoro bootleg 6 538
MOORE
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER N/C
BRADY
X
PORTER N/C
BROMLEY
ROGICH N/C
CALIO
ROLLINS
DEMAREST
SMITH
YEUTTER
FITZWATER
GRAY
N/L
FINDLAY
HOLIDAY
KAUFMAN
MCGROARTY
REMARKS:
Please forward your comments directly to Dan McGroarty, Rm. 122, x2930,
no later than 3:00 p.m., TUESDAY, APRIL 14, with a copy to this office.
Thank you.
RESPONSE:
Everyone called
Calio-no heightman-yes
3 times.
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
Pink yes
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
McGroarty/Bunton
02 APR 13 P5: 21
April 13, 1992
5:00 pm
[LEHIGH]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LEHIGH VALLEY 2000
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
APRIL 16, 1992
1:00 P.M.
My thanks to the parents, the teachers and the staff.
Thanks also to all the folks here from Allentown and Easton and
Bethlehem -- the leading lights of Lehigh Valley. Last but not
least, let me say hello to the students of Dieruff High. //
It's astonishing to be here with the Class of '92 as a
graduate of the Class of '42. // I realize the world I thought
of as new -- for you is, well, history. //
Look at the world you'll soon call your own. Each day we
see new evidence: History played out in the headlines. Old
empires expire -- new worlds are born. In the past six months
alone, we've seen the birth of 18 new nations. [[Who knows how
many there'll be by the time you take that big geography final. ]]
But the challenges we face -- the sheer complexity of our
world -- can't obscure the basic values that guide this Nation.
Times change, but truths endure. I'm talking about the big
issues that shape our world -- about the values close to home.
Everything I've done -- I've done to preserve and advance three
precious legacies: strong families. Good jobs. A world at
peace.
2
Securing those legacies has been my mission as President --
and it will be my mission today and every day, now and for the
next four years. //
Right now, here in Allentown and across America, the number
one concern is the economy -- and turning this economy around,
creating jobs, is the mission that matters most. Listen to what
people say about the economy. Get beneath the cold statistics -
- down to the real heart of this issue. People want to know
whether they can keep the job they've got -- and whether they're
on track for a better one. For their kids -- for each one of the
students here today -- they've got grander visions: not just a
job -- a career. Work that means more than simply making ends
meet: Work that gives real meaning to your life. //
People have a right to ask: what is government's role in
all of this? / No, we can't legislate the American Dream. But
government can serve as a catalyst for change -- clearing away
the obstacles to economic growth and the unnecessary costs of
doing business. Expanding the opportunities for aggressive
businesses and enterprising individuals to create new jobs.
Training and educating our children -- giving you the tools of
thought you'll need to compete in the new world economy. / /
The fate of America's economic future rests on five pillars:
On free and fair trade -- our ability to break down barriers,
open new markets to American goods. Our future rests on legal
reform -- on ending the explosion of litigation that strains our
patience and saps our economy. On health care reform -- opening
3
up access to all Americans, controlling the run-away cost of
health care without sacrificing choice and quality. On
government reform -- because only if we reverse a generation of
creeping bureaucracy, only if we restore limits to government,
can we restore public trust.
Finally, the reason I've come to Lehigh Valley today: our
future depends on education reform -- our ability to
revolutionize -- literally re-invent our schools: to prepare a
new generation for the challenges of the next century.
Education represents a perfect community of interest:
between the individual and society -- between one generation and
the next. Between the proud history we must pass on -- and the
path-breaking future we must create. // And in terms of
America's economic future -- education is nothing less than a
matter of economic survival. //
You've seen the news stories. You've heard the bleak
statistics. Anyone who worries about slack productivity or a bad
balance of trade ought to be alarmed about our children's test
scores. Millions of students work hard, millions of dedicated
teachers do their best -- and still, in one test after another,
America's children score at or near the bottom ranks of
international achievement. //
We don't need another test to tell us something is wrong
with our schools. For the sake of every student here today,
we've got to shake off any sense of complacency -- and shake up
the status quo.
4
Here in Lehigh Valley, that's a lesson you learned years
ago. You didn't wait for word from Washington. You didn't stand
back and watch another generation of kids get less education than
they deserved. This community took a direct interest in what was
going on in the classroom. This community took action. //
I took office determined to put the power of the Presidency
behind change. More than two years ago, we took a strong first
step. Working together with the nation's Governors, we set six
ambitious goals for the year 2000: We agreed we must raise the
high-school graduation rate to 90%. We must be first in the
world in math and science. We must put in place a system of
World Class Standards -- and tests to measure students' progress.
By the year 2000, every American adult must be literate. Every
American child must start school ready to learn -- and every
American school must be free of drugs, free from the violence
that today too often follows our kids into the classroom.
Let me make this clear: These goals are not just my goals.
They're not just the Governor's goals. They are the nation's
goals -- and more than that, they are the hope of the next
generation.
Goals define the mission. They tell us where we want to go
-- not how to get there. That's why, nearly one year ago to the
day, I mapped out a strategy I call America 2000: a plan to
revolutionize American education. To put an end to business as
usual: to break the mold -- build a new generation of American
schools.
5
Two days from now, we'll mark the first anniversary of
America 2000. Let me share with you today a kind of "report
card" on what we've accomplished. / In one year's time, we've
seen America 2000 catch fire all across this country. Already,
43 states and more than 1000 communities -- from Grand Junction,
Colorado to Lewiston, Maine -- have joined the America 2000
crusade. Everywhere, people like you are working to break down
the barriers between the classroom and the community -- to spark
a grass-roots revolution to re-invent the American school.
But, you know that story -- because Lehigh Valley has led
the way.
I want to share with you an old African proverb that's the
motto of Minnesota 2000: "It takes an entire village to educate
one child."
And that is what it takes -- because education doesn't just
happen in the classroom. It doesn't start at 9 a.m. and end at
3. We owe it to our children and to ourselves to see that we
live in communities that care about education -- communities
where learning can happen.
Today, I came to Lehigh -- to one of the first communities
to join the America 2000 crusade -- to say the time has come to
carry the revolution to the national level. Taking that step
depends on our success in building a consensus for change around
four core ideas -- four ways to transform the federal government
into a catalyst for real education reform.
6
First, if we're serious about reaching our goals, we must
set World Class Standards in five core subjects -- and establish
a series of voluntary American Achievement Tests to measure our
children's progress.
Second, we've got to grant states and local school districts
relief from the rigid formula-grant approach that forces a one-
size-fits-all solution on our schools: allowing teachers and
principals flexibility -- freedom to apply federal resources to
fit local circumstances.
Right now, federal rules force schools to stick with
outdated tests -- rather than go with new ones and risk the loss
of millions of dollars in federal funds. In other cases, federal
restrictions result in sprinkling remedial instruction in equal
but ineffective amounts across large numbers of children --
instead of focusing enough time and energy to make a real
difference for kids who need it most.
Has anyone asked the teachers here today: does that make
sense? How can we ask you to teach -- and then tie your hands?
Third, we've got to launch a wide-open experiment to create
New American Schools -- at least one in every Congressional
District across the country. Lehigh Valley is hard at work on
its plan to make this community home to its own New American
School.
These break-the-mold schools won't conform to any one
blueprint. Some may make a quantum leap forward into tomorrow's
technologies. Others may seek to reach the future by restoring
7
older traditions, the discipline -- and disciplines -- of an
earlier era. Each one of these schools would be a laboratory of
learning -- an experimental attempt to re-invent American
education. All we need now is the seed money to translate ideas
into action.
Fourth, we must create an incentive to improve education by
promoting school choice. For far too long, we've shielded our
schools from competition -- allowed the system a damaging
monopoly-power over students. Well, just as monopolies are bad
for the economy -- they're bad for our kids. Every parent should
have the power to choose which school is best for his child --
public, private or religious. //
Look at America's college students. Our university system
is the envy of the world. Each year, we make over $15 billion
dollars in federal grants and loans directly to students -- to
use at the university of their choice. No one asks whether they
enroll at Penn State or USC -- at SMU or Notre Dame. It's time
we make the same choice available to all parents from the moment
their children go to school. Whether it's parochial school or
yeshiva or bible school -- let parents, not the government,
decide. //
And let's be clear: if we deny parents school choice ---
let's recognize who's hurt worst by the status quo. It's not the
well-to-do. It's not the upper middle class. It's not any one
of us who ever went house-hunting with a map of the good school
8
districts. / Deny people school choice, and the ones you hurt
most are the Middle Class and lower -- and especially the poor.
That's why choice is catching on in some of the hardest-hit
neighborhoods in this nation. Talk to parents spearheading the
school choice crusade -- people like Polly Williams in Milwaukee.
They'll tell you how the lack of choice left them powerless to
force change -- how a public school bureaucracy turned students
into statistics and parents into pawns. Look at Milwaukee today
-- pioneering school choice, giving poor parents control, and
poor children pride. // Look at the schools in East Harlem --
where teachers put their names on waiting list to get a chance to
teach in a choice school. They can't wait to stand in front of a
classroom of children who want to be there -- who want to learn.
Choice works -- and here's why. When our students are a
captive audience, our schools have no incentive to improve. What
competition brings to the economy -- choice can bring to
education. Say what you want about reforming our schools: If
you're for change -- you're for school choice.
These four ideas are generating interest and enthusiasm
among Governors and mayors -- Democrats and Republicans -- among
business leaders from Ed Donley and the Allentown-Lehigh County
Chamber of Commerce, to the Fortune 500. Among teachers and
students and parents and principals -- everyone at every level
who understands the need for change.
Everyone, that is, except the leaders of the U.S. Congress.
At a moment when the consensus for change seems to be
9
reaching critical mass, on Capitol Hill you can watch the last
stand of the status quo. Forces there are waging a last-ditch
effort to put the brakes on change -- to preserve the business-
as-usual approach that brought us the present crisis in
education.
Take a look at the bill now winding its way through the
Congress -- and what it does to the four path-breaking ideas I
mentioned a moment ago.
As part of America 2000, I asked Congress for funds for New
American Schools -- $545 million from now until 1994. Last year,
Congress set aside $100 million dollars for New American Schools
in 1992 -- and set a deadline of April 1 to decide how the money
would be used. This month, that self-imposed deadline came and
went --- wiping out any chance to make a start on New American
Schools this year. Next year, the House bill would funnel more
than $800 million into existing business-as-usual state
bureaucracies -- and not a penny for the new experimental schools
we need.
We asked Congress for funds to develop World Class Standards
and American Achievement Tests -- tools that would help us
measure our students' progress -- and assess the return we're
getting for our education dollars. When it comes to making our
schools more accountable, the U.S. Senate has stonewalled -- and
the House is threatening an amendment to deny the Education
Department the right to fund even a study of standards or tests.
10
Finally, we asked the Congress to fund pilot programs to
promote school choice. Under heavy pressure from the education
lobby, House and Senate leaders have stripped any mention of
school choice out of their bills. //
Instead of supporting America 2000, the bill Congress claims
will help our schools is an exercise in cynicism -- call it the
Status Quo Schools Act of 1992. So today, let me serve notice to
education lobby and their friends back on Capitol Hill: I will
not let Congress spend a billion dollars on a business-as-usual
bill -- and call it education reform. If Congress wants to side
with status quo schools -- Congress can count on a veto. //
Congress can drag its feet -- but it can't stop change.
Lehigh Valley is living proof of the words of the great Abraham
Lincoln: "Revolutions do not go backward." There is a time
early in every revolution when the status quo looks steady and
strong -- and the forces that challenge it weak and without
effect. And there is the moment when the forces of change carry
the day -- the bankruptcy of the status quo stands revealed, and
the whole, hollow house of cards collapses.
The revolution in American education is already underway.
In Lehigh Valley and in communities all across America, the old
ways are being abandoned, new ideas advanced. This revolution
will prevail for the simplest and the strongest of reasons:
because American parents want the best for their children.
Because there isn't a single child anywhere in America who
doesn't deserve the best education possible. //
11
From our schools to our courts, from our hospitals to the
halls of government, from the neighborhoods outside our door to
the realities of a new world economy -- the need for reform won't
wait. The only acceptable response is the American response. We
must rekindle a revolution -- a revolution to bring change to the
country that's changed the world. //
The American people have made their choice. The American
people want change. //
Thank you all for this warm welcome -- and may God bless the
United States of America.
# # #
92 APR Bhurb about LOCAl Announced
today. April 13, 1992
McGroarty/Bunton
add youth in michigan
5:00 pm
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LEHIGH VALLEY 2000
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
A fact sheet was sent-ment today. for
APRIL 16, 1992
1:00 P.M.
My thanks to the parents, the teachers and the staff.
Thanks also to all the folks here from Allentown and Easton and
Bethlehem -- the leading lights of Lehigh Valley. Last but not
least, let me say hello to the students of Dieruff High. //
It's astonishing to be here with the Class of '92 as a
graduate of the Class of '42. // I realize the world I thought
of as new -- for you is, well, history. //
Look at the world you'll soon call your own. Each day we
see new evidence: History played out in the headlines. Old
empires expire -- new worlds are born. In the past six months
alone, we've seen the birth of 18 new nations. [[Who knows how
many there'll be by the time you take that big geography final.]
But the challenges we face -- the sheer complexity of our
world -- can't obscure the basic values that guide this Nation.
Times change, but truths endure. I'm talking about the big
issues that shape our world -- about the values close to home.
Everything I've done -- I've done to preserve and advance three
precious legacies: strong families. Good jobs. A world at
peace.
2
Securing those legacies has been my mission as President --
and it will be my mission today and every day, now and for the
next four years. //
Right now, here in Allentown and across America, the number
one concern is the economy -- and turning this economy around,
creating jobs, is the mission that matters most. Listen to what
people say about the economy. Get beneath the cold statistics -
- down to the real heart of this issue. People want to know
whether they can keep the job they've got -- and whether they're
on track for a better one. For their kids -- for each one of the
students here today -- they've got grander visions: not just a
job -- a career. Work that means more than simply making ends
meet: Work that gives real meaning to your life. //
People have a right to ask: what is government's role in
all of this? / No, we can't legislate the American Dream. But
government can serve as a catalyst for change -- clearing away
the obstacles to economic growth and the unnecessary costs of
doing business. Expanding the opportunities for aggressive
businesses and enterprising individuals to create new jobs.
Training and educating our children -- giving you the tools of
thought you'll need to compete in the new world economy. //
The fate of America's economic future rests on five pillars:
On free and fair trade -- our ability to break down barriers,
open new markets to American goods. Our future rests on legal
reform -- on ending the explosion of litigation that strains our
patience and saps our economy. On health care reform -- opening
3
up access to all Americans, controlling the run-away cost of
health care without sacrificing choice and quality. On
government reform -- because only if we reverse a generation of
creeping bureaucracy, only if we restore limits to government,
can we restore public trust.
Finally, the reason I've come to Lehigh Valley today: our
future depends on education reform -- our ability to
revolutionize -- literally re-invent our schools: to prepare a
new generation for the challenges of the next century.
Education represents a perfect community of interest:
between the individual and society -- between one generation and
the next. Between the proud history we must pass on -- and the
path-breaking future we must create. // And in terms of
America's economic future -- education is nothing less than a
matter of economic survival. 11
You've seen the news stories. You've heard the bleak
statistics. Anyone who worries about slack productivity or a bad
balance of trade ought to be alarmed about our children's test
scores. Millions of students work hard, millions of dedicated
teachers do their best -- and still, in one test after another,
America's children score at or near the bottom ranks of
international achievement. //
We don't need another test to tell us something is wrong
with our schools. For the sake of every student here today,
we've got to shake off any sense of complacency -- and shake up
the status quo.
4
Here in Lehigh Valley, that's a lesson you learned years
ago. You didn't wait for word from Washington. You didn't stand
back and watch another generation of kids get less education than
they deserved. This community took a direct interest in what was
going on in the classroom. This community took action. //
I took office determined to put the power of the Presidency
behind change. More than two years ago, we took a strong first
step. Working together with the nation's Governors, we set six
ambitious goals for the year 2000: We agreed we must raise the
high-school graduation rate to 90%. We must be first in the
world in math and science. We must put in place a system of
World Class Standards -- and tests to measure students' progress.
By the year 2000, every American adult must be literate. Every
American child must start school ready to learn -- and every
American school must be free of drugs, free from the violence
that today too often follows our kids into the classroom.
Let me make this clear: These goals are not just my goals.
They're not just the Governor's goals. They are the nation's
goals -- and more than that, they are the hope of the next
generation.
Goals define the mission. They tell us where we want to go
-- not how to get there. That's why, nearly one year ago to the
day, I mapped out a strategy I call America 2000: a plan to
revolutionize American education. To put an end to business as
usual: to break the mold -- build a new generation of American
schools.
5
Two days from now, we'll mark the first anniversary of
America 2000. Let me share with you today a kind of "report
card" on what we've accomplished. / In one year's time, we've
seen America 2000 catch fire all across this country. Already,
43 states and more than 1000 communities -- from Grand Junction,
Colorado to Lewiston, Maine -- have joined the America 2000
crusade. Everywhere, people like you are working to break down
the barriers between the classroom and the community -- to spark
a grass-roots revolution to re-invent the American school.
But, you know that story -- because Lehigh Valley has led
the way.
I want to share with you an old African proverb that's the
motto of Minnesota 2000: "It takes an entire village to educate
one child."
And that is what it takes -- because education doesn't just
happen in the classroom. It doesn't start at 9 a.m. and end at
3. We owe it to our children and to ourselves to see that we
live in communities that care about education -- communities
where learning can happen.
Today, I came to Lehigh -- to one of the first communities
to join the America 2000 crusade -- to say the time has come to
carry the revolution to the national level. Taking that step
depends on our success in building a consensus for change around
four core ideas -- four ways to transform the federal government
into a catalyst for real education reform.
6
First, if we're serious about reaching our goals, we must
set World Class Standards in five core subjects -- and establish
a series of voluntary American Achievement Tests to measure our
children's progress.
Second, we've got to grant states and local school districts
relief from the rigid formula-grant approach that forces a one-
size-fits-all solution on our schools: allowing teachers and
principals flexibility -- freedom to apply federal resources to
fit local circumstances.
Right now, federal rules force schools to stick with
outdated tests -- rather than go with new ones and risk the loss
of millions of dollars in federal funds. In other cases, federal
restrictions result in sprinkling remedial instruction in equal
but ineffective amounts across large numbers of children --
instead of focusing enough time and energy to make a real
difference for kids who need it most.
Has anyone asked the teachers here today: does that make
sense? How can we ask you to teach -- and then tie your hands?
Third, we've got to launch a wide-open experiment to create
New American Schools -- at least one in every Congressional
District across the country. Lehigh Valley is hard at work on
its plan to make this community home to its own New American
School.
These break-the-mold schools won't conform to any one
blueprint. Some may make a quantum leap forward into tomorrow's
technologies. Others may seek to reach the future by restoring
7.
older traditions, the discipline -- and disciplines -- of an
earlier era. Each one of these schools would be a laboratory of
learning -- an experimental attempt to re-invent American
education. All we need now is the seed money to translate ideas
into action.
Fourth, we must create an incentive to improve education by
promoting school choice. For far too long, we've shielded our
schools from competition -- allowed the system a damaging
monopoly-power over students. Well, just as monopolies are bad
for the economy -- they're bad for our kids. Every parent should
have the power to choose which school is best for his child --
public, private or religious. //
Look at America's college students. Our university system
is the envy of the world. Each year, we make over $15 billion
dollars in federal grants and loans directly to students -- to
use at the university of their choice. No one asks whether they
enroll at Penn State or USC -- at SMU or Notre Dame. It's time
we make the same choice available to all parents from the moment
their children go to school. Whether it's parochial school or
yeshiva or bible school -- let parents, not the government,
decide. //
And let's be clear: if we deny parents school choice --
let's recognize who's hurt worst by the status quo. It's not the
well-to-do. It's not the upper middle class. It's not any one
of us who ever went house-hunting with a map of the good school
8
districts. / Deny people school choice, and the ones you hurt
most are the Middle Class and lower -- and especially the poor.
That's why choice is catching on in some of the hardest-hit
neighborhoods in this nation. Talk to parents spearheading the
school choice crusade -- people like Polly Williams in Milwaukee.
They'll tell you how the lack of choice left them powerless to
force change -- how a public school bureaucracy turned students
into statistics and parents into pawns. Look at Milwaukee today
-- pioneering school choice, giving poor parents control, and
poor children pride. // Look at the schools in East Harlem --
where teachers put their names on waiting list to get a chance to
teach in a choice school. They can't wait to stand in front of a
classroom of children who want to be there -- who want to learn.
Choice works -- and here's why. When our students are a
captive audience, our schools have no incentive to improve. What
competition brings to the economy -- choice can bring to
education. Say what you want about reforming our schools: If
you're for change -- you're for school choice.
These four ideas are generating interest and enthusiasm
among Governors and mayors -- Democrats and Republicans -- among
business leaders from Ed Donley and the Allentown-Lehigh County
Chamber of Commerce, to the Fortune 500. Among teachers and
students and parents and principals -- everyone at every level
who understands the need for change.
Everyone, that is, except the leaders of the U.S. Congress.
At a moment when the consensus for change seems to be
9
reaching critical mass, on Capitol Hill you can watch the last
stand of the status quo. Forces there are waging a last-ditch
effort to put the brakes on change -- to preserve the business-
as-usual approach that brought us the present crisis in
education.
Take a look at the bill now winding its way through the
Congress -- and what it does to the four path-breaking ideas I
mentioned a moment ago.
As part of America 2000, I asked Congress for funds for New
American Schools -- $545 million from now until 1994. Last year,
Congress set aside $100 million dollars for New American Schools
in 1992 -- and set a deadline of April 1 to decide how the money
would be used. This month, that self-imposed deadline came and
went -- wiping out any chance to make a start on New American
Schools this year. Next year, the House bill would funnel more
than $800 million into existing business-as-usual state
bureaucracies -- and not a penny for the new experimental schools
we need.
We asked Congress for funds to develop World Class Standards
and American Achievement Tests -- tools that would help us
measure our students' progress -- and assess the return we're
getting for our education dollars. When it comes to making our
schools more accountable, the U.S. Senate has stonewalled -- and
the House is threatening an amendment to deny the Education
Department the right to fund even a study of standards or tests.
10
Finally, we asked the Congress to fund pilot programs to
promote school choice. Under heavy pressure from the education
lobby, House and Senate leaders have stripped any mention of
school choice out of their bills. //
Instead of supporting America 2000, the bill Congress claims
will help our schools is an exercise in cynicism -- call it the
Status Quo Schools Act of 1992. So today, let me serve notice to
education lobby and their friends back on Capitol Hill: I will
not let Congress spend a billion dollars on a business-as-usual
bill -- and call it education reform. If Congress wants to side
with status quo schools -- Congress can count on a veto. //
Congress can drag its feet -- but it can't stop change.
Lehigh Valley is living proof of the words of the great Abraham
Lincoln: "Revolutions do not go backward." There is a time
early in every revolution when the status quo looks steady and
strong -- and the forces that challenge it weak and without
effect. And there is the moment when the forces of change carry
the day -- the bankruptcy of the status quo stands revealed, and
the whole, hollow house of cards collapses.
The revolution in American education is already underway.
In Lehigh Valley and in communities all across America, the old
ways are being abandoned, new ideas advanced. This revolution
will prevail for the simplest and the strongest of reasons:
because American parents want the best for their children.
Because there isn't a single child anywhere in America who
doesn't deserve the best education possible. //
11
From our schools to our courts, from our hospitals to the
halls of government, from the neighborhoods outside our door to
the realities of a new world economy -- the need for reform won't
wait. The only acceptable response is the American response. We
must rekindle a revolution -- a revolution to bring change to the
country that's changed the world. //
The American people have made their choice. The American
people want change. //
Thank you all for this warm welcome -- and may God bless the
United States of America.
# # #
Document No. 321639ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
92 APR 14 P4:50 50
DATE:
4/13/92
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: TUESDAY, 4/14/92 3:00pr
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LEHIGH VALLEY 2000
SUBJECT:
ALLENTOWN, PA - 4/16/92
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SKINNER
MCBRIDE
SCOWCROFT
MOORE
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BRADY
PORTER
BROMLEY
ROGICH
CALIO
ROLLINS
DEMAREST
SMITH
YEUTTER
FITZWATER
GRAY
FINDLAY
HOLIDAY
KAUFMAN
MCGROARTY
REMARKS:
Please forward your comments directly to Dan McGroarty, Rm. 122, x2930,
no later than 3:00 p.m., TUESDAY, APRIL 14, with a copy to this office.
Thank you.
RESPONSE:
See pg.5 comments
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
McGroarty/Bunton
02 APR 13 P5: 21
April 13, 1992
5:00 pm
[LEHIGH]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LEHIGH VALLEY 2000
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
APRIL 16, 1992
1:00 P.M.
My thanks to the parents, the teachers and the staff.
Thanks also to all the folks here from Allentown and Easton and
Bethlehem -- the leading lights of Lehigh Valley. Last but not
least, let me say hello to the students of Dieruff High. //
It's astonishing to be here with the Class of '92 as a
graduate of the Class of '42. // I realize the world I thought
of as new -- for you is, well, history. //
Look at the world you'll soon call your own. Each day we
see new evidence: History played out in the headlines. Old
empires expire -- new worlds are born. In the past six months
alone, we've seen the birth of 18 new nations. [[Who knows how
many there'll be by the time you take that big geography final. ]]
But the challenges we face -- the sheer complexity of our
world -- can't obscure the basic values that guide this Nation.
Times change, but truths endure. I'm talking about the big
issues that shape our world -- about the values close to home.
Everything I've done -- I've done to preserve and advance three
precious legacies: strong families. Good jobs. A world at
peace.
2
Securing those legacies has been my mission as President --
and it will be my mission today and every day, now and for the
next four years. //
Right now, here in Allentown and across America, the number
one concern is the economy -- and turning this economy around,
creating jobs, is the mission that matters most. Listen to what
people say about the economy. Get beneath the cold statistics -
- down to the real heart of this issue. People want to know
whether they can keep the job they've got -- and whether they're
on track for a better one. For their kids -- for each one of the
students here today -- they've got grander visions: not just a
job -- a career. Work that means more than simply making ends
meet: Work that gives real meaning to your life. //
People have a right to ask: what is government's role in
all of this? / No, we can't legislate the American Dream. But
government can serve as a catalyst for change -- clearing away
the obstacles to economic growth and the unnecessary costs of
doing business. Expanding the opportunities for aggressive
businesses and enterprising individuals to create new jobs.
Training and educating our children -- giving you the tools of
thought you'll need to compete in the new world economy. //
The fate of America's economic future rests on five pillars:
On free and fair trade -- our ability to break down barriers,
open new markets to American goods. Our future rests on legal
reform -- on ending the explosion of litigation that strains our
patience and saps our economy. On health care reform -- opening
3
up access to all Americans, controlling the run-away cost of
health care without sacrificing choice and quality. On
government reform -- because only if we reverse a generation of
creeping bureaucracy, only if we restore limits to government,
can we restore public trust.
Finally, the reason I've come to Lehigh Valley today: our
future depends on education reform -- our ability to
revolutionize -- literally re-invent our schools: to prepare a
new generation for the challenges of the next century.
Education represents a perfect community of interest:
between the individual and society -- between one generation and
the next. Between the proud history we must pass on -- and the
path-breaking future we must create. // And in terms of
America's economic future -- education is nothing less than a
matter of economic survival. //
You've seen the news stories. You've heard the bleak
statistics. Anyone who worries about slack productivity or a bad
balance of trade ought to be alarmed about our children's test
scores. Millions of students work hard, millions of dedicated
teachers do their best -- and still, in one test after another,
America's children score at or near the bottom ranks of
international achievement. //
We don't need another test to tell us something is wrong
with our schools. For the sake of every student here today,
we've got to shake off any sense of complacency -- and shake up
the status quo.
4
Here in Lehigh Valley, that's a lesson you learned years
ago. You didn't wait for word from Washington. You didn't stand
back and watch another generation of kids get less education than
they deserved. This community took a direct interest in what was
going on in the classroom. This community took action. //
I took office determined to put the power of the Presidency
behind change. More than two years ago, we took a strong first
step. Working together with the nation's Governors, we set six
ambitious goals for the year 2000: We agreed we must raise the
high-school graduation rate to 90%. We must be first in the
world in math and science. We must put in place a system of
World Class Standards -- and tests to measure students' progress.
By the year 2000, every American adult must be literate. Every
American child must start school ready to learn -- and every
American school must be free of drugs, free from the violence
that today too often follows our kids into the classroom.
Let me make this clear: These goals are not just my goals.
They're not just the Governor's goals. They are the nation's
goals -- and more than that, they are the hope of the next
generation.
Goals define the mission. They tell us where we want to go
-- not how to get there. That's why, nearly one year ago to the
day, I mapped out a strategy I call America 2000: a plan to
revolutionize American education. To put an end to business as
usual: to break the mold -- build a new generation of American
schools.
5
Two days from now, we'll mark the first anniversary of
America 2000. Let me share with you today a kind of "report
card" on what we've accomplished. / In one year's time, we've
seen America 2000 catch fire all across this country. Already,
43 states and more than 1000 communities -- from Grand Junction,
Colorado to Lewiston, Maine -- have joined the America 2000
crusade. Everywhere, people like you are working to break down
the barriers between the classroom and the community -- to spark
a grass-roots revolution to re-invent the American school.
But, you know that story -- because Lehigh Valley has led
the way.
I want to share with you an old African proverb that's the
motto of Minnesota 2000: "It takes an entire village to educate
one child."
lehigh
And that is what it takes -- because education doesn't just
exact hours Valley SOLD
happen in the classroom. It doesn't start at 9 a.m. and end at
3. We owe it to our children and to ourselves to see that we
live in communities that care about education -- communities
where learning can happen.
Today, I came to Lehigh -- to one of the first communities
Really.
to join the America 2000 crusade -- to say the time has come to
carry the revolution to the national level. Taking that step
we called
depends on our success in building a consensus for change around
them.
four core ideas -- four ways to transform the federal government
into a catalyst for real education reform.
6
First, if we're serious about reaching our goals, we must
set World Class Standards in five core subjects -- and establish
a series of voluntary American Achievement Tests to measure our
children's progress.
Second, we've got to grant states and local school districts
relief from the rigid formula-grant approach that forces a one-
size-fits-all solution on our schools: allowing teachers and
principals flexibility -- freedom to apply federal resources to
fit local circumstances.
Right now, federal rules force schools to stick with
outdated tests -- rather than go with new ones and risk the loss
of millions of dollars in federal funds. In other cases, federal
restrictions result in sprinkling remedial instruction in equal
but ineffective amounts across large numbers of children --
instead of focusing enough time and energy to make a real
difference for kids who need it most.
Has anyone asked the teachers here today: does that make
sense? How can we ask you to teach -- and then tie your hands?
Third, we've got to launch a wide-open experiment to create
New American Schools -- at least one in every Congressional
District across the country. Lehigh Valley is hard at work on
its plan to make this community home to its own New American
School.
These break-the-mold schools won't conform to any one
blueprint. Some may make a quantum leap forward into tomorrow's
technologies. Others may seek to reach the future by restoring
7
older traditions, the discipline -- and disciplines -- of an
earlier era. Each one of these schools would be a laboratory of
learning -- an experimental attempt to re-invent American
education. All we need now is the seed money to translate ideas
into action.
Fourth, we must create an incentive to improve education by
promoting school choice. For far too long, we've shielded our
schools from competition -- allowed the system a damaging
monopoly-power over students. Well, just as monopolies are bad
for the economy -- they're bad for our kids. Every parent should
have the power to choose which school is best for his child --
public, private or religious. //
Look at America's college students. Our university system
is the envy of the world. Each year, we make over $15 billion
dollars in federal grants and loans directly to students -- to
use at the university of their choice. No one asks whether they
enroll at Penn State or USC -- at SMU or Notre Dame. It's time
we make the same choice available to all parents from the moment
their children go to school. Whether it's parochial school or
yeshiva or bible school -- let parents, not the government,
decide. //
And let's be clear: if we deny parents school choice --
let's recognize who's hurt worst by the status quo. It's not the
well-to-do. It's not the upper middle class. It's not any one
of us who ever went house-hunting with a map of the good school
8
districts. / Deny people school choice, and the ones you hurt
most are the Middle Class and lower -- and especially the poor.
That's why choice is catching on in some of the hardest-hit
neighborhoods in this nation. Talk to parents spearheading the
school choice crusade -- people like Polly Williams in Milwaukee.
They'll tell you how the lack of choice left them powerless to
force change -- how a public school bureaucracy turned students
into statistics and parents into pawns. Look at Milwaukee today
-- pioneering school choice, giving poor parents control, and
poor children pride. // Look at the schools in East Harlem --
where teachers put their names on waiting list to get a chance to
teach in a choice school. They can't wait to stand in front of a
classroom of children who want to be there -- who want to learn.
Choice works -- and here's why. When our students are a
captive audience, our schools have no incentive to improve. What
competition brings to the economy -- choice can bring to
education. Say what you want about reforming our schools: If
you're for change -- you're for school choice.
These four ideas are generating interest and enthusiasm
among Governors and mayors -- Democrats and Republicans -- among
business leaders from Ed Donley and the Allentown-Lehigh County
Chamber of Commerce, to the Fortune 500. Among teachers and
students and parents and principals -- everyone at every level
who understands the need for change.
Everyone, that is, except the leaders of the U.S. Congress.
At a moment when the consensus for change seems to be
9
reaching critical mass, on Capitol Hill you can watch the last
stand of the status quo. Forces there are waging a last-ditch
effort to put the brakes on change -- to preserve the business-
as-usual approach that brought us the present crisis in
education.
Take a look at the bill now winding its way through the
Congress -- and what it does to the four path-breaking ideas I
mentioned a moment ago.
As part of America 2000, I asked Congress for funds for New
American Schools -- $545 million from now until 1994. Last year,
Congress set aside $100 million dollars for New American Schools
in 1992 -- and set a deadline of April 1 to decide how the money
would be used. This month, that self-imposed deadline came and
went -- wiping out any chance to make a start on New American
Schools this year. Next year, the House bill would funnel more
than $800 million into existing business-as-usual state
bureaucracies -- and not a penny for the new experimental schools
we need.
We asked Congress for funds to develop World Class Standards
and American Achievement Tests -- tools that would help us
measure our students' progress -- and assess the return we're
getting for our education dollars. When it comes to making our
schools more accountable, the U.S. Senate has stonewalled -- and
the House is threatening an amendment to deny the Education
Department the right to fund even a study of standards or tests.
10
Finally, we asked the Congress to fund pilot programs to
promote school choice. Under heavy pressure from the education
lobby, House and Senate leaders have stripped any mention of
school choice out of their bills. //
Instead of supporting America 2000, the bill Congress claims
will help our schools is an exercise in cynicism -- call it the
Status Quo Schools Act of 1992. So today, let me serve notice to
education lobby and their friends back on Capitol Hill: I will
not let Congress spend a billion dollars on a business-as-usual
bill -- and call it education reform. If Congress wants to side
with status quo schools -- Congress can count on a veto. //
Congress can drag its feet -- but it can't stop change.
Lehigh Valley is living proof of the words of the great Abraham
Lincoln: "Revolutions do not go backward." There is a time
early in every revolution when the status quo looks steady and
strong -- and the forces that challenge it weak and without
effect. And there is the moment when the forces of change carry
the day -- the bankruptcy of the status quo stands revealed, and
the whole, hollow house of cards collapses.
The revolution in American education is already underway.
In Lehigh Valley and in communities all across America, the old
ways are being abandoned, new ideas advanced. This revolution
will prevail for the simplest and the strongest of reasons:
because American parents want the best for their children.
Because there isn't a single child anywhere in America who
doesn't deserve the best education possible. //
11
From our schools to our courts, from our hospitals to the
halls of government, from the neighborhoods outside our door to
the realities of a new world economy -- the need for reform won't
wait. The only acceptable response is the American response. We
must rekindle a revolution -- a revolution to bring change to the
country that's changed the world. //
The American people have made their choice. The American
people want change. //
Thank you all for this warm welcome -- and may God bless the
United States of America.
# # #
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20503
92 APR 14 P2:15
NOTICE:
Enclosed are comments from staff members of the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB). Such comments do not necessarily
represent the official position of the Director of OMB or of the
Office of Management and Budget. If you wish to have the
Director's personal comments, please let me know -- and contact
me if you have any questions.
If our proposed substantive changes are not made, please let
us know before the material is prepared in final.
James C. Marr
Associate Director for
Legislative Reference
and Administration
Document No. 321639ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
4/13/92
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: TUESDAY, 4/14/92 3:00p
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LEHIGH VALLEY 2000
SUBJECT:
ALLENTOWN, PA - 4/16/92
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SKINNER
MCBRIDE
SCOWCROFT
MOORE
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BRADY
PORTER
BROMLEY
ROGICH
CALIO
ROLLINS
DEMAREST
SMITH
YEUTTER
FITZWATER
GRAY
FINDLAY
HOLIDAY
KAUFMAN
MCGROARTY
REMARKS:
Please forward your comments directly to Dan McGroarty, Rm. 122, x2930,
no later than 3:00 p.m., TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 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
02 APR 13 P5: 21
April 13, 1992
5:00 pm
[LEHIGH]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LEHIGH VALLEY 2000
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
APRIL 16, 1992
1:00 P.M.
My thanks to the parents, the teachers and the staff.
Thanks also to all the folks here from Allentown and Easton and
Bethlehem -- the leading lights of Lehigh Valley. Last but not
least, let me say hello to the students of Dieruff High. //
It's astonishing to be here with the Class of '92 as a
graduate of the Class of '42. // I realize the world I thought
of as new -- for you is, well, history. //
Look at the world you'll soon call your own. Each day we
see new evidence: History played out in the headlines. Old
empires expire -- new worlds are born. In the past six months
alone, we've seen the birth of 18 new nations. [[Who knows how
many there'll be by the time you take that big geography final. ]]
But the challenges we face -- the sheer complexity of our
world -- can't obscure the basic values that guide this Nation.
Times change, but truths endure. I'm talking about the big
issues that shape our world -- about the values close to home.
Everything I've done -- I've done to preserve and advance three
precious legacies: strong families. Good jobs. A world at
peace.
2
Securing those legacies has been my mission as President --
and it will be my mission today and every day, now and for the
next four years. 11
Right now, here in Allentown and across America, the number
one concern is the economy -- and turning this economy around,
creating jobs, is the mission that matters most. Listen to what
people say about the economy. Get beneath the cold statistics -
- down to the real heart of this issue. People want to know
whether they can keep the job they've got -- and whether they're
on track for a better one. For their kids -- for each one of the
students here today -- they've got grander visions: not just a
job -- a career. Work that means more than simply making ends
meet: Work that gives real meaning to your life. //
People have a right to ask: what is government's role in
all of this? / No, we can't legislate the American Dream. But
government can serve as a catalyst for change -- clearing away
the obstacles to economic growth and the unnecessary costs of
doing business. Expanding the opportunities for aggressive
businesses and enterprising individuals to create new jobs.
Training and educating our children -- giving you the tools of
thought you'll need to compete in the new world economy. //
The fate of America's economic future rests on five pillars:
On free and fair trade -- our ability to break down barriers,
open new markets to American goods. Our future rests on legal
reform -- on ending the explosion of litigation that strains our
patience and saps our economy. On health care reform -- opening
3
up access to all Americans, controlling the run-away cost of
health care without sacrificing choice and quality. On
government reform -- because only if we reverse a generation of
creeping bureaucracy, only if we restore limits to government,
can we restore public trust.
Finally, the reason I've come to Lehigh Valley today: our
future depends on education reform -- our ability to
revolutionize -- literally re-invent our schools: to prepare a
new generation for the challenges of the next century.
Education represents a perfect community of interest:
between the individual and society -- between one generation and
the next. Between the proud history we must pass on -- and the
path-breaking future we must create. // And in terms of
America's economic future -- education is nothing less than a
matter of economic survival. //
You've seen the news stories. You've heard the bleak
statistics. Anyone who worries about slack productivity or a bad
balance of trade ought to be alarmed about our children's test
scores. Millions of students work hard, millions of dedicated
teachers do their best -- and still, in one test after another,
America's children score at or near the bottom ranks of
international achievement. //
We don't need another test to tell us something is wrong
with our schools. For the sake of every student here today,
we've got to shake off any sense of complacency -- and shake up
the status quo.
4
Here in Lehigh Valley, that's a lesson you learned years
ago. You didn't wait for word from Washington. You didn't stand
back and watch another generation of kids get less education than
they deserved. This community took a direct interest in what was
going on in the classroom. This community took action. //
I took office determined to put the power of the Presidency
behind change. More than two years ago, we took a strong first
step. Working together with the nation's Governors, we set six
ambitious goals for the year 2000: We agreed we must raise the
high-school graduation rate to 90%. We must be first in the
world in math and science. We must put in place a system of
World Class Standards -- and tests to measure students' progress.
By the year 2000, every American adult must be literate. Every
American child must start school ready to learn -- and every
American school must be free of drugs, free from the violence
that today too often follows our kids into the classroom.
Let me make this clear: These goals are not just my goals.
They're not just the Governor's goals. They are the nation's
goals -- and more than that, they are the hope of the next
generation.
Goals define the mission. They tell us where we want to go
-- not how to get there. That's why, nearly one year ago to the
day, I mapped out a strategy I call America 2000: a plan to
revolutionize American education. To put an end to business as
usual: to break the mold -- build a new generation of American
schools.
5
Two days from now, we'll mark the first anniversary of
America 2000. Let me share with you today a kind of "report
card" on what we've accomplished. / In one year's time, we've
seen America 2000 catch fire all across this country. Already,
43 states and more than 1000 communities -- from Grand Junction,
Colorado to Lewiston, Maine -- have joined the America 2000
crusade. Everywhere, people like you are working to break down
the barriers between the classroom and the community -- to spark
a grass-roots revolution to re-invent the American school.
But, you know that story -- because Lehigh Valley has led
the way.
I want to share with you an old African proverb that's the
motto of Minnesota 2000: "It takes an entire village to educate
one child."
And that is what it takes -- because education doesn't just
happen in the classroom. It doesn't start at 9 a.m. and end at
3. We owe it to our children and to ourselves to see that we
live in communities that care about education -- communities
where learning can happen.
Today, I came to Lehigh -- to one of the first communities
to join the America 2000 crusade -- to say the time has come to
carry the revolution to the national level. Taking that step
depends on our success in building a consensus for change around
four core ideas -- four ways to transform the federal government
into a catalyst for real education reform.
6
at least the
First, if we're serious about reaching our goals, we must
set World Class Standards in five core subjects -- and establish
a series of voluntary American Achievement Tests to measure our
children's progress.
Second, we've got to grant states and local school districts
go willy
relief from the rigid formula-grant approach that forces a one-
size-fits-all solution on our schools: allowing teachers and
principals flexibility -- freedom to apply federal resources to
fit local circumstances.
See insert
next page,
Right now, federal rules force schools to stick with
outdated tests -- rather than go with new ones and risk the loss
sel
of millions of dollars in federal funds. In other cases, federal
Saily
Doesn't but
restrictions result in sprinkling remedial instruction in equal
5/25
ineffective amounts across large numbers of children --
instead of focusing enough time and energy to make a real
difference for kids who need it most.
Has anyone asked the teachers here today: does that make
sense? How can we ask you to teach -- and then tie your hands?
Third, we've got to launch a wide-open experiment to create
New American Schools -- at least one in every Congressional
District across the country. Lehigh Valley is hard at work on
its plan to make this community home to its own New American
School.
to showthe other schools howit
can be done
These break-the-mold schools won't conform to any one
1
see
blueprint. Some may make a quantum leap forward into tomorrow's
change
p.7
technologies. Others may seek to reach the future by restoring
forther
point.
Insert
/
LEHIGH SPEECH: REPLACEMENT FOR THE SECOND PARAGRAPH ON PAGE 6
Second, we've got to grant states and local school districts
relief from Federal laws or regulations that limit their ability
Saily
to improve our students' educational achievement and and are not do nothing
ST78
necessary to achieve national goals: give teachers
principals flexibility -- freedom to meet the goals of federal
programs with locally tailored project designs.)
Right now, schools receiving federal funds from several
programs must comply with a host of rules under each one. Taken
together, complying with all these rules can make it harder, not
easier, to raise student performance and meet program goals. We
need to change the focus of federal programs from process to
results. Until we succeed at the national level, we need to let
teachers and principals do their best to make this shift at the
local level.
Could anyone here disagree with that? How can we ask
teachers to teach and then tie their hands?
Note: a change like this is needed because of errors in the
speech draft:
Formula grants, presumably here meaning mostly Chapter 1, do
not impose "one size fits all solutions." They only move
money in certain ways; they do not dictate, for example,
teaching methods. One large program that has tougher
process (but not educational content) requirements is
Education of the Handicapped. The President has not
proposed any changes to these so-called "procedural
safeguards" of that Act.
Federal law does not specify any particular test (outmoded
?
or modern), only that the test be "standardized" so that
results are comparable across jurisdictions. Further, it
lets states propose their own self-developed tests as long
as the tests meet generic technical standards.
Federal law does not require "sprinkling" of remedial
?
education. It encourages just the opposite by stressing
service to those with greatest need, but many States choose
to scatter funds widely to satisfy a political need to show
more kids being served.
L 3957289:
SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7021 ; 4-14-92 :11:19AM ;
Atmy request, the private sector israising
millions develop some very exciting new
designs, And many 7 of you have great ideas, too,
older traditions, the discipline -- and disciplines -- of an
earlier era. Each one of these schools would be a laboratory of
learning -- an experimental attempt to re-invent American
education. All we need now is the seed money to translate ideas
from Congress
help people likeyou
into action.
Fourth, we must create an incentive to improve education by
surly
promoting school choice. For far too long, we've shielded our
5178
schools from competition -- allowed the system a damaging
monopoly-power over students. Well, just as monopolies are bad
for the economy -- they're bad for our kids. Every parent should
have the power to choose which school is best for his child --
public, private or religious. //
Look at America's college students. Our university system
is the envy of the world. Each year, we make over $15 billion
dollars in federal grants and loans directly to students -- to
use at the university of their choice. No one asks whether they
enroll at Penn State or USC -- at SMU or Notre Dame. It's time
we make the same choice available to all parents from the moment
their children go to school. Whether it's parochial school or
yeshiva or bible school -- let parents, not the government,
decide. // /
And let's be clear: if we deny parents school choice --
let's recognize who's hurt worst by the status quo. It's not the
well-to-do. It's not the upper middle class. It's not any one
of us who ever went house-hunting with a map of the good school
8
Sally /5178
districts. / Deny people school choice, and the ones you hurt
income kids
most are the Middle Class and lower and especially the poor.
That's why choice is catching on in some of the hardest-hit
x
neighborhoods in this nation. Talk to parents spearheading the
school choice crusade -- people like Polly Williams in Milwaukee.
They'll tell you how the lack of choice left them powerless to
force change -- how a public school bureaucracy turned students
into statistics and parents into pawns. Look at Milwaukee today
-- pioneering school choice, giving poor parents control, and
poor children pride. // Look at the schools in East Harlem --
where teachers put their names on waiting list to get a chance to
teach in a choice school. They can't wait to stand in front of a
classroom of children who want to be there -- who want to learn.
Choice works -- and here's why. When our students are a
captive audience, our schools have no incentive to improve. What
competition brings to the economy -- choice can bring to
education. Say what you want about reforming our schools: If
you're for change -- you're for school choice.
These four ideas are generating interest and enthusiasm
among Governors and mayors -- Democrats and Republicans -- among
business leaders from Ed Donley and the Allentown-Lehigh County
Chamber of Commerce, to the Fortune 500. Among teachers and
students and parents and principals -- everyone at every level
who understands the need for change.
Everyone, that is, except the leaders of the U.S. Congress.
At a moment when the consensus for change seems to be
for the use of that money for
new legislative authorities for
9 reform,
reaching critical mass, on Capitol Hill you can watch the last
stand of the status quo. Forces there are waging a last-ditch
effort to put the brakes on change -- to preserve the business-
as-usual approach that brought us the present crisis in
education.
Sally
Take a look at the bill now winding its way through the
5175
Congress -- and what it does to the four path-breaking ideas I
mentioned a moment ago.
As part of America 2000, I asked Congress for funds for New
American Schools -- $545 million from now until 1994. Last year,
education reform activities
Congress set aside $100 million dollars for New American Schools
in 1992 -- and set a deadline of April 1 to decide how the money
would be used. This month, that self-imposed deadline came and
went.
* wiping out any chance to make a start on New American
congress Passed nothing
brother new legislative reforms under consideration
Schools this year. Next year, the House bill would funnel more Note:
than $800 million into existing business-as-usual state likely
we dont
know
bureaucracies -- and not a penny for the new experimental schools what it willdo
we need.
Note: Not
new authorities
funds
We asked Congress for funds to develop World Class Standards
Ghelp the nation
That'sa and American Achievement Tests -- tools that would help us
son measure our students' progress -- and assess the return we're
getting for our education dollars. When it comes to making our
joined not yet schools more accountable the U.S. Senate has come stonewalled part otthe -- and way
the House is threatening an amendment to deny the Education
but
Department the right to fund even a study of standards or tests.
Note:
House
passed-
5,2 has
the test
standards
Sally
10
5778
Finally, we asked the Congress to fund pilot programs to
help states and localities discover a variety of approaches
promote school choice. Under heavy pressure from the education
to
lobby, House and Senate leaders have stripped any mention of
school choice out of their bills. //
see
insert
Instead of supporting America 2000, the bill Congress claims
attached
will help our schools is an exercise in cynicism -- call it the
Status Quo Schools Act of 1992. So today, let me serve notice to
education lobby and their friends back on Capitol Hill: I will
not let Congress spend a billion dollars on a business-as-usual
bill -- and call it education reform. If Congress wants to side
with status quo schools -- Congress can count on a veto. //
Congress can drag its feet -- but it can't stop change.
Lehigh Valley is living proof of the words of the great Abraham
Lincoln: "Revolutions do not go backward." There is a time
early in every revolution when the status quo looks steady and
strong -- and the forces that challenge it weak and without
effect. And there is the moment when the forces of change carry
the day -- the bankruptcy of the status quo stands revealed, and
the whole, hollow house of cards collapses.
The revolution in American education is already underway.
In Lehigh Valley and in communities all across America, the old
ways are being abandoned, new ideas advanced. This revolution
will prevail for the simplest and the strongest of reasons:
because American parents want the best for their children.
Because there isn't a single child anywhere in America who
doesn't deserve the best education possible. //
Insert
2
LEHIGH SPEECH: INSERT FOR PAGE 10
In the end, the Senate and House bills only want to "allow"
you to set up costly, time consuming process. Both bills want
you to wait many more years before tackling problems head on.
School administrators, teachers, parents and business know the
problems. They want the Federal government to give them help
solving them. My proposals would bring you this help.
Say
5/78
Note: The preceding sections say what the bill does not include.
Proponents in House and Senate argue that their bills allow for
the orderly development of long range plans to fix school
problems. They presume that States and localities have never
thought of their problems before, or tried to fix them.
This insert frames the difference between Congress and
AMERICA 2000: process vs. action; long delay vs. immediate
assault on problems.
8 3957289:
SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7021 ; 4-14-92 :11:20AM ;
11
From our schools to our courts, from our hospitals to the
halls of government, from the neighborhoods outside our door to
the realities of a new world economy -- the need for reform won't
wait. The only acceptable response is the American response. We
must rekindle a revolution -- a revolution to bring change to the
country that's changed the world. //
The American people have made their choice. The American
people want change. //
Thank you all for this warm welcome -- and may God bless the
United States of America.
# # #
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
March 14, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR SHERRIE ROLLINS
THROUGH:
LEIGH ANN METZGER
FROM:
JANE BARNETT LEONARD
SUBJECT:
COMMENTS ON PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS,
LEHIGH VALLEY 2000
I have reviewed a staffed copy of the speech as well as the additional comments that
Jeannie Bunton from Research inserted which include those made by Secretary
Alexander's office and additional comments by Dan McGroarty.
The primary suggestion that Leigh Ann and I had was to add more examples and
stories that would personalize the educational issues the President would be
highlighting. Jeannie has already added several anecdotes that serve this purpose.
Our only other concern was that an announcement be added i.e. G.I. Bill or Lifelong
Learning Credits. It is my understanding that these are being explored.
Overall, we think that the speech covers the key issues that AMERICA 2000 stands
for. It provides a strong foundation for the President to talk about education reform.
The veto language in particular helps to let Congress know that the President means
business not business as usual!
Bob
Memorandum for Speechwriting Staff
From:
Dan McGroarty
Regarding: Lehigh2000
Please return your comments to Room
122 by:
2 pm
APR 13 1992
Today's Date:
McGroarty/Bunton
April 13, 1992
5:00 pm
[LEHIGH]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LEHIGH VALLEY 2000
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
APRIL 16, 1992
1:00 P.M.
My thanks to the parents, the teachers and the staff.
Thanks also to all the folks here from Allentown and Easton and
Bethlehem -- the leading lights of Lehigh Valley. Last but not
least, let me say hello to the students of Dieruff High. //
It's astonishing to be here with the Class of '92 as a
graduate of the Class of '42. // I realize the world I thought
of as new -- for you is, well, history. //
Look at the world you'll soon call your own. Each day we
see new evidence: History played out in the headlines. old
empires expire -- new worlds are born. In the past six months
alone, we've seen the birth of 18 new nations. [[Who knows how
many there'll be by the time you take that big geography final.]]
But the challenges we face -- the sheer complexity of our
world -- can't obscure the basic values that guide this Nation.
Times change, but truths endure. I'm talking about the big
issues that shape our world -- about the values close to home.
Everything I've done -- I've done to preserve and advance three
precious legacies: strong families. Good jobs. A world at
peace.
2
Securing those legacies has been my mission as President --
and it will be my mission today and every day, now and for the
next four years. //
Right now, here in Allentown and across America, the number
one concern is the economy -- and turning this economy around,
creating jobs, is the mission that matters most. Listen to what
people say about the economy. Get beneath the cold statistics -
- down to the real heart of this issue. People want to know
whether they can keep the job they've got -- and whether they're
on track for a better one. For their kids -- for each one of the
students here today -- they've got grander visions: not just a
job -- a career. Work that means more than simply making ends
meet: Work that gives real meaning to your life. //
People have a right to ask: what is government's role in
all of this? / No, we can't legislate the American Dream. But
and reform
government can serve as a catalyst for change -- clearing away
the obstacles to economic growth and the unnecessary costs of
doing business. Expanding the opportunities for aggressive
businesses and enterprising individuals to create new jobs.
Training and educating our children -- giving you the tools of
thought you'll need to compete in the new world economy. //
The fate of America's economic future rests on five pillars:
On free and fair trade -- our ability to break down barriers,
open new markets to American goods. Our future rests on legal
reform -- on ending the explosion of litigation that strains our
patience and saps our economy. On health care reform -- opening
3
up access to all Americans, controlling the run-away cost of
health care without sacrificing choice and quality. On
government reform -- because only if we reverse a generation of
creeping bureaucracy, only if we restore limits to government,
can we restore public trust.
Finally, the reason I've come to Lehigh Valley today: our
future depends on education reform -- our ability to
revolutionize -- literally re-invent our schools: to prepare a
new generation for the challenges of the next century.
Education represents a perfect community of interest:
between the individual and society -- between one generation and
the next. Between the proud history we must pass on -- and the
path-breaking future we must create. // And in terms of
America's economic future -- education is nothing less than a
matter of economic survival. //
You've seen the news stories. You've heard the bleak
statistics. Anyone who worries about slack productivity or a bad
balance of trade ought to be alarmed about our children's test
scores. Millions of students work hard, millions of dedicated
teachers do their best -- and still, in one test after another,
America's children score at or near the bottom ranks of
international achievement. //
We don't need another test to tell us something is wrong
with our schools. For the sake of every student here today,
we've got to shake off any sense of complacency -- and shake up
the status quo.
4
Here in Lehigh Valley, that's a lesson you learned years
ago. You didn't wait for word from Washington. You didn't stand
back and watch another generation of kids get less education than
they deserved. This community took a direct interest in what was
going on in the classroom. This community took action. 11
I took office determined to put the power of the Presidency
behind change. More than two years ago, we took a strong first
step. Working together with the nation's Governors, we set six
ambitious goals for the year 2000: We agreed we must raise the
high-school graduation rate to 90%. We must be first in the
world in math and science. We must put in place a system of
World Class Standards -- and tests to measure students' progress.
By the year 2000, every American adult must be literate. Every
American child must start school ready to learn -- and every
American school must be free of drugs, free from the violence
that today too often follows our kids into the classroom.
Let me make this clear: These goals are not just my goals.
They're not just the Governor's goals. They are the nation's
goals -- and more than that, they are the hope of the next
generation.
Goals define the mission. They tell us where we want to go
-- not how to get there. That's why, nearly one year ago to the
day, I mapped out a strategy I call America 2000: a plan to
revolutionize American education. To put an end to business as
usual: to break the mold -- build a new generation of American
schools.
5
Two days from now, we'll mark the first anniversary of
America 2000. Let me share with you today a kind of "report
card" on what we've accomplished. / In one year's time, we've
seen America 2000 catch fire all across this country. Already,
43 states and more than 1000 communities -- from Grand Junction,
Colorado to Lewiston, Maine -- have joined the America 2000
crusade. Everywhere, people like you are working to break down
the barriers between the classroom and the community -- to spark
a grass-roots revolution to re-invent the American school.
But, you know that story -- because Lehigh Valley has led
the way.
I want to share with you an old African proverb that's the
motto of Minnesota 2000: "It takes an entire village to educate
one child."
And that is what it takes -- because education doesn't just
happen in the classroom. It doesn't start at 9 a.m. and end at
3. We owe it to our children and to ourselves to see that we
live in communities that care about education -- communities
where learning can happen.
Today, I came to Lehigh -- to one of the first communities
to join the America 2000 crusade -- to say the time has come to
carry the revolution to the national level. Taking that step
depends on our success in building a consensus for change around
four core ideas -- four ways to transform the federal government
into a catalyst for real education reform.
6
First, if we're serious about reaching our goals, we must
set World Class Standards in five core subjects -- and establish
a series of voluntary American Achievement Tests to measure our
children's progress.
Second, we've got to grant states and local school districts
relief from the rigid formula-grant approach that forces a one-
size-fits-all solution on our schools: allowing teachers and
principals flexibility -- freedom to apply federal resources to
fit local circumstances.
Right now, federal rules force schools to stick with
outdated tests -- rather than go with new ones and risk the loss
of millions of dollars in federal funds. In other cases, federal
restrictions result in sprinkling remedial instruction in equal
but ineffective amounts across large numbers of children --
instead of focusing enough time and energy to make a real
difference for kids who need it most.
Has anyone asked the teachers here today: does that make
sense? How can we ask you to teach -- and then tie your hands?
Third, we've got to launch a wide-open experiment to create
New American Schools -- at least one in every Congressional
District across the country. Lehigh Valley is hard at work on
its plan to make this community home to its own New American
School.
These break-the-mold schools won't conform to any one
blueprint. Some may make a quantum leap forward into tomorrow's
technologies. Others may seek to reach the future by restoring
7
older traditions, the discipline -- and disciplines -- of an
earlier era. Each one of these schools would be a laboratory of
learning -- an experimental attempt to re-invent American
education. All we need now is the seed money to translate ideas
into action.
Fourth, we must create an incentive to improve education by
promoting school choice. For far too long, we've shielded our
schools from competition -- allowed the system a damaging
monopoly-power over students. Well, just as monopolies are bad
for the economy -- they're bad for our kids. Every parent should
have the power to choose which school is best for his child --
public, private or religious. //
Look at America's college students. Our university system
is the envy of the world. Each year, we make over $15 billion
dollars in federal grants and loans directly to students -- to
use at the university of their choice. No one asks whether they
enroll at Penn State or USC -- at SMU or Notre Dame. It's time
we make the same choice available to all parents from the moment
their children go to school. Whether it's parochial school or
yeshiva or bible school -- let parents, not the government,
decide. 11
And let's be clear: if we deny parents school choice --
let's recognize who's hurt worst by the status quo. It's not the
well-to-do. It's not the upper middle class. It's not any one
of us who ever went house-hunting with a map of the good school
8
districts. / Deny people school choice, and the ones you hurt
most are the Middle Class and lower -- and especially the poor.
That's why choice is catching on in some of the hardest-hit
neighborhoods in this nation. Talk to parents spearheading the
school choice crusade -- people like Polly Williams in Milwaukee.
They'll tell you how the lack of choice left them powerless to
force change -- how a public school bureaucracy turned students
into statistics and parents into pawns. Look at Milwaukee today
-- pioneering school choice, giving poor parents control, and
poor children pride. // Look at the schools in East Harlem --
where teachers put their names on waiting list to get a chance to
teach in a choice school. They can't wait to stand in front of a
classroom of children who want to be there -- who want to learn.
Choice works -- and here's why. When our students are a
captive audience, our schools have no incentive to improve. What
competition brings to the economy -- choice can bring to
Anyone can say they're for educational reform, but here's the
education. Say what you want about reforming our schools: If test:
a direct
dig at
you're for change -- you're for school choice.
Clinton etal.
These four ideas are generating interest and enthusiasm
among Governors and mayors -- Democrats and Republicans -- among
business leaders from Ed Donley and the Allentown-Lehigh County
Chamber of Commerce, to the Fortune 500. Among teachers and
students and parents and principals -- everyone at every level
who understands the need for change.
Everyone, that is, except the leaders of the U.S. Congress.
At a moment when the consensus for change seems to be
9
reaching critical mass, on Capitol Hill you can watch the last
stand of the status quo. Forces there are waging a last-ditch
effort to put the brakes on change -- to preserve the business-
as-usual approach that brought us the present crisis in
education.
Take a look at the bill now winding its way through the
Congress -- and what it does to the four path-breaking ideas I
mentioned a moment ago.
As part of America 2000, I asked Congress for funds for New
American Schools -- $545 million from now until 1994. Last year,
Congress set aside $100 million dollars for New American Schools
in 1992 -- and set a deadline of April 1 to decide how the money
would be used. This month, that self-imposed deadline came and
went -- wiping out any chance to make a start on New American
Schools this year. Next year, the House bill would funnel more
than $800 million into existing business-as-usual state
bureaucracies -- and not a penny for the new experimental schools
we need.
We asked Congress for funds to develop World Class Standards
and American Achievement Tests -- tools that would help us
measure our students' progress -- and assess the return we're
getting for our education dollars. When it comes to making our
schools more accountable, the U.S. Senate has stonewalled -- and
the House is threatening an amendment to deny the Education
Department the right to fund even a study of standards or tests.
10
Finally, we asked the Congress to fund pilot programs to
promote school choice. Under heavy pressure from the education
lobby, House and Senate leaders have stripped any mention of
school choice out of their bills. 11
Instead of supporting America 2000, the bill Congress claims
will help our schools is an exercise in cynicism -- call it the
Status Quo Schools Act of 1992. So today, let me serve notice to
education lobby and their friends back on Capitol Hill: I will
not let Congress spend a billion dollars on a business-as-usual
bill -- and call it education reform. If Congress wants to side
with status quo schools -- Congress can count on a veto. //
Congress can drag its feet -- but it can't stop change.
Lehigh Valley is living proof of the words of the great Abraham
Lincoln: "Revolutions do not go backward." There is a time
early in every revolution when the status quo looks steady and
strong -- and the forces that challenge it weak and without
effect. And there is the moment when the forces of change carry
the day -- the bankruptcy of the status quo stands revealed, and
the whole, hollow house of cards collapses.
The revolution in American education is already underway.
In Lehigh Valley and in communities all across America, the old
ways are being abandoned, new ideas advanced. This revolution
will prevail for the simplest and the strongest of reasons:
because American parents want the best for their children.
Because there isn't a single child anywhere in America who
doesn't deserve the best education possible. 11
11
From our schools to our courts, from our hospitals to the
halls of government, from the neighborhoods outside our door to
the realities of a new world economy -- the need for reform won't
wait. The only acceptable response is the American response. We
must rekindle a revolution -- a revolution to bring change to the
country that's changed the world. //
The American people have made their choice. The American
people want change. // And to those who stand in the
Thank you all for this warm welcome -- and may God bless the
United States of America.
# # #
way, do d say
"Lead, follow, or get out
of the way."
Carol
Memorandum for Speechwriting Staff
From:
Dan McGroarty
Regarding: Lehigh2000
Please return your comments to Room
122 by:
2pm 13 3 1992
Today's Date:
McGroarty/Bunton
April 13, 1992
5:00 pm
[LEHIGH]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LEHIGH VALLEY 2000
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
APRIL 16, 1992
1:00 P.M.
My thanks to the parents, the teachers and the staff.
Thanks also to all the folks here from Allentown and Easton and
Bethlehem -- the leading lights of Lehigh Valley. Last but not
least, let me say hello to the students of Dieruff High. //
It's astonishing to be here with the Class of '92 as a
graduate of the Class of '42. // I realize the world I thought
of as new -- for you is, well, history. //
Look at the world you'll soon call your own. Each day we
see new evidence: History played out in the headlines. Old
empires expire -- new worlds are born. In the past six months
alone, we've seen the birth of 18 new nations. [[Who knows how
many there'll be by the time you take that big geography final.]]
But the challenges we face -- the sheer complexity of our
world -- can't obscure the basic values that guide this Nation.
Times change, but truths endure. I'm talking about the big
issues that shape our world -- about the values close to home.
Everything I've done -- I've done to preserve and advance three
precious legacies: strong families. Good jobs. A world at
peace.
2
Securing those legacies has been my mission as President --
and it will be my mission today and every day, now and for the
next four years. //
Right now, here in Allentown and across America, the number
one concern is the economy -- and turning this economy around,
creating jobs, is the mission that matters most. Listen to what
people say about the economy. Get beneath the cold statistics -
- down to the real heart of this issue. People want to know
whether they can keep the job they've got -- and whether they're
on track for a better one. For their kids -- for each one of the
students here today -- they've got grander visions: not just a
job -- a career. Work that means more than simply making ends
meet: Work that gives real meaning to your life. //
People have a right to ask: what is government's role in
all of this? / No, we can't legislate the American Dream. But
government can serve as a catalyst for change -- clearing away
the obstacles to economic growth and the unnecessary costs of
doing business. Expanding the opportunities for aggressive
businesses and enterprising individuals to create new jobs.
Training and educating our children -- giving you the tools of
thought you'll need to compete in the new world economy.
//
cantuse
The fate of America's economic future rests on five pillars:
First,
On free and fair trade -- our ability to break down barriers,
open new markets to American goods. Our Seconds future rests on legal
reform -- on ending the explosion of litigation that strains our
patience and saps our economy. On Third, health care reform -- opening
3
up access to all Americans, controlling the run-away cost of
health care without sacrificing choice and quality. Fourth, On
government reform -- because only if we reverse a generation of
creeping bureaucracy, only if we restore limits to government,
can we restore public trust.
Finally, the reason I've come to Lehigh Valley today: our
future depends on education reform -- our ability to
revolutionize -- literally re-invent our schools: to prepare a
new generation for the challenges of the next century.
Education represents a perfect community of interest:
between the individual and society -- between one generation and
the next. Between the proud history we must pass on -- and the
path-breaking future we must create. // And in terms of
America's economic future -- education is nothing less than a
matter of economic survival. //
You've seen the news stories. You've heard the bleak
statistics. Anyone who worries about slack productivity or a bad
balance of trade ought to be alarmed about our children's test
scores. Millions of students work hard, millions of dedicated
teachers do their best -- and still, in one test after another,
America's children score at or near the bottom ranks of
international achievement. //
We don't need another test to tell us something is wrong
with our schools. For the sake of every student here today,
we've got to shake off any sense of complacency -- and shake up
the status quo.
4
Here in Lehigh Valley, that's a lesson you learned years
ago. You didn't wait for word from Washington. You didn't stand
back and watch another generation of kids get less education than
they deserved. This community took a direct interest in what was
going on in the classroom. This community took action.
//
did What they
I took office determined to put the power of the
This
behind change. More than two years ago, we took a strong first
it's going
step. Working together with the nation's Governors, we set six
ambitious goals for the year 2000: We agreed we must raise the
into a
to
a
intoy
high-school graduation rate to 90%. We must be first in the
world in math and science. We must put in place a system of
World Class Standards -- and tests to measure students' progress.
By the year 2000, every American adult must be literate. Every
American child must start school ready to learn -- and every
American school must be free of drugs, free from the violence
that today too often follows our kids into the classroom.
Let me make this clear: These goals are not just my goals.
They're not just the Governor's goals. They are the nation's
goals -- and more than that, they are the hope of the next
generation.
Goals define the mission. They tell us where we want to go
-- not how to get there. That's why, nearly one year ago to the
day, I mapped out a strategy I call America 2000: a plan to
revolutionize American education. To put an end to business as
usual: to break the mold -- build a new generation of American
schools.
5
Two days from now, we'll mark the first anniversary of
America 2000. Let me share with you today a kind of "report
card" on what we've accomplished. / In one year's time, we've
seen America 2000 catch fire all across this country. Already,
43 states and more than 1000 communities -- from Grand Junction,
Colorado to Lewiston, Maine -- have joined the America 2000
crusade. Everywhere, people like you are working to break down
the barriers between the classroom and the community -- to spark
a grass-roots revolution to re-invent the American school.
But, you know that story -- because Lehigh Valley has led
the way.
I want to share with you an old African proverb that's the
motto of Minnesota 2000: "It takes an entire village to educate
one child."
And that is what it takes -- because education doesn't just
happen in the classroom. It doesn't start at 9 a.m. and end at
3. We owe it to our children and to ourselves to see that we
live in communities that care about education -- communities
where learning can happen.
Today, I came to Lehigh -- to one of the first communities
to join the America 2000 crusade -- to say the time has come to
carry the revolution to the national level. Taking that step
depends on our success in building a consensus for change around
four core ideas -- four ways to transform the federal government
into a catalyst for real education reform.
6
First, if we're serious about reaching our goals, we must
set World Class Standards in five core subjects -- and establish
a series of voluntary American Achievement Tests to measure our
children's progress.
Second, we've got to grant states and local school districts
relief from the rigid formula-grant approach that forces a one-
size-fits-all solution on our schools: allowing teachers and
principals flexibility -- freedom to apply federal resources to
fit local circumstances.
Right now, federal rules force schools to stick with
outdated tests -- rather than go with new ones and risk the loss
of millions of dollars in federal funds. In other cases, federal
restrictions result in sprinkling remedial instruction in equal
but ineffective amounts across large numbers of children --
instead of focusing enough time and energy to make a real
difference for kids who need it most.
Has anyone asked the teachers here today: does that make
sense? How can we ask you to teach -- and then tie your hands?
Third, we've got to launch a wide-open experiment to create
New American Schools -- at least one in every Congressional
District across the country. Lehigh Valley is hard at work on
its plan to make this community home to its own New American
School.
These break-the-mold schools won't conform to any one
blueprint. Some may make a quantum leap forward into tomorrow's
technologies. Others may seek to reach the future by restoring
7
older traditions, the discipline -- and disciplines -- of an
earlier era. Each one of these schools would be a laboratory of
learning -- an experimental attempt to re-invent American
education. All we need now is the seed money to translate ideas
into action.
Fourth, we must create an incentive to improve education by
promoting school choice. For far too long, we've shielded our
schools from competition -- allowed the system a damaging
monopoly-power over students. Well, just as monopolies are bad
for the economy -- they're bad for our kids. Every parent should
have the power to choose which school is best for his child --
public, private or religious. //
Look at America's college students. Our university system
is the envy of the world. Each year, we make over $15 billion
dollars in federal grants and loans directly to students -- to
use at the university of their choice. No one asks whether they
Lehigh University
enroll at Penn State or USC -- at SMU or Notre Dame. It's time
we make the same choice available to all parents from the moment
their children go to school. Whether it's parochial school or
yeshiva or bible school -- let parents, not the government,
decide. //
And let's be clear: if we deny parents school choice --
let's recognize who's hurt worst by the status quo. It's not the
well-to-do. It's not the upper-middle class. It's not any one
of us who ever went house-hunting with a map of the good school
8
districts. / Deny people school choice, and the ones you hurt
most are the Middle Class and lower -- and especially the poor.
That's why choice is catching on in some of the hardest-hit
neighborhoods in this nation. Talk to parents spearheading the
school choice crusade -- people like Polly Williams in Milwaukee.
They'll tell you how the lack of choice left them powerless to
force change -- how a public school bureaucracy turned students
into statistics and parents into pawns. Look at Milwaukee today
-- pioneering school choice, giving poor parents control, and
poor children pride. 11 Look at the schools in East Harlem --
where teachers put their names on waiting list to get a chance to
teach in a choice school. They can't wait to stand in front of a
classroom of children who want to be there -- who want to learn.
Choice works -- and here's why. When our students are a
captive audience, our schools have no incentive to improve. What
competition brings to the economy -- choice can bring to
education. Say what you want about reforming our schools: If
you're for change -- you're for school choice.
These four ideas are generating interest and enthusiasm
among Governors and mayors -- Democrats and Republicans -- among
business leaders from Ed Donley and the Allentown-Lehigh County
Chamber of Commerce, to the Fortune 500. Among teachers and
students and parents and principals -- everyone at every level
who understands the need for change.
Everyone, that is, except the leaders of the U.S. Congress.
At a moment when the consensus for change seems to be
9
reaching critical mass, on Capitol Hill you can watch the last
stand of the status quo. Forces there are waging a last-ditch
effort to put the brakes on change -- to preserve the business-
as-usual approach that brought us the present crisis in
education.
Take a look at the bill now winding its way through the
Congress -- and what it does to the four path-breaking ideas I
mentioned a moment ago.
As part of America 2000, I asked Congress for funds for New
American Schools -- $545 million from now until 1994. Last year,
Congress set aside $100 million dollars for New American Schools
in 1992 -- and set a deadline of April 1 to decide how the money
would be used. This month, that self-imposed deadline came and
went -- wiping out any chance to make a start on New American
Schools this year. Next year, the House bill would funnel more
than $800 million into existing business-as-usual state
bureaucracies -- and not a penny for the new experimental schools
we need.
We asked Congress for funds to develop World Class Standards
and American Achievement Tests -- tools that would help us
measure our students' progress -- and assess the return we're
getting for our education dollars. When it comes to making our
schools more accountable, the U.S. Senate has stonewalled -- and
the House is threatening an amendment to deny the Education
Department the right to fund even a study of standards or tests.
10
Finally, we asked the Congress to fund pilot programs to
promote school choice. Under heavy pressure from the education
lobby, House and Senate leaders have stripped any mention of
school choice out of their bills. //
Instead of supporting America 2000, the bill Congress claims
will help our schools is an exercise in cynicism -- call it the
Status Quo Schools Act of 1992. So today, let me serve notice to
education lobby and their friends back on Capitol Hill: I will
not let Congress spend a billion dollars on a business-as-usual
bill -- and call it education reform. If Congress wants to side
with status quo schools -- Congress can count on a veto. //
Congress can drag its feet -- but it can't stop change.
Lehigh Valley is living proof of the words of the great Abraham
Lincoln: "Revolutions do not go backward." There is a time
early in every revolution when the status quo looks steady and
strong -- and the forces that challenge it weak and without
effect. And there is the moment when the forces of change carry
the day -- the bankruptcy of the status quo stands revealed, and
the whole, hollow house of cards collapses.
The revolution in American education is already underway.
In Lehigh Valley and in communities all across America, the old
ways are being abandoned, new ideas advanced. This revolution
will prevail for the simplest and the strongest of reasons:
because American parents want the best for their children.
Because there isn't a single child anywhere in America who
doesn't deserve the best education possible. //
11
From our schools to our courts, from our hospitals to the
halls of government, from the neighborhoods outside our door to
the realities of a new world economy -- the need for reform won't
wait. The only acceptable response is the American response. We
must rekindle a revolution -- a revolution to bring change to the
country that's changed the world. //
The American people have made their choice. The American
people want change. //
Thank you all for this warm welcome -- and may God bless the
United States of America.
# # #
McGroarty/Bunton
April 13, 1992
5:00 pm
[LEHIGH]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LEHIGH VALLEY 2000
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
APRIL 16, 1992
1:00 P.M.
My thanks to the parents, the teachers and the staff.
Thanks also to all the folks here from Allentown and Easton and
Bethlehem -- the leading lights of Lehigh Valley. Last but not
least, let me say hello to the students of Dieruff High. //
It's astonishing to be here with the Class of '92 as a
graduate of the Class of '42. // I realize the world I thought
of as new -- for you is, well, history. //
Look at the world you'll soon call your own. Each day we
see new evidence: History played out in the headlines. Old
empires expire -- new worlds are born. In the past six months
alone, we've seen the birth of 18 new nations. [[Who knows how
many there'll be by the time you take that big geography final. ]]
But the challenges we face -- the sheer complexity of our
world -- can't obscure the basic values that guide this Nation.
Times change, but truths endure. I'm talking about the big
issues that shape our world -- about the values close to home.
Everything I've done -- I've done to preserve and advance three
precious legacies: strong families. Good jobs. A world at
peace.
2
Securing those legacies has been my mission as President --
and it will be my mission today and every day, now and for the
next four years. //
Right now, here in Allentown and across America, the number
one concern is the economy -- and turning this economy around,
creating jobs, is the mission that matters most. Listen to what
people say about the economy. Get beneath the cold statistics -
- down to the real heart of this issue. People want to know
whether they can keep the job they've got -- and whether they're
on track for a better one. For their kids -- for each one of the
students here today -- they've got grander visions: not just a
job -- a career. Work that means more than simply making ends
meet: Work that gives real meaning to your life. //
People have a right to ask: what is government's role in
all of this? / No, we can't legislate the American Dream. But
government can serve as a catalyst for change -- clearing away
the obstacles to economic growth and the unnecessary costs of
doing business. Expanding the opportunities for aggressive
businesses and enterprising individuals to create new jobs.
Training and educating our children -- giving you the tools of
thought you'll need to compete in the new world economy. //
The fate of America's economic future rests on five pillars:
On free and fair trade -- our ability to break down barriers,
open new markets to American goods. Our future rests on legal
reform -- on ending the explosion of litigation that strains our
patience and saps our economy. On health care reform -- opening
3
up access to all Americans, controlling the run-away cost of
health care without sacrificing choice and quality. On
government reform -- because only if we reverse a generation of
creeping bureaucracy, only if we restore limits to government,
can we restore public trust.
Finally, the reason I've come to Lehigh Valley today: our
future depends on education reform -- our ability to
revolutionize -- literally re-invent our schools: to prepare a
new generation for the challenges of the next century.
Education represents a perfect community of interest:
between the individual and society -- between one generation and
the next. Between the proud history we must pass on -- and the
path-breaking future we must create. // And in terms of
America's economic future -- education is nothing less than a
matter of economic survival. //
You've seen the news stories. You've heard the bleak
statistics. Anyone who worries about slack productivity or a bad
balance of trade ought to be alarmed about our children's test
scores. Millions of students work hard, millions of dedicated
teachers do their best -- and still, in one test after another,
America's children score at or near the bottom ranks of
international achievement. //
We don't need another test to tell us something is wrong
with our schools. For the sake of every student here today,
we've got to shake off any sense of complacency -- and shake up
the status quo.
4
Here in Lehigh Valley, that's a lesson you learned years
ago. You didn't wait for word from Washington. You didn't stand
back and watch another generation of kids get less education than
they deserved. This community took a direct interest in what was
going on in the classroom. This community took action. //
I took office determined to put the power of the Presidency
behind change. More than two years ago, we took a strong first
step. Working together with the nation's Governors, we set six
ambitious goals for the year 2000: We agreed we must raise the
high-school graduation rate to 90%. We must be first in the
world in math and science. We must put in place a system of
World Class Standards -- and tests to measure students' progress.
By the year 2000, every American adult must be literate. Every
American child must start school ready to learn -- and every
American school must be free of drugs, free from the violence
that today too often follows our kids into the classroom.
Let me make this clear: These goals are not just my goals.
They're not just the Governor's goals. They are the nation's
goals -- and more than that, they are the hope of the next
generation.
Goals define the mission. They tell us where we want to go
-- not how to get there. That's why, nearly one year ago to the
day, I mapped out a strategy I call America 2000: a plan to
revolutionize American education. To put an end to business as
usual: to break the mold -- build a new generation of American
schools.
5
Two days from now, we'll mark the first anniversary of
America 2000. Let me share with you today a kind of "report
card" on what we've accomplished. / In one year's time, we've
seen America 2000 catch fire all across this country. Already,
43 states and more than 1000 communities -- from Grand Junction,
Colorado to Lewiston, Maine -- have joined the America 2000
crusade. Everywhere, people like you are working to break down
the barriers between the classroom and the community -- to spark
a grass-roots revolution to re-invent the American school.
But, you know that story -- because Lehigh Valley has led
the way.
I want to share with you an old African proverb that's the
motto of Minnesota 2000: "It takes an entire village to educate
one child."
And that is what it takes -- because education doesn't just
happen in the classroom. It doesn't start at 9 a.m. and end at
3. We owe it to our children and to ourselves to see that we
live in communities that care about education -- communities
where learning can happen.
Today, I came to Lehigh -- to one of the first communities
to join the America 2000 crusade -- to say the time has come to
carry the revolution to the national level. Taking that step
depends on our success in building a consensus for change around
four core ideas -- four ways to transform the federal government
into a catalyst for real education reform.
6
First, if we're serious about reaching our goals, we must
set World Class Standards in five core subjects -- and establish
a series of voluntary American Achievement Tests to measure our
children's progress.
Second, we've got to grant states and local school districts
relief from the rigid formula-grant approach that forces a one-
size-fits-all solution on our schools: allowing teachers and
principals flexibility -- freedom to apply federal resources to
fit local circumstances.
Right now, federal rules force schools to stick with
outdated tests -- rather than go with new ones and risk the loss
of millions of dollars in federal funds. In other cases, federal
restrictions result in sprinkling remedial instruction in equal
but ineffective amounts across large numbers of children --
instead of focusing enough time and energy to make a real
difference for kids who need it most.
Has anyone asked the teachers here today: does that make
sense? How can we ask you to teach -- and then tie your hands?
Third, we've got to launch a wide-open experiment to create
New American Schools -- at least one in every Congressional
District across the country. Lehigh Valley is hard at work on
its plan to make this community home to its own New American
School.
These break-the-mold schools won't conform to any one
blueprint. Some may make a quantum leap forward into tomorrow's
technologies. Others may seek to reach the future by restoring
7
older traditions, the discipline -- and disciplines -- of an
earlier era. Each one of these schools would be a laboratory of
learning -- an experimental attempt to re-invent American
education. All we need now is the seed money to translate ideas
into action.
Fourth, we must create an incentive to improve education by
promoting school choice. For far too long, we've shielded our
schools from competition --- allowed the system a damaging
monopoly-power over students. Well, just as monopolies are bad
for the economy -- they're bad for our kids. Every parent should
have the power to choose which school is best for his child --
public, private or religious. //
Look at America's college students. Our university system
is the envy of the world. Each year, we make over $15 billion
dollars in federal grants and loans directly to students -- to
use at the university of their choice. No one asks whether they
enroll at Penn State or USC -- at SMU or Notre Dame. It's time
we make the same choice available to all parents from the moment
their children go to school. Whether it's parochial school or
yeshiva or bible school -- let parents, not the government,
decide. //
And let's be clear: if we deny parents school choice --
let's recognize who's hurt worst by the status quo. It's not the
well-to-do. It's not the upper middle class. It's not any one
of us who ever went house-hunting with a map of the good school
8
districts. / Deny people school choice, and the ones you hurt
most are the Middle Class and lower -- and especially the poor.
That's why choice is catching on in some of the hardest-hit
neighborhoods in this nation. Talk to parents spearheading the
school choice crusade -- people like Polly Williams in Milwaukee.
They'll tell you how the lack of choice left them powerless to
force change -- how a public school bureaucracy turned students
into statistics and parents into pawns. Look at Milwaukee today
-- pioneering school choice, giving poor parents control, and
poor children pride. // Look at the schools in East Harlem --
where teachers put their names on waiting list to get a chance to
teach in a choice school. They can't wait to stand in front of a
classroom of children who want to be there -- who want to learn.
Choice works -- and here's why. When our students are a
captive audience, our schools have no incentive to improve. What
competition brings to the economy -- choice can bring to
education. Say what you want about reforming our schools: If
you're for change -- you're for school choice.
These four ideas are generating interest and enthusiasm
among Governors and mayors -- Democrats and Republicans -- among
business leaders from Ed Donley and the Allentown-Lehigh County
Chamber of Commerce, to the Fortune 500. Among teachers and
students and parents and principals -- everyone at every level
who understands the need for change.
Everyone, that is, except the leaders of the U.S. Congress.
At a moment when the consensus for change seems to be
9
reaching critical mass, on Capitol Hill you can watch the last
stand of the status quo. Forces there are waging a last-ditch
effort to put the brakes on change -- to preserve the business-
as-usual approach that brought us the present crisis in
education.
Take a look at the bill now winding its way through the
Congress -- and what it does to the four path-breaking ideas I
mentioned a moment ago.
As part of America 2000, I asked Congress for funds for New
American Schools -- $545 million from now until 1994. Last year,
Congress set aside $100 million dollars for New American Schools
in 1992 -- and set a deadline of April 1 to decide how the money
would be used. This month, that self-imposed deadline came and
went -- wiping out any chance to make a start on New American
Schools this year. Next year, the House bill would funnel more
than $800 million into existing business-as-usual state
bureaucracies -- and not a penny for the new experimental schools
we need.
We asked Congress for funds to develop World Class Standards
and American Achievement Tests -- tools that would help us
measure our students' progress -- and assess the return we're
getting for our education dollars. When it comes to making our
schools more accountable, the U.S. Senate has stonewalled -- and
the House is threatening an amendment to deny the Education
Department the right to fund even a study of standards or tests.
10
Finally, we asked the Congress to fund pilot programs to
promote school choice. Under heavy pressure from the education
lobby, House and Senate leaders have stripped any mention of
school choice out of their bills. //
Instead of supporting America 2000, the bill Congress claims
will help our schools is an exercise in cynicism -- call it the
Status Quo Schools Act of 1992. So today, let me serve notice to
education lobby and their friends back on Capitol Hill: I will
not let Congress spend a billion dollars on a business-as-usual
bill -- and call it education reform. If Congress wants to side
with status quo schools -- Congress can count on a veto. //
Congress can drag its feet -- but it can't stop change.
Lehigh Valley is living proof of the words of the great Abraham
Lincoln: "Revolutions do not go backward." There is a time
early in every revolution when the status quo looks steady and
strong -- and the forces that challenge it weak and without
effect. And there is the moment when the forces of change carry
the day -- the bankruptcy of the status quo stands revealed, and
the whole, hollow house of cards collapses.
The revolution in American education is already underway.
In Lehigh Valley and in communities all across America, the old
ways are being abandoned, new ideas advanced. This revolution
will prevail for the simplest and the strongest of reasons:
because American parents want the best for their children.
Because there isn't a single child anywhere in America who
doesn't deserve the best education possible. //
11
From our schools to our courts, from our hospitals to the
halls of government, from the neighborhoods outside our door to
the realities of a new world economy -- the need for reform won't
wait. The only acceptable response is the American response. We
must rekindle a revolution -- a revolution to bring change to the
country that's changed the world. //
The American people have made their choice. The American
people want change. //
Thank you all for this warm welcome -- and may God bless the
United States of America.
# # #
McGroarty/Bunton
April 13, 1992
5:00 pm
[LEHIGH]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LEHIGH VALLEY 2000
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
APRIL 16, 1992
1:00 P.M.
My thanks to the parents, the teachers and the staff.
Thanks also to all the folks here from Allentown and Easton and
Bethlehem -- the leading lights of Lehigh Valley. Last but not
least, let me say hello to the students of Dieruff High. //
It's astonishing to be here with the Class of '92 as a
graduate of the Class of '42. // I realize the world I thought
of as new -- for you is, well, history. //
Look at the world you'll soon call your own. Each day we
see new evidence: History played out in the headlines. Old
empires expire -- new worlds are born. In the past six months
alone, we've seen the birth of 18 new nations. [[Who knows how
many there'll be by the time you take that big geography final. ]]
But the challenges we face -- the sheer complexity of our
world -- can't obscure the basic values that guide this Nation.
Times change, but truths endure. I'm talking about the big
issues that shape our world -- about the values close to home.
Everything I've done -- I've done to preserve and advance three
precious legacies: strong families. Good jobs. A world at
peace.
2
Securing those legacies has been my mission as President --
and it will be my mission today and every day, now and for the
next four years. //
Right now, here in Allentown and across America, the number
one concern is the economy -- and turning this economy around,
creating jobs, is the mission that matters most. Listen to what
people say about the economy. Get beneath the cold statistics -
- down to the real heart of this issue. People want to know
whether they can keep the job they've got -- and whether they're
on track for a better one. For their kids -- for each one of the
students here today -- they've got grander visions: not just a
job --- a career. Work that means more than simply making ends
meet: Work that gives real meaning to your life. //
People have a right to ask: what is government's role in
all of this? / No, we can't legislate the American Dream. But
government can serve as a catalyst for change -- clearing away
the obstacles to economic growth and the unnecessary costs of
doing business. Expanding the opportunities for aggressive
businesses and enterprising individuals to create new jobs.
Training and educating our children -- giving you the tools of
thought you'll need to compete in the new world economy. //
The fate of America's economic future rests on five pillars:
On free and fair trade -- our ability to break down barriers,
open new markets to American goods. Our future rests on legal
reform -- on ending the explosion of litigation that strains our
patience and saps our economy. On health care reform -- opening
3
up access to all Americans, controlling the run-away cost of
health care without sacrificing choice and quality. On
government reform -- because only if we reverse a generation of
creeping bureaucracy, only if we restore limits to government,
can we restore public trust.
Finally, the reason I've come to Lehigh Valley today: our
future depends on education reform -- our ability to
revolutionize -- literally re-invent our schools: to prepare a
new generation for the challenges of the next century.
Education represents a perfect community of interest:
between the individual and society -- between one generation and
the next. Between the proud history we must pass on -- and the
path-breaking future we must create. // And in terms of
America's economic future -- education is nothing less than a
matter of economic survival. //
You've seen the news stories. You've heard the bleak
statistics. Anyone who worries about slack productivity or a bad
balance of trade ought to be, alarmed about our children's test
scores. Millions of students work hard, millions of dedicated
teachers do their best -- and still, in one test after another,
America's children score at or near the bottom ranks of
international achievement. //
We don't need another test to tell us something is wrong
with our schools. For the sake of every student here today,
we've got to shake off any sense of complacency -- and shake up
the status quo.
4
Here in Lehigh Valley, that's a lesson you learned years
ago. You didn't wait for word from Washington. You didn't stand
back and watch another generation of kids get less education than
they deserved. This community took a direct interest in what was
going on in the classroom. This community took action. //
I took office determined to put the power of the Presidency
behind change. More than two years ago, we took a strong first
step. Working together with the nation's Governors, we set six
ambitious goals for the year 2000: We agreed we must raise the
high-school graduation rate to 90%. We must be first in the
world in math and science. We must put in place a system of
World Class Standards -- and tests to measure students' progress.
By the year 2000, every American adult must be literate. Every
American child must start school ready to learn -- and every
American school must be free of drugs, free from the violence
that today too often follows our kids into the classroom.
Let me make this clear: These goals are not just my goals.
They're not just the Governor's goals. They are the nation's
goals -- and more than that, they are the hope of the next
generation.
Goals define the mission. They tell us where we want to go
-- not how to get there. That's why, nearly one year ago to the
day, I mapped out a strategy I call America 2000: a plan to
revolutionize American education. To put an end to business as
usual: to break the mold -- build a new generation of American
schools.
5
Two days from now, we'll mark the first anniversary of
America 2000. Let me share with you today a kind of "report
card" on what we've accomplished. / In one year's time, we've
seen America 2000 catch fire all across this country. Already,
43 states and more than 1000 communities -- from Grand Junction,
Colorado to Lewiston, Maine -- have joined the America 2000
crusade. Everywhere, people like you are working to break down
the barriers between the classroom and the community -- to spark
a grass-roots revolution to re-invent the American school.
But, you know that story -- because Lehigh Valley has led
the way.
I want to share with you an old African proverb that's the
motto of Minnesota 2000: "It takes an entire village to educate
one child."
And that is what it takes -- because education doesn't just
happen in the classroom. It doesn't start at 9 a.m. and end at
3. We owe it to our children and to ourselves to see that we
live in communities that care about education -- communities
where learning can happen.
Today, I came to Lehigh -- to one of the first communities
to join the America 2000 crusade -- to say the time has come to
carry the revolution to the national level. Taking that step
depends on our success in building a consensus for change around
four core ideas -- four ways to transform the federal government
into a catalyst for real education reform.
6
First, if we're serious about reaching our goals, we must
set World Class Standards in five core subjects -- and establish
a series of voluntary American Achievement Tests to measure our
children's progress.
Second, we've got to grant states and local school districts
relief from the rigid formula-grant approach that forces a one-
size-fits-all solution on our schools: allowing teachers and
principals flexibility -- freedom to apply federal resources to
fit local circumstances.
Right now, federal rules force schools to stick with
outdated tests -- rather than go with new ones and risk the loss
of millions of dollars in federal funds. In other cases, federal
restrictions result in sprinkling remedial instruction in equal
but ineffective amounts across large numbers of children --
instead of focusing enough time and energy to make a real
difference for kids who need it most.
Has anyone asked the teachers here today: does that make
sense? How can we ask you to teach -- and then tie your hands?
Third, we've got to launch a wide-open experiment to create
New American Schools -- at least one in every Congressional
District across the country. Lehigh Valley is hard at work on
its plan to make this community home to its own New American
School.
These break-the-mold schools won't conform to any one
blueprint. Some may make a quantum leap forward into tomorrow's
technologies. Others may seek to reach the future by restoring
7
older traditions, the discipline -- and disciplines -- of an
earlier era. Each one of these schools would be a laboratory of
learning -- an experimental attempt to re-invent American
education. All we need now is the seed money to translate ideas
into action.
Fourth, we must create an incentive to improve education by
promoting school choice. For far too long, we've shielded our
schools from competition -- allowed the system a damaging
monopoly-power over students. Well, just as monopolies are bad
for the economy -- they're bad for our kids. Every parent should
have the power to choose which school is best for his child --
public, private or religious. 11
Look at America's college students. Our university system
is the envy of the world. Each year, we make over $15 billion
dollars in federal grants and loans directly to students -- to
use at the university of their choice. No one asks whether they
enroll at Penn State or USC -- at SMU or Notre Dame. It's time
we make the same choice available to all parents from the moment
their children go to school. Whether it's parochial school or
yeshiva or bible school -- let parents, not the government,
decide. //
And let's be clear: if we deny parents school choice --
let's recognize who's hurt worst by the status quo. It's not the
well-to-do. It's not the upper middle class. It's not any one
of us who ever went house-hunting with a map of the good school
8
districts. / Deny people school choice, and the ones you hurt
most are the Middle Class and lower -- and especially the poor.
That's why choice is catching on in some of the hardest-hit
neighborhoods in this nation. Talk to parents spearheading the
school choice crusade -- people like Polly Williams in Milwaukee.
They'll tell you how the lack of choice left them powerless to
force change -- how a public school bureaucracy turned students
into statistics and parents into pawns. Look at Milwaukee today
-- pioneering school choice, giving poor parents control, and
poor children pride. // Look at the schools in East Harlem --
where teachers put their names on waiting list to get a chance to
teach in a choice school. They can't wait to stand in front of a
classroom of children who want to be there -- who want to learn.
Choice works -- and here's why. When our students are a
captive audience, our schools have no incentive to improve. What
competition brings to the economy -- choice can bring to
education. Say what you want about reforming our schools: If
you're for change -- you're for school choice.
These four ideas are generating interest and enthusiasm
among Governors and mayors -- Democrats and Republicans -- among
business leaders from Ed Donley and the Allentown-Lehigh County
Chamber of Commerce, to the Fortune 500. Among teachers and
students and parents and principals -- everyone at every level
who understands the need for change.
Everyone, that is, except the leaders of the U.S. Congress.
At a moment when the consensus for change seems to be
9
reaching critical mass, on Capitol Hill you can watch the last
stand of the status quo. Forces there are waging a last-ditch
effort to put the brakes on change -- to preserve the business-
as-usual approach that brought us the present crisis in
education.
Take a look at the bill now winding its way through the
Congress -- and what it does to the four path-breaking ideas I
mentioned a moment ago.
As part of America 2000, I asked Congress for funds for New
American Schools -- $545 million from now until 1994. Last year,
Congress set aside $100 million dollars for New American Schools
in 1992 -- and set a deadline of April 1 to decide how the money
would be used. This month, that self-imposed deadline came and
went -- wiping out any chance to make a start on New American
Schools this year. Next year, the House bill would funnel more
than $800 million into existing business-as-usual state
bureaucracies -- and not a penny for the new experimental schools
we need.
We asked Congress for funds to develop World Class Standards
and American Achievement Tests -- tools that would help us
measure our students' progress -- and assess the return we're
getting for our education dollars. When it comes to making our
schools more accountable, the U.S. Senate has stonewalled -- and
the House is threatening an amendment to deny the Education
Department the right to fund even a study of standards or tests.
10
Finally, we asked the Congress to fund pilot programs to
promote school choice. Under heavy pressure from the education
lobby, House and Senate leaders have stripped any mention of
school choice out of their bills. //
Instead of supporting America 2000, the bill Congress claims
will help our schools is an exercise in cynicism -- call it the
Status Quo Schools Act of 1992. So today, let me serve notice to
education lobby and their friends back on Capitol Hill: I will
not let Congress spend a billion dollars on a business-as-usual
bill -- and call it education reform. If Congress wants to side
with status quo schools -- Congress can count on a veto. //
Congress can drag its feet -- but it can't stop change.
Lehigh Valley is living proof of the words of the great Abraham
Lincoln: "Revolutions do not go backward." There is a time
early in every revolution when the status quo looks steady and
strong -- and the forces that challenge it weak and without
effect. And there is the moment when the forces of change carry
the day -- the bankruptcy of the status quo stands revealed, and
the whole, hollow house of cards collapses.
The revolution in American education is already underway.
In Lehigh Valley and in communities all across America, the old
ways are being abandoned, new ideas advanced. This revolution
will prevail for the simplest and the strongest of reasons:
because American parents want the best for their children.
Because there isn't a single child anywhere in America who
doesn't deserve the best education possible. //
11
From our schools to our courts, from our hospitals to the
halls of government, from the neighborhoods outside our door to
the realities of a new world economy -- the need for reform won't
wait. The only acceptable response is the American response. We
must rekindle a revolution -- a revolution to bring change to the
country that's changed the world. 11
The American people have made their choice. The American
people want change. //
Thank you all for this warm welcome -- and may God bless the
United States of America.
# # #
Document No. 321639ss
2814
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
4/13/92
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: TUESDAY, 4/14/92 3:00p
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LEHIGH VALLEY 2000
SUBJECT:
ALLENTOWN, PA - 4/16/92
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SKINNER
MCBRIDE
SCOWCROFT
MOORE
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BRADY
PORTER
BROMLEY
ROGICH
CALIO
ROLLINS
DEMAREST
SMITH
YEUTTER
FITZWATER
GRAY
FINDLAY
HOLIDAY
KAUFMAN
MCGROARTY
REMARKS:
Please forward your comments directly to Dan McGroarty, Rm. 122, x2930,
no later than 3:00 p.m., TUESDAY, APRIL 14, with a copy to this office.
Thank you.
RESPONSE:
April 14, 1992
TO:
DAN MCGROARTY
The NSC staff concurs with the draft presidential remarks as
amended on page 8.
PHILLIP D. BRADY
for
Brent Scowcroft
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
CC: Phillip D. Brady
Ext. 2702
McGroarty/Bunton
02 APR 13 P5: 21
April 13, 1992
5:00 pm
[LEHIGH]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LEHIGH VALLEY 2000
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
APRIL 16, 1992
1:00 P.M.
My thanks to the parents, the teachers and the staff.
Thanks also to all the folks here from Allentown and Easton and
Bethlehem -- the leading lights of Lehigh Valley. Last but not
least, let me say hello to the students of Dieruff High. //
It's astonishing to be here with the Class of '92 as a
graduate of the Class of '42. // I realize the world I thought
of as new -- for you is, well, history. //
Look at the world you'll soon call your own. Each day we
see new evidence: History played out in the headlines. Old
empires expire -- new worlds are born. In the past six months
alone, we've seen the birth of 18 new nations. [[Who knows how
many there'll be by the time you take that big geography final. ]]
But the challenges we face -- the sheer complexity of our
world -- can't obscure the basic values that guide this Nation.
Times change, but truths endure. I'm talking about the big
issues that shape our world -- about the values close to home.
Everything I've done -- I've done to preserve and advance three
precious legacies: strong families. Good jobs. A world at
peace.
2
Securing those legacies has been my mission as President --
and it will be my mission today and every day, now and for the
next four years. //
Right now, here in Allentown and across America, the number
one concern is the economy -- and turning this economy around,
creating jobs, is the mission that matters most. Listen to what
people say about the economy. Get beneath the cold statistics -
- down to the real heart of this issue. People want to know
whether they can keep the job they've got -- and whether they're
on track for a better one. For their kids -- for each one of the
students here today -- they've got grander visions: not just a
job -- a career. Work that means more than simply making ends
meet: Work that gives real meaning to your life. //
People have a right to ask: what is government's role in
all of this? / No, we can't legislate the American Dream. But
government can serve as a catalyst for change -- clearing away
the obstacles to economic growth and the unnecessary costs of
doing business. Expanding the opportunities for aggressive
businesses and enterprising individuals to create new jobs.
Training and educating our children -- giving you the tools of
thought you'll need to compete in the new world economy. //
The fate of America's economic future rests on five pillars:
On free and fair trade -- our ability to break down barriers,
open new markets to American goods. Our future rests on legal
reform -- on ending the explosion of litigation that strains our
patience and saps our economy. On health care reform -- opening
3
up access to all Americans, controlling the run-away cost of
health care without sacrificing choice and quality. On
government reform -- because only if we reverse a generation of
creeping bureaucracy, only if we restore limits to government,
can we restore public trust.
Finally, the reason I've come to Lehigh Valley today: our
future depends on education reform -- our ability to
revolutionize -- literally re-invent our schools: to prepare a
new generation for the challenges of the next century.
Education represents a perfect community of interest:
between the individual and society -- between one generation and
the next. Between the proud history we must pass on -- and the
path-breaking future we must create. // And in terms of
America's economic future -- education is nothing less than a
matter of economic survival. //
You've seen the news stories. You've heard the bleak
statistics. Anyone who worries about slack productivity or a bad
balance of trade ought to be alarmed about our children's test
scores. Millions of students work hard, millions of dedicated
teachers do their best -- and still, in one test after another,
America's children score at or near the bottom ranks of
international achievement. //
We don't need another test to tell us something is wrong
with our schools. For the sake of every student here today,
we've got to shake off any sense of complacency -- and shake up
the status quo.
4
Here in Lehigh Valley, that's a lesson you learned years
ago. You didn't wait for word from Washington. You didn't stand
back and watch another generation of kids get less education than
they deserved. This community took a direct interest in what was
going on in the classroom. This community took action. //
I took office determined to put the power of the Presidency
behind change. More than two years ago, we took a strong first
step. Working together with the nation's Governors, we set six
ambitious goals for the year 2000: We agreed we must raise the
high-school graduation rate to 90%. We must be first in the
world in math and science. We must put in place a system of
World Class Standards -- and tests to measure students' progress.
By the year 2000, every American adult must be literate. Every
American child must start school ready to learn -- and every
American school must be free of drugs, free from the violence
that today too often follows our kids into the classroom.
Let me make this clear: These goals are not just my goals.
They're not just the Governor's goals. They are the nation's
goals -- and more than that, they are the hope of the next
generation.
Goals define the mission. They tell us where we want to go
-- not how to get there. That's why, nearly one year ago to the
day, I mapped out a strategy I call America 2000: a plan to
revolutionize American education. To put an end to business as
usual: to break the mold -- build a new generation of American
schools.
5
Two days from now, we'll mark the first anniversary of
America 2000. Let me share with you today a kind of "report
card" on what we've accomplished. / In one year's time, we've
seen America 2000 catch fire all across this country. Already,
43 states and more than 1000 communities -- from Grand Junction,
Colorado to Lewiston, Maine -- have joined the America 2000
crusade. Everywhere, people like you are working to break down
the barriers between the classroom and the community -- to spark
a grass-roots revolution to re-invent the American school.
But, you know that story -- because Lehigh Valley has led
the way.
I want to share with you an old African proverb that's the
motto of Minnesota 2000: "It takes an entire village to educate
one child."
And that is what it takes -- because education doesn't just
happen in the classroom. It doesn't start at 9 a.m. and end at
3. We owe it to our children and to ourselves to see that we
live in communities that care about education -- communities
where learning can happen.
Today, I came to Lehigh -- to one of the first communities
to join the America 2000 crusade -- to say the time has come to
carry the revolution to the national level. Taking that step
depends on our success in building a consensus for change around
four core ideas -- four ways to transform the federal government
into a catalyst for real education reform.
6
First, if we're serious about reaching our goals, we must
set World Class Standards in five core subjects -- and establish
a series of voluntary American Achievement Tests to measure our
children's progress.
Second, we've got to grant states and local school districts
relief from the rigid formula-grant approach that forces a one-
size-fits-all solution on our schools: allowing teachers and
principals flexibility -- freedom to apply federal resources to
fit local circumstances.
Right now, federal rules force schools to stick with
outdated tests -- rather than go with new ones and risk the loss
of millions of dollars in federal funds. In other cases, federal
restrictions result in sprinkling remedial instruction in equal
but ineffective amounts across large numbers of children --
instead of focusing enough time and energy to make a real
difference for kids who need it most.
Has anyone asked the teachers here today: does that make
sense? How can we ask you to teach -- and then tie your hands?
Third, we've got to launch a wide-open experiment to create
New American Schools -- at least one in every Congressional
District across the country. Lehigh Valley is hard at work on
its plan to make this community home to its own New American
School.
These break-the-mold schools won't conform to any one
blueprint. Some may make a quantum leap forward into tomorrow's
technologies. Others may seek to reach the future by restoring
7
older traditions, the discipline -- and disciplines -- of an
earlier era. Each one of these schools would be a laboratory of
learning -- an experimental attempt to re-invent American
education. All we need now is the seed money to translate ideas
into action.
Fourth, we must create an incentive to improve education by
promoting school choice. For far too long, we've shielded our
schools from competition -- allowed the system a damaging
monopoly power over students. Well, just as monopolies are bad
for the economy -- they're bad for our kids. Every parent should
have the power to choose which school is best for his child --
public, private or religious. //
Look at America's college students. Our university system
is the envy of the world. Each year, we make over $15 billion
dollars in federal grants and loans directly to students -- to
use at the university of their choice. No one asks whether they
enroll at Penn State or USC -- at SMU or Notre Dame. It's time
we make the same choice available to all parents from the moment
their children go to school. Whether it's parochial school or
yeshiva or bible school -- let parents, not the government,
decide. //
And let's be clear: if we deny parents school choice --
let's recognize who's hurt worst by the status quo. It's not the
well-to-do. It's not the upper middle class. It's not any one
of us who ever went house-hunting with a map of the good school
8
districts. / Deny people school choice, and the ones you hurt
most are the Middle Class and lower -- and especially the poor.
That's why choice is catching on in some of the hardest-hit
neighborhoods in this nation. Talk to parents spearheading the
school choice crusade -- people like Polly Williams in Milwaukee.
They'll tell you how the lack of choice left them powerless to
force change -- how a public school bureaucracy turned students
into statistics and parents into pawns. Look at Milwaukee today
-- pioneering school choice, giving poor parents control, and
poor children pride. // Look at the schools in East Harlem --
where teachers put their names on waiting list to get a chance to
teach in a choice school. They can't wait to stand in front of a
classroom of children who want to be there -- who want to learn.
Choice works -- and here's why. When our students are a
captive audience, our schools have no incentive to improve. What
competition brings to the economy -- choice can bring to
education. Say what you want about reforming our schools: If
you're for change -- you're for school choice.
These four ideas are generating interest and enthusiasm
among Governors and mayors -- Democrats and Republicans -- among
business leaders from Ed Donley and the Allentown-Lehigh County
Chamber of Commerce, to the Fortune 500. Among teachers and
students and parents and principals -- everyone at every level
who understands the need for change.
Everyone, that is, except the leaders of the U.S. Congress.
At a moment when the consensus for change seems to be
9
reaching critical mass, on Capitol Hill you can watch the last
stand of the status quo. Forces there are waging a last-ditch
effort to put the brakes on change -- to preserve the business-
as-usual approach that brought us the present crisis in
education.
Take a look at the bill now winding its way through the
Congress -- and what it does to the four path-breaking ideas I
mentioned a moment ago.
As part of America 2000, I asked Congress for funds for New
American Schools -- $545 million from now until 1994. Last year,
Congress set aside $100 million dollars for New American Schools
in 1992 -- and set a deadline of April 1 to decide how the money
would be used. This month, that self-imposed deadline came and
went -- wiping out any chance to make a start on New American
Schools this year. Next year, the House bill would funnel more
than $800 million into existing business-as-usual state
bureaucracies -- and not a penny for the new experimental schools
we need.
We asked Congress for funds to develop World Class Standards
and American Achievement Tests -- tools that would help us
measure our students' progress -- and assess the return we're
getting for our education dollars. When it comes to making our
schools more accountable, the U.S. Senate has stonewalled -- and
the House is threatening an amendment to deny the Education
Department the right to fund even a study of standards or tests.
10
Finally, we asked the Congress to fund pilot programs to
promote school choice. Under heavy pressure from the education
lobby, House and Senate leaders have stripped any mention of
school choice out of their bills. //
Instead of supporting America 2000, the bill Congress claims
will help our schools is an exercise in cynicism -- call it the
Status Quo Schools Act of 1992. So today, let me serve notice to
education lobby and their friends back on Capitol Hill: I will
not let Congress spend a billion dollars on a business-as-usual
bill -- and call it education reform. If Congress wants to side
with status quo schools -- Congress can count on a veto. //
Congress can drag its feet -- but it can't stop change.
Lehigh Valley is living proof of the words of the great Abraham
Lincoln: "Revolutions do not go backward." There is a time
early in every revolution when the status quo looks steady and
strong -- and the forces that challenge it weak and without
effect. And there is the moment when the forces of change carry
the day -- the bankruptcy of the status quo stands revealed, and
the whole, hollow house of cards collapses.
The revolution in American education is already underway.
In Lehigh Valley and in communities all across America, the old
ways are being abandoned, new ideas advanced. This revolution
will prevail for the simplest and the strongest of reasons:
because American parents want the best for their children.
Because there isn't a single child anywhere in America who
doesn't deserve the best education possible. //
11
From our schools to our courts, from our hospitals to the
halls of government, from the neighborhoods outside our door to
the realities of a new world economy -- the need for reform won't
wait. The only acceptable response is the American response. We
must rekindle a revolution -- a revolution to bring change to the
country that's changed the world. //
The American people have made their choice. The American
people want change. //
Thank you all for this warm welcome -- and may God bless the
United States of America.
# # #
Document No. 321639ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
92 APR 14 14 P4: 30
DATE:
4/13/92
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: TUESDAY, 4/14/92 3:00
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: LEHIGH VALLEY 2000
SUBJECT:
ALLENTOWN, PA - 4/16/92
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SKINNER
MCBRIDE
SCOWCROFT
MOORE
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BRADY
PORTER
BROMLEY
ROGICH
CALIO
ROLLINS
DEMAREST
SMITH
FITZWATER
YEUTTER
GRAY
FINDLAY
HOLIDAY
KAUFMAN
MCGROARTY
REMARKS:
Please forward your comments directly to Dan McGroarty, Rm. 122, x2930,
no later than 3:00 p.m., TUESDAY, APRIL 14, with a copy to this office.
Thank you.
RESPONSE:
No legal objection phoned to McGroarty per Nelson Lund,
4/14/92
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
LEHIGH VALLEY 2000
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
APRIL 16, 1992
1:00 P.M.
THANK YOU HILDA -- OR I SHOULD SAY, MY FELLOW
PRESIDENT. // LET ME RECOGNIZE OUR ABLE SECRETARY OF
EDUCATION, LAMAR ALEXANDER. HOMETOWN CONGRESSMAN DON
RITTER. MAYOR JOE DADDONA [DA-DOE-NA] OF ALLENTOWN.
MAYOR KEN SMITH OF BETHLEHEM.
ED DONLEY -- DRIVING FORCE BEHIND LEHIGH VALLEY
2000 AND CO-CHAIR OF PENNSYLVANIA 2000, WHICH KICKED
OFF BACK IN OCTOBER. ANN SNYDER -- VALEDICTORIAN OF
THE CLASS OF '92. OUR GUESTS WHO DID SUCH A GREAT JOB
WITH THE GOALS. PRINCIPAL MIKE MEILINGER [MILE-INJER]
FOR CALLING THIS SPECIAL ASSEMBLY TODAY.
MY THANKS TO THE PARENTS, THE TEACHERS AND THE
STAFF. THANKS ALSO TO ALL THE FOLKS HERE FROM
ALLENTOWN AND EASTON AND BETHLEHEM -- THE LEADING
LIGHTS OF LEHIGH VALLEY. LAST BUT NOT LEAST, LET ME
SAY HELLO TO THE STUDENTS OF DIERUFF HIGH. //
- 2 -
IT'S ASTONISHING TO BE HERE WITH THE CLASS OF '92
AS A GRADUATE OF THE CLASS OF '42. 11 I REALIZE THE
WORLD I THOUGHT OF AS NEW -- FOR YOU IS, WELL, HISTORY.
//
LOOK AT THE WORLD YOU'LL SOON CALL YOUR OWN -- AT
THE PACE OF CHANGE WE'VE COME TO EXPECT: EACH DAY, WE
SEE HISTORY PLAYED OUT IN THE HEADLINES. OLD EMPIRES
EXPIRE -- NEW WORLDS ARE BORN. IN THE PAST SIX MONTHS
ALONE, WE'VE SEEN THE BIRTH OF 18 NEW NATIONS.. [ [WHO
KNOWS HOW MANY THERE'LL BE BY THE TIME YOU TAKE THAT
BIG GEOGRAPHY FINAL.]]
BUT THE CHALLENGES WE FACE -- THE SHEER COMPLEXITY
OF OUR WORLD -- CAN'T OBSCURE THE BASIC VALUES THAT
GUIDE THIS NATION. TIMES CHANGE, BUT TRUTHS ENDURE.
I'M TALKING ABOUT THE BIG ISSUES THAT SHAPE OUR WORLD -
- ABOUT THE VALUES CLOSE TO HOME. EVERYTHING I'VE DONE
-- I'VE DONE TO PRESERVE AND ADVANCE THREE PRECIOUS
LEGACIES: STRONG FAMILIES. GOOD JOBS. A WORLD AT
PEACE.
- 3 -
SECURING THOSE LEGACIES HAS BEEN MY MISSION AS
PRESIDENT -- AND IT WILL BE MY MISSION TODAY AND EVERY
AS CONGAS I AM PRESIDENT.
DAY, NOW AND FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS. //
RIGHT NOW, HERE IN ALLENTOWN AND ACROSS AMERICA,
THE NUMBER ONE CONCERN IS THE ECONOMY - AND TURNING
THIS ECONOMY AROUND, CREATING JOBS, IS THE MISSION THAT
MATTERS MOST. LISTEN TO WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THE
ECONOMY. GET BENEATH THE COLD STATISTICS - -- DOWN TO
THE REAL HEART OF THIS ISSUE. PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW
WHETHER THEY CAN KEEP THE JOB THEY'VE GOT -- AND
WHETHER THEY'RE ON TRACK FOR A BETTER ONE. FOR THEIR
KIDS -- FOR EACH ONE OF THE STUDENTS HERE TODAY --
PARENTS HAVE GOT GRANDER VISIONS: NOT JUST A JOB -- A
CAREER. WORK THAT MEANS MORE THAN SIMPLY MAKING ENDS
MEET: WORK THAT GIVES REAL MEANING TO YOUR LIFE. //
- 4 -
PEOPLE HAVE A RIGHT TO ASK: WHAT IS GOVERNMENT'S
ROLE IN ALL OF THIS? / NO, WE CAN'T LEGISLATE THE
AMERICAN DREAM. BUT GOVERNMENT CAN SERVE AS A CATALYST
FOR CHANGE -- CLEARING AWAY THE OBSTACLES TO ECONOMIC
GROWTH AND THE UNNECESSARY COSTS OF DOING BUSINESS.
EXPANDING THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR AGGRESSIVE BUSINESSES
AND ENTERPRISING INDIVIDUALS TO CREATE NEW JOBS.
TRAINING AND EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN -- GIVING YOU THE
TOOLS OF THOUGHT YOU'LL NEED TO COMPETE IN THE NEW
WORLD ECONOMY. 11
- 5 -
THE FATE OF AMERICA'S ECONOMIC FUTURE RESTS ON FIVE
KEY REFORMS: ON FREE AND FAIR TRADE -- OUR ABILITY TO
BREAK DOWN BARRIERS, OPEN NEW MARKETS TO AMERICAN
GOODS. OUR FUTURE RESTS ON LEGAL REFORM -- ON ENDING
THE EXPLOSION OF LITIGATION THAT STRAINS OUR PATIENCE
AND SAPS OUR ECONOMY. ON HEALTH CARE REFORM -- OPENING
UP ACCESS TO ALL AMERICANS, CONTROLLING THE RUN-AWAY
COST OF HEALTH CARE WITHOUT SACRIFICING CHOICE AND
QUALITY. ON GOVERNMENT REFORM -- BECAUSE ONLY IF WE
REVERSE A GENERATION OF CREEPING BUREAUCRACY, ONLY IF
WE RESTORE LIMITS TO GOVERNMENT, CAN WE RESTORE PUBLIC
TRUST.
FINALLY, THE REASON I'VE COME TO LEHIGH VALLEY
TODAY: OUR FUTURE DEPENDS ON EDUCATION REFORM -- ON
OUR ABILITY TO REVOLUTIONIZE -- LITERALLY RE-INVENT OUR
SCHOOLS. TO TAKE THAT REVOLUTION BEYOND THE FOUR WALLS
OF THE CLASSROOM -- TRANSFORM OUR ATTITUDES AND IDEAS,
THE WAY WE THINK ABOUT EDUCATION. //
- 6 -
EDUCATION REPRESENTS A PERFECT COMMUNITY OF
INTEREST: BETWEEN THE INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY --
BETWEEN ONE GENERATION AND THE NEXT. BETWEEN THE PROUD
HISTORY WE MUST PASS ON -- AND THE PATH-BREAKING FUTURE
WE MUST CREATE. // AND IN TERMS OF AMERICA'S ECONOMIC
FUTURE -- EDUCATION IS NOTHING LESS THAN A MATTER OF
ECONOMIC SURVIVAL. IT'S JUST THIS SIMPLE: BETTER
SCHOOLS MEAN BETTER JOBS. //
YOU'VE SEEN THE NEWS STORIES. YOU'VE HEARD THE
STATISTICS. ANYONE WHO WORRIES ABOUT SLACK
PRODUCTIVITY OR A BAD BALANCE OF TRADE OUGHT TO BE
ALARMED ABOUT OUR CHILDREN'S TEST SCORES. MILLIONS OF
STUDENTS WORK HARD, MILLIONS OF DEDICATED TEACHERS DO
THEIR BEST -- AND STILL, IN ONE TEST AFTER ANOTHER,
AMERICA'S CHILDREN SCORE AT OR NEAR THE BOTTOM RANKS OF
INTERNATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT. //
- 7 -
WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER TEST TO TELL US SOMETHING IS
WRONG WITH THE STATE OF AMERICAN EDUCATION. FOR THE
SAKE OF EVERY STUDENT HERE TODAY, WE'VE GOT TO SHAKE
OFF ANY SENSE OF COMPLACENCY -- AND SHAKE UP THE STATUS
QUO.
HERE IN LEHIGH VALLEY, THAT'S A LESSON YOU LEARNED
YEARS AGO. YOU DIDN'T WAIT FOR WORD FROM WASHINGTON.
YOU DIDN'T STAND BACK AND WATCH ANOTHER GENERATION OF
KIDS GET LESS EDUCATION THAN THEY DESERVED. THIS
COMMUNITY TOOK A DIRECT INTEREST IN WHAT WAS GOING ON
IN THE CLASSROOM. THIS COMMUNITY TOOK ACTION. //
- 8 -
I TOOK OFFICE DETERMINED TO PUT THE POWER OF THE
PRESIDENCY BEHIND CHANGE. MORE THAN TWO YEARS AGO, WE
TOOK A STRONG FIRST STEP. WORKING TOGETHER WITH THE
NATION'S GOVERNORS, WE SET SIX AMBITIOUS GOALS FOR THE
YEAR 2000: EVERY AMERICAN CHILD MUST START SCHOOL
READY TO LEARN. WE MUST RAISE THE HIGH-SCHOOL
GRADUATION RATE TO 90%. WE MUST PUT IN PLACE A SYSTEM
OF WORLD CLASS STANDARDS -- AND TESTS TO MEASURE
STUDENTS' PROGRESS. WE MUST BE FIRST IN THE WORLD IN
MATH AND SCIENCE. BY THE YEAR 2000, EVERY AMERICAN
ADULT MUST BE LITERATE -- AND EVERY AMERICAN SCHOOL
MUST BE FREE OF DRUGS, FREE FROM THE VIOLENCE THAT
TODAY TOO OFTEN FOLLOWS OUR KIDS INTO THE CLASSROOM.
LET ME SUM UP THE SIX GOALS THIS WAY: TOGETHER, BY THE
YEAR 2000, WE MUST CREATE THE BEST SCHOOLS IN THE WORLD
FOR OUR CHILDREN. //
- 9 -
LET ME SHARE A STORY LAMAR TOLD ME ABOUT A LITTLE
GIRL, A 4TH GRADER NAMED ARIANE WILLIAMS. AT THE KICK-
OFF FOR NEW ORLEANS 2000, SHE STOOD UP -- AND HERE'S
WHAT SHE SAID: "THESE GOALS ARE NOT JUST THE
PRESIDENT'S GOALS. THEY'RE NOT JUST THE GOVERNORS'
GOALS. THEY ARE THE NATION'S GOALS." / THAT LITTLE
GIRL GOT THE MESSAGE -- AND so DO YOU.
GOALS DEFINE THE MISSION. THEY TELL US WHERE WE
WANT TO GO -- NOT HOW TO GET THERE. THAT'S WHY, NEARLY
ONE YEAR AGO TO THE DAY, I MAPPED OUT A STRATEGY I CALL
AMERICA 2000: A PLAN TO REVOLUTIONIZE AMERICAN
EDUCATION. TO BREAK THE MOLD -- AND FOR THE SAKE OF
OUR CHILDREN, PUT AN END TO BUSINESS-AS-USUAL.
- 10 -
TWO DAYS FROM NOW, WE'LL MARK THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY
OF AMERICA 2000. LET ME SHARE WITH YOU TODAY A KIND OF
"REPORT CARD" ON WHAT WE'VE ACCOMPLISHED. / IN ONE
YEAR'S TIME, WE'VE SEEN AMERICA 2000 CATCH FIRE ALL
ACROSS THIS COUNTRY. ALREADY, 43 STATES AND MORE THAN
1000 COMMUNITIES -- FROM GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO TO
LEWISTON, MAINE -- HAVE JOINED THE AMERICA 2000
CRUSADE. EVERYWHERE, PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE WORKING TO
BREAK DOWN THE BARRIERS BETWEEN THE CLASSROOM AND THE
COMMUNITY -- TO SPARK A GRASS-ROOTS REVOLUTION TO RE-
INVENT THE AMERICAN SCHOOL.
BUT, YOU KNOW THAT STORY -- BECAUSE LEHIGH VALLEY
HAS LED THE WAY. //
I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU AN OLD AFRICAN PROVERB
THAT'S THE MOTTO OF MINNESOTA 2000: "IT TAKES AN
ENTIRE VILLAGE TO EDUCATE ONE CHILD."
- 11 -
AND THAT IS WHAT IT TAKES BECAUSE EDUCATION
DOESN'T JUST HAPPEN IN THE CLASSROOM. IT DOESN'T START
AT 8:20 EACH MORNING AND END AT 5 OF 3:00. ALL OF US
LEAD BUSY LIVES BUT WE MUST NEVER BE TOO BUSY TO
READ TO OUR KIDS. TO TEACH THEM RIGHT FROM WRONG. TO
TAKE AN INTEREST IN THE THINGS THEY WORRY ABOUT AND
WONDER AT -- TO LISTEN, REALLY LISTEN, TO WHAT THEY
SAY. WE OWE IT TO OUR CHILDREN, AND TO OURSELVES, TO
SEE THAT WE LIVE IN COMMUNITIES THAT CARE ABOUT
EDUCATION - COMMUNITIES WHERE LEARNING CAN HAPPEN.
YOU'VE GOT EVERY RIGHT TO ASK: WHAT CAN WASHINGTON
DO TO HELP? HERE'S ONE WAY WE CAN. TODAY, I WANT TO
I CALL THE
ANNOUNCE A NEW LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVE A LIFETIME
EDUCATION AND TRAINING ACCOUNT -- A PACKAGE OF GRANTS
AND LINE OF CREDIT WORTH AT LEAST $25,000 DOLLARS TO
EVERY ELIGIBLE AMERICAN, TO FURTHER THEIR EDUCATION OR
ACQUIRE NEW JOB SKILLS TO MAKE THE MOST OF THEIR
ABILITIES. // I'VE SAID BEFORE IF WE WANT TO COMPETE
IN THE 21ST CENTURY, WE'VE GOT TO BECOME A NATION OF
STUDENTS.
- 12 -
TO DO THAT, WE'VE GOT TO TAKE A NEW APPROACH TO THE
OLD NOTIONS OF "STUDENT AID." THINK OF THE WORKING
MOM, BALANCING HER RESPONSIBILITY FOR HER FAMILY AND
HER JOB AGAINST HER OWN HOPES FOR THE FUTURE. SHE'D
TAKE ONE COLLEGE COURSE AT A TIME -- BUT SHE DOESN'T
QUALIFY RIGHT NOW FOR THE GRANT OR LOAN THAT WOULD HELP
PAY TUITION. OUR LIFETIME EDUCATION AND TRAINING
ACCOUNT WOULD HELP HER GET BACK INTO THE CLASSROOM. /
HERE'S THE MESSAGE FOR THE STUDENTS HERE TODAY -- AND
FOR THEIR PARENTS, TOO: EDUCATION DOESN'T END WITH
GRADUATION. LEARNING HAS GOT TO BE A LIFE-LONG
PURSUIT. //
- 13 -
I CAME TO LEHIGH -- TO ONE OF THE FIRST COMMUNITIES
TO JOIN THE AMERICA 2000 CRUSADE -- TO SET THE AGENDA
FOR THE SECOND YEAR OF AMERICA 2000. OUR NEXT STEP
FORWARD DEPENDS ON OUR SUCCESS IN BUILDING A CONSENSUS
FOR CHANGE AROUND FOUR CORE IDEAS -- FOUR WAYS TO BUILD
ON WHAT WE'VE BEGUN: TO TRANSFORM THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT INTO A CATALYST FOR REAL EDUCATION REFORM.
FIRST, IF WE'RE SERIOUS ABOUT REACHING OUR GOALS,
WE MUST SET WORLD CLASS STANDARDS IN FIVE CORE SUBJECTS
-- AND ESTABLISH A SERIES OF VOLUNTARY AMERICAN
ACHIEVEMENT TESTS TO MEASURE OUR CHILDREN'S PROGRESS.
SECOND, WE'VE GOT TO GRANT STATES AND LOCAL SCHOOL
DISTRICTS RELIEF FROM FEDERAL RULES AND REGULATIONS
THAT LIMIT THEIR ABILITY TO IMPROVE EDUCATIONAL
ACHIEVEMENT AND DO NOTHING TO HELP US MEET OUR NATIONAL
GOALS. OUR TEACHERS AND PRINCIPALS DESERVE FLEXIBILITY
-- FREEDOM TO USE THEIR FRONT-LINE EXPERIENCE ON WHAT
WORKS BEST IN THEIR SCHOOLS TO MEET FEDERAL GOALS.
- 14 -
HAS ANYONE ASKED THE TEACHERS HERE TODAY: HOW CAN
WE ASK YOU TO TEACH -- AND THEN TIE YOUR HANDS?
THIRD, WE'VE GOT TO LAUNCH A WIDE-OPEN EFFORT TO
CREATE THOUSANDS OF NEW AMERICAN SCHOOLS -- STARTING
WITH AT LEAST ONE IN EVERY CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
ACROSS THE COUNTRY. RIGHT HERE IN LEHIGH VALLEY,
YOU'RE HARD AT WORK ON YOUR PLAN TO MAKE THIS COMMUNITY
HOME TO ITS OWN NEW AMERICAN SCHOOL.
THESE BREAK-THE-MOLD SCHOOLS WON'T CONFORM TO ANY
ONE BLUEPRINT. SOME MAY MAKE A QUANTUM LEAP FORWARD
INTO TOMORROW'S TECHNOLOGIES. OTHERS MAY SEEK TO REACH
THE FUTURE BY RESTORING OLDER TRADITIONS, THE
DISCIPLINE -- AND DISCIPLINES -- OF AN EARLIER ERA. /
EACH ONE OF THESE SCHOOLS WOULD BE A LIVING EXAMPLE OF
HOW WE CAN RE-INVENT AMERICAN EDUCATION. ALL WE NEED
NOW FROM CONGRESS IS THE SEED MONEY TO HELP PEOPLE LIKE
YOU TRANSLATE IDEAS INTO ACTION.
- 15 -
FOURTH, WE MUST CREATE AN INCENTIVE TO IMPROVE
EDUCATION BY PROMOTING SCHOOL CHOICE. FOR FAR TOO
LONG, WE'VE SHIELDED OUR SCHOOLS FROM COMPETITION --
ALLOWED THE SYSTEM A DAMAGING MONOPOLY-POWER OVER
STUDENTS. WELL, JUST AS MONOPOLIES ARE BAD FOR THE
ECONOMY -- THEY'RE BAD FOR OUR KIDS. EVERY PARENT
SHOULD HAVE THE POWER TO CHOOSE WHICH SCHOOL IS BEST
FOR HIS CHILD -- PUBLIC, PRIVATE OR RELIGIOUS. //
LOOK AT AMERICA'S COLLEGE STUDENTS. OUR UNIVERSITY
SYSTEM IS THE ENVY OF THE WORLD. EACH YEAR, WE MAKE
OVER $20 BILLION DOLLARS IN FEDERAL GRANTS AND LOANS
DIRECTLY TO STUDENTS -- ONE OF EVERY TWO STUDENTS
ENROLLED IN COLLEGE RIGHT NOW -- TO USE AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF THEIR CHOICE. NO ONE ASKS WHETHER THEY
ENROLL AT PENN OR PENN STATE -- AT VILLANOVA OR LEHIGH
OR LAFAYETTE. IT'S TIME WE MAKE THE SAME CHOICE
AVAILABLE TO ALL PARENTS FROM THE MOMENT THEIR CHILDREN
GO TO SCHOOL. WHETHER IT'S THE PUBLIC SCHOOL ON YOUR
STREET OR THE ONE ACROSS TOWN -- WHETHER IT'S PRIVATE
OR PAROCHIAL, YESHIVA OR BIBLE SCHOOL: LET PARENTS --
NOT THE GOVERNMENT -- DECIDE. //
- 16 -
AND LET'S BE CLEAR: IF WE DENY PARENTS SCHOOL
CHOICE -- LET'S RECOGNIZE WHO'S HURT WORST BY THE
STATUS QUO. IT'S NOT THE WELL-TO-DO. IT'S NOT THE
UPPER MIDDLE CLASS. IT'S NOT ANY ONE OF US WHO EVER
WENT HOUSE-HUNTING WITH A MAP OF THE GOOD SCHOOL
DISTRICTS. DENY PEOPLE SCHOOL CHOICE, AND THE ONES YOU
HURT MOST ARE THE MIDDLE CLASS AND LOWER -- AND
ESPECIALLY THE POOR.
THAT'S WHY CHOICE IS CATCHING ON IN SOME OF THE
HARDEST-HIT NEIGHBORHOODS IN THIS NATION. TALK TO
PARENTS SPEARHEADING THE SCHOOL CHOICE CRUSADE --
PEOPLE LIKE POLLY WILLIAMS IN MILWAUKEE. THEY'LL TELL
YOU HOW THE LACK OF CHOICE LEFT THEM POWERLESS TO FORCE
CHANGE -- HOW A PUBLIC SCHOOL BUREAUCRACY TURNED
STUDENTS INTO STATISTICS AND PARENTS INTO PAWNS. LOOK
AT MILWAUKEE TODAY -- PIONEERING SCHOOL CHOICE, GIVING
POOR PARENTS CONTROL, AND POOR CHILDREN PRIDE. LOOK AT
THE SCHOOLS IN EAST HARLEM -- WHERE TEACHERS PUT THEIR
NAMES ON WAITING LISTS TO GET A CHANCE TO TEACH IN A
CHOICE SCHOOL. THEY CAN'T WAIT TO STAND IN FRONT OF A
CLASSROOM OF CHILDREN WHO WANT TO BE THERE -- WHO WANT
TO LEARN.
- 17 -
CHOICE WORKS -- AND HERE'S WHY. WHEN OUR STUDENTS
ARE A CAPTIVE AUDIENCE, OUR SCHOOLS HAVE NO INCENTIVE
TO IMPROVE. SAY WHAT YOU WANT ABOUT REFORMING OUR
SCHOOLS: IF YOU'RE FOR CHANGE -- YOU'RE FOR SCHOOL
CHOICE. //
THESE FOUR IDEAS ARE GENERATING INTEREST AND
ENTHUSIASM AMONG GOVERNORS AND MAYORS -- DEMOCRATS AND
REPUBLICANS -- AMONG BUSINESS LEADERS FROM ED DONLEY
AND THE ALLENTOWN-LEHIGH COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, TO
THE FORTUNE 500. AMONG TEACHERS AND STUDENTS AND
PARENTS AND PRINCIPALS -- EVERYONE AT EVERY LEVEL WHO
UNDERSTANDS THE NEED FOR CHANGE.
EVERYONE, THAT IS, EXCEPT THE LEADERS OF THE
U.S. CONGRESS. AT A MOMENT WHEN THE CONSENSUS FOR
CHANGE SEEMS TO BE REACHING CRITICAL MASS, ON CAPITOL
HILL YOU CAN WATCH THE LAST STAND OF THE STATUS QUO.
FORCES THERE ARE WAGING A LAST-DITCH EFFORT TO PUT THE
BRAKES ON CHANGE -- TO PRESERVE THE BUSINESS-AS-USUAL
APPROACH THAT BROUGHT US THE PRESENT CRISIS IN
EDUCATION.
- 18 -
THE MIND-SET UP ON CAPITOL HILL REMINDS ME OF A
LETTER I GOT THE OTHER DAY FROM AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
STUDENT -- A LITTLE GIRL NAMED HARUKA ABE: "I LIKE,"
SHE SAYS, "WHEN MY TEACHER READS MY CLASS SOME BOOKS -
- BECAUSE EVERYBODY GETS SLEEPY."
TAKE A LOOK AT THE BILL NOW WINDING ITS WAY THROUGH
THE CONGRESS -- AT THE TIRED OLD IDEAS IT WANTS TO
SUBSTITUTE FOR THE FOUR PATH-BREAKING IDEAS I MENTIONED
A MOMENT AGO.
AS PART OF AMERICA 2000, I ASKED CONGRESS FOR FUNDS
FOR NEW AMERICAN SCHOOLS. CONGRESS SAID NO -- NO TO
FUNDING EVEN 1 PERCENT -- 535 -- OF 50,000 NEW AMERICAN
SCHOOLS THIS NATION NEEDS. THEY WANT TO FUNNEL MORE
FEDERAL DOLLARS INTO EXISTING BUSINESS-AS-USUAL STATE
BUREAUCRACIES -- THE VERY SAME BUREAUCRACIES THAT PUT
US WHERE WE ARE TODAY.
- 19 -
WE ASKED CONGRESS FOR AUTHORITY TO HELP DEVELOP
WORLD CLASS STANDARDS AND AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENT TESTS -
- TOOLS THAT WOULD HELP US MEASURE OUR STUDENTS'
PROGRESS - -- AND ASSESS THE RETURN WE'RE GETTING FOR OUR
THE STATUS QUO CROWD ON C.H.
EDUCATION DOLLARS. CONGRESS SAID NO TO TESTING AND
STANDARDS.
WE ASKED THE CONGRESS FOR FLEXIBILITY FOR TEACHERS
AND PRINCIPALS. CONGRESS SAID NO -- LET'S STICK TO THE
STATUS QUO.
FINALLY, WE ASKED THE CONGRESS TO FUND PILOT
PROGRAMS TO PROMOTE SCHOOL CHOICE - -- PROGRAMS TO HELP
POOR FAMILIES IN SIX AMERICAN CITIES. CONGRESS SAID NO
TO SCHOOL CHOICE. //
so TODAY, LET ME SERVE NOTICE TO EDUCATION LOBBY
AND THEIR FRIENDS BACK ON CAPITOL HILL: ONE YEAR AGO,
I ASKED YOU TO JOIN WITH ME IN A REVOLUTION - -- TO BE A
PART OF AMERICA 2000. THE TIME HAS COME TO GET "ON
BOARD" -- OR STAY BEHIND. NO MORE BUSINESS-AS-USUAL.
//
- 20 -
CONGRESS CAN DRAG ITS FEET -- BUT IT CAN'T STOP
CHANGE. LEHIGH VALLEY IS LIVING PROOF OF THE WORDS OF
THE GREAT ABRAHAM LINCOLN: "REVOLUTIONS DO NOT GO
BACKWARD." THERE IS A TIME EARLY IN EVERY REVOLUTION
WHEN THE STATUS QUO LOOKS STEADY AND STRONG -- AND THE
FORCES THAT CHALLENGE IT WEAK AND WITHOUT EFFECT. AND
THERE IS THE MOMENT WHEN THE FORCES OF CHANGE CARRY THE
DAY -- THE BANKRUPTCY OF THE STATUS QUO STANDS
REVEALED, AND THE WHOLE, HOLLOW HOUSE OF CARDS
COLLAPSES.
THE REVOLUTION IN AMERICAN EDUCATION IS ALREADY
UNDERWAY. IN LEHIGH VALLEY AND IN COMMUNITIES ALL
ACROSS AMERICA, THE OLD WAYS ARE BEING ABANDONED, NEW
IDEAS ADVANCED. THIS REVOLUTION WILL TRIUMPH FOR THE
SIMPLEST AND THE STRONGEST OF REASONS: BECAUSE
AMERICAN PARENTS WANT THE BEST FOR THEIR CHILDREN.
BECAUSE THERE ISN'T A SINGLE CHILD ANYWHERE IN AMERICA
WHO DOESN'T DESERVE THE BEST EDUCATION POSSIBLE. //
- 21 -
FROM OUR SCHOOLS TO OUR COURTS, FROM OUR HOSPITALS
TO THE HALLS OF GOVERNMENT, FROM THE NEIGHBORHOODS
OUTSIDE OUR DOOR TO THE REALITIES OF A NEW WORLD
ECONOMY - -- THE NEED FOR REFORM WON'T WAIT. THE ONLY
ACCEPTABLE RESPONSE IS THE AMERICAN RESPONSE. WE MUST
REKINDLE A REVOLUTION - -- A REVOLUTION TO BRING CHANGE
TO THE COUNTRY THAT'S CHANGED THE WORLD. //
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE MADE THEIR CHOICE. THE
AMERICAN PEOPLE WANT CHANGE. //
THANK YOU ALL FOR THIS WARM WELCOME -- AND MAY GOD
BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
# # #
:992
Administration of George Bush, 1992 / Apr. 16
665
d to
leral
and Landing of Aircraft Flying to or from
and related materials; the granting of licens-
Libya," pursuant to my authority under the
ing arrangements for the manufacture, main-
Constitution and the laws of the United
tenance, or production of, or maintenance
:h
States of America, including the Inter-
technology for, arms and related material;
national Emergency Economic Powers Act,
and the furnishing of military advisory serv-
as amended (50 U.S.C. 1701, et seq.), the
ices. Resolution No. 748 also calls on govern-
National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601,
ments to reduce the number and level of Lib-
ister,
et seq.), section 1114 of the Federal Aviation
yan diplomats in their territory; prevent the
Act of 1958, as amended (49 U.S.C. App.
operation of Libyan Arab Airlines offices; and
ed in
1514), section 5 of the United Nations Par-
deny entry to or expel Libyan nationals who
ticipation Act of 1945, as amended (22
have been denied entry to or expelled from
U.S.C. 287c), and section 301 of title 3 of
other countries for involvement in terrorist
the United States Code. I am taking this ac-
activities.
tion in implementation of United Nations Se-
I have sent the enclosed order fully imple-
curity Council Resolution No. 748 of March
menting Resolution No. 748 to the Federal
31, 1992, and in order to take additional steps
Register for publication.
pursuant to the national emergency declared
Sincerely,
in Executive Order No. 12543 of January 7,
George Bush
1986, in consequence of Libya's refusal to
cutive
hand over the two men indicted in the explo-
Note: Identical letters were sent to Thomas
o im-
sion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie,
S. Foley, Speaker of the House of Rep-
tution
Scotland, and Libya's continued support for
resentatives, and Dan Quayle, President of
as on
international terrorism. This report is being
the Senate.
ircraft
provided pursuant to section 401(b) of the
flying
National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C.
nation
1641(b)).
bition
Security Council Resolution No. 748 im-
Remarks to the Lehigh Valley 2000
S well
poses mandatory, multilateral sanctions by
Community in Allentown,
Treas-
member states against Libya, effective April
Pennsylvania
ary of
15, 1992, if certain conditions are not met.
April 16, 1992
senior
Because the United States already maintains
espon-
a comprehensive embargo against Libya pur-
My fellow president, thank you very, very
suant to Executive Orders Nos. 12543 and
much. [Laughter] This is a nonpolitical ap-
com-
12544, implemented in the Libyan Sanctions
pearance if there is any such thing in a
to and
Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 550, the only
strange political year. But let me just say this:
to Ex-
provision in Resolution No. 748 requiring im-
I'm very glad that Hilda is not running for
1986
plementation in the United States is that con-
President this year. [Laughter] And thank
embar-
taining restrictions on aircraft en route to or
you for your introduction.
United
from Libya. The Executive order provides
And may I congratulate all six of these guys
ecurity
that no aircraft may "take off from, land in,
that spelled out the six educational goals, re-
or overfly the United States, if the aircraft,
minding us of what our national goals are.
as part of the same flight or as a continuation
And I asked one of them if he was nervous.
of that flight, is destined to land in or has
He shook me off, said no. I don't believe
taken off from the territory of Libya."
him, but-[laughter]-they did a first-class
S
U.S. sanctions already cover other meas-
job, all of them, every one of them.
r
ures called for in Resolution No. 748, includ-
And may I pay my respects to our very
ing its prohibitions on the supply of aircraft
able Secretary of Education Lamar Alexan-
and aircraft components; the engineering or
der, former Governor, now challenging this
maintenance servicing of Libyan aircraft or
country with America 2000, and doing a su-
ent:)
aircraft components; the certification of air-
perb job for all the American people; and
ppy en-
worthiness for Libyan aircraft; the insuring
at my side in the United States Congress,
akeoff,
of, or payment of new insurance claims relat-
caring deeply about education, telling me
ing to Libyan aircraft; the provision of arms
over and over again about the changes and
666
Apr. 16 / Administration of George Bush, 1992
the wonder that's taking place right here in
mission today and every day as long as Iam
the valley, Don Ritter, your Congressman.
President of the United States.
He's doing a first-class job in Washington.
You know, right now here in Allentown
May I salute Mayors Daddona and Smith,
and across America, the number one concern
the mayor of Allentown and the mayor of
is the economy, and turning this economy
Bethlehem, and of course, pay my respect
around, creating jobs is the mission that mat-
to Ed Donley, a driving force behind Lehigh
ters most. Listen to what people say about
Valley 2000 and cochair of Pennsylvania
the economy. Get beneath the cold statistics;
2000, and my respect also to she who led
get down to the real heart of this issue. Peo-
us in the Pledge, Ann Snyder, the val-
ple want to know whether they can keep the
edictorian of the class of '92. Ann, thank you;
job they' ve got and whether they're on track
our guests who did such a great job with the
for a better one. For their kids, for each one
goals, Mike Meilinger, the principal, and I
of the students here today, parents have got
thank him for calling this special assembly
grander visions, great hopes: Not just a job,
today and getting a lot of you out of class.
a career; work that means more than simply
You ought to be grateful to him. My special
making ends meet; work that gives real
thanks to the parents and the teachers and
meaning to your life.
the staff. Thanks also to all the folks here
People have a right to ask, "What is Gov-
from Allentown and Easton and Bethlehem,
ernment's role in all of this?" No, we can't
the leading lights of Lehigh Valley. Last but
legislate the American dream. But Govern-
not least, let me say hello to the students
ment can serve as a catalyst for change, clear-
of Dieruff High, with special thanks to the
ing away the obstacles to economic growth
band. It was first-class music. Thank you all
and the unnecessary costs of doing business,
very, very much.
expanding the opportunities for aggressive
I don't know who is in charge of signs
businesses, for enterprising individuals to
around this place, but they did a first-class
create new jobs, training and educating our
job, all through the building and everyplace
children, giving you the tools of thought
else. And it's astonishing to be here with the
you'll need to compete in this new, exciting
world economy.
class of '92 as a graduate of the class of '42.
The fate of America's economic future
I realize the world I thought of as new, for
rests on five key reforms:
you, well, it's history. But look now at the
Free and fair trade, our ability to break
world you'll soon call your own, at the pace
down barriers, open new markets to Amer-
of change that we've come to expect. Each
ican goods;
day we see history played out in the head-
Our future rests on legal reform, on ending
lines, literally. Old empires expire; new
the explosion of litigation that strains our pa-
worlds are born. In the past 6 months alone,
tience and saps our economy. We're suing
6 months, we've seen the birth of 18 new
each other too much. We ought to be helping
nations. Who knows how many there will be
each other more;
by the time you take your big geography final
On health care reform, opening up access
a few weeks from now.
to all Americans, controlling the run-away
But the challenges we face, the sheer com-
cost of health care without sacrificing choice
plexity of our world, cannot obscure the basic
and without sacrificing the best quality health
values that guide this Nation. Times change
care in the entire world;
but truths, fundamental truths endure. I'm
And then on Government reform, because
talking about the big issues that shape our
only if we reverse a generation of creeping
world, about the values close to home. Every-
bureaucracy and only if we restore limits to
thing I've tried to do and done to preserve
Government can we restore public trust;
and advance three precious legacies: strong
Finally, the reason I've come here to the
families, good jobs, and a world at peace.
valley today: Our future depends on edu-
These are my goals. They should be all of
cation reform, on our ability to revolutionize,
ours. Securing those legacies has been my
literally reinvent our schools, to take that rev-
mission as President, and it's going to be my
olution beyond the four walls of the class-
ush, 1992
Administration of George Bush, 1992 / Apr. 16
667
room, transform our attitudes and ideas, the
on as I am
world in math and science. By the year 2000,
way we think about education.
every American adult must be literate, and
allentown
And I wish every adult and every kid could
every American school must be free of drugs,
have been with me a few minutes ago as
free from the violence that today too often
concern
some of the leaders, business and education
follows our kids into the classroom. Let me
economy
leaders assembled, civic leaders, to tell me
that mat-
sum up the six goals this way: Together, by
ay about
about this exciting change taking place right
the year 2000, we must create the best
here in Lehigh Valley.
schools in the world for our children.
statistics;
ue. Peo-
Education: it represents a perfect commu-
Let me share a story that our Secretary,
keep the
nity of interest between the individual and
Lamar, told me about a little girl, a fourth
on track
society, between one generation and the
grader named Ariane Williams. At the kickoff
each one
next, between the proud history we must pass
for New Orleans 2000 down in Louisiana,
on and the path-breaking future we must cre-
have got
she stood up, and here's what she said,
ate. And in terms of America's economic fu-
"These goals are not just the President's
.st a job,
ture, education is nothing less than a matter
n simply
goals. They're not just the Governor's goals.
ves real
of economic survival. It's just this simple:
They are the Nation's goals." That little girl
Better schools mean better jobs.
got the message, and so do you here in this
You've seen the news stories. You've heard
is Gov-
valley. Goals define the mission. They tell us
the statistics. Anyone who worries about slack
ve can't
where we want to go, not how to get there.
Govern-
productivity or a bad balance of trade ought
That's why, as I was reminded at this meet-
to be alarmed about the test scores. Millions
e, clear-
ing I told you about, nearly one year ago
of students work hard; millions of dedicated
growth
today, I mapped out a strategy I call America
teachers doing their very best and still, in
2000, a plan to revolutionize American edu-
usiness,
one test after another, America's children
gressive
cation. Then I heard the progress that had
score at or near the bottom ranks of inter-
luals to
been made before that even began, to break
national achievement. We don't need an-
the mold and, for the sake of our children,
ing our
thought
other test to tell us something is wrong with
put an end to business as usual. Two days
the state of American education. For the sake
from now, we're going to mark the first anni-
exciting
of every student here today, we've got to
versary of America 2000. Let me share with
future
shake off any sense of complacency; we've
you today a kind of report card, if you will,
got to shake up the status quo.
on what we've accomplished. In one year's
break
Now, in a sense, I'm preaching to the choir
time, we've seen America 2000 literally catch
because here in Lehigh Valley that's a lesson
Amer-
fire all across this country. Already, 43 States
you learned long ago, years ago. But you
and more than 1,000 communities, from
didn't wait for word from Washington, DC.
ending
Grand Junction, Colorado, to Lewiston,
You didn't stand back and watch another
Maine, have joined the America 2000 cru-
our pa-
generation of kids get less education than
e suing
sade. Everywhere, people like you are work-
helping
they deserved. This community took a direct
ing to break down the barriers between the
interest in what was going on in the class-
classroom and the community, to spark a
room. This community came together. This
grassroots revolution to reinvent, not just re-
access
community took action.
work but to literally reinvent the American
n-away
choice
I took office determined to put the power
school. But you know that story because,
health
of the Presidency behind change. More than
once again, Lehigh Valley has led the way.
2 years ago, we took a strong first step. Work-
I want to share with you an old African
ing together with the Nation's Governors,
proverb that's the motto of Minnesota 2000,
ecause
Democrat and Republican alike, we set six
eeping
"It takes an entire village to educate one
nits to
ambitious goals for the year 2000. It never
child." And that is what it takes because edu-
had been done before. Every American child
cation doesn't just happen in the classroom.
t;
to the
must start school ready to learn. We must
It doesn't start at 8:20 each morning and end
1 edu-
raise the high school graduation rate to 90
at 5 of 3. All of us lead busy lives, but we
onize,
percent. We must put in place a system of
must never be too busy to read to our kids.
world-class standards and tests to measure
at rev-
And if I might ad lib something in here, I
class-
students' progress. We must be first in the
am very, very proud of Barbara Bush for set-
668
Apr. 16 / Administration of George Bush, 1992
ting an example about how families ought to
educational achievement and do nothing to
stay together and how families ought to read
help us meet our national education goals.
to their kids. Parents ought to read to their
And parenthetically, I'm told by the leaders
kids.
I met with today that the Governor of this
And we must never be too busy to teach
State has granted such regulatory flexibility
them right from wrong, to take an interest
and regulatory relief to this community effort
in the things that they worry about and won-
here. Our teachers and our principals de-
der at, and to listen, really listen to what they
serve flexibility, freedom to use their front-
say. We owe it to our children and to our-
line experience on what works best in their
selves to see that we live in communities that
schools to meet these national goals. Has any-
care about education, communities where
one asked the teachers here today, "How can
learning can happen.
we ask you to teach and then tie your hands?"
You've got every right to ask, "What can
Third, we've got to launch a wide-open ef-
Washington do to help?" Well, here's one
fort to create thousands of new American
way we can. Today, I want to announce a
schools, starting with at least one in every
new legislative initiative that I call the "life-
congressional district all across the United
time education and training account," a pack-
States. Right here in Lehigh Valley, you're
age of grants and line of credit worth $25,000
hard at work on your plan to make this com-
to every eligible American, to further their
munity home to its own new American
education or acquire new job skills to make
school. I heard the exciting proposals on that
the most of their abilities. I've said before
today. These break-the-mold schools won't
if we want to compete in the 21st century,
conform to any one blueprint. Some may
we've got to become a Nation of students.
make a quantum leap forward into tomor-
To do that, we've got to take a new approach
row's technologies. Others might seek to
to the old notions of student aid. Think of
reach the future by restoring older traditions,
the working mother, balancing her respon-
the discipline and disciplines of an earlier
sibility for her family and her job against her
era. Each one of these schools would be a
own hopes for the future. She'd take one col-
living example of how we can reinvent Amer-
lege course at a time, but she doesn't qualify
ican education. All we need now from Con-
right now for the grant or loan that would
gress is the seed money to help people like
help pay tuition. Our "lifetime education and
you translate ideas into action.
training account" would help her get back
Fourth, we must create an incentive to im-
into the classroom. Here's the message for
prove education by promoting school choice.
the students here today and for their parents:
For far too long, we've shielded our schools
Education doesn't end with graduation;
from competition, allowed the system a dam-
learning has got to be a lifelong pursuit.
aging monopoly power over students. Well,
I came to Lehigh, to one of the first com-
just as monopolies are bad for the economy,
munities to join the America 2000 crusade,
they're bad for our kids. Every parent should
to set the agenda for the second year of
have the power to choose which school is
America 2000. Our next step forward de-
best for his child, public, private, or religious.
pends on our success in building a consensus
Look at our colleges; look at America's col-
for change around four core ideas, four ways
leges; look at the students. Our university
to build on what we've begun, to transform
system is the envy of the world. Each year,
the Federal Government into a catalyst for
we make over $20 billion in Federal grants
real education reform. First, if we're serious
and loans directly to students, one of every
about reaching our goals, we must set world-
two students enrolled in college right now,
class standards in five core subjects and es-
to use at the university of their choice. No
tablish a series of voluntary American
one asks whether they enroll at Penn State
achievement tests to measure our children's
or Pennsylvania University or Villanova or
progress.
Lehigh or Lafayette. It's time we make the
Second, we've got to grant States and local
same choice available to all parents from the
school districts relief from Federal rules and
moment their children go to school. Whether
regulations that limit their ability to improve
it's the public school on your street or the
ge Bush, 1992
Administration of George Bush, 1992 / Apr. 16
669
lo nothing to
one across town, whether it's private, paro-
on Capitol Hill reminds me of a letter I got
lication goals.
chial, yeshiva, or Bible school, let parents,
the other day from an elementary school stu-
y the leaders
not the Government, make that choice.
dent, a little girl named Haruka Abe. "I like,"
ernor of this
And let's be clear. If we deny parents
she says, "when my teacher reads my class
ory flexibility
school choice, if we deny that choice, let's
some books because everybody gets sleepy."
munity effort
recognize who's hurt worst by the status quo.
[Laughter] Well, it reminds me of Capitol
rincipals de-
It's not the well-to-do. It's not the rich guy.
Hill and the way they're approaching change.
e their front-
It's not the upper-middle class. It's not any
Take a look at the bill that's now winding
best in their
one of us who ever went house-hunting with
its way through the Congress, the tired old
bals. Has any-
a map of the good school districts. Deny peo-
ideas, tried and failed, that it wants to sub-
ay, "How can
ple school choice, and the ones you hurt most
stitute for the four path-breaking ideas I
your hands?"
are the middle class and lower-and espe-
mentioned a moment ago.
vide-open ef-
cially the poor.
As part of America 2000, we asked Con-
:W American
That's why choice is catching on in some
gress for authority to help develop world-
one in every
of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in this Na-
class standards and American achievement
the United
tion. Talk to parents that are spearheading
tests, tools that would help us measure our
alley, you're
the school choice crusade, people like now-
students' progress, help families-understand
ke this com-
famous Polly Williams in Milwaukee. They'll
where their kids might stand, and assess the
V American
tell you how the lack of choice left them pow-
return we're getting for our education dol-
osals on that
erless to force change and how a public
lars. And the status quo crowd up there on
chools won't
school bureaucracy turned students into sta-
Capitol Hill said "slow down" to testing and
Some may
tistics and parents into pawns. Look at Mil-
standards. I asked Congress for funds for this
into tomor-
waukee today, pioneering school choice, giv-
new American schools. Congress said no, no
ght seek to
ing poor parents control and poor children
to even funding one percent, 535 of 50,000
er traditions,
a sense of pride. Look at the schools closer
new American schools that this Nation needs.
,f an earlier
to home, East Harlem, where teachers put
They want to funnel more Federal dollars
would be a
their names on waiting lists to get a chance
into these existing mandated business-as-
ent Amer-
to teach in a choice school. They can't wait
usual State bureaucracies, the very same bu-
from Con-
to stand in front of a classroom of children
reaucracies that put us where we are today.
people like
who want to be there, who want to learn.
And we asked the Congress for flexibility for
Choice works, and here's why. When our
teachers, flexibility for principals. And Con-
entive to im-
students are a captive audience, our schools
gress said, "No, let's stick to the status quo."
hool choice.
have no incentive to improve. Say what you
And finally, we asked the Congress to fund
our schools
want about reforming our schools, if you're
pilot programs to promote school choice,
stem a dam-
for change, you are for school choice. These
programs to help poor families in six Amer-
dents. Well,
four ideas are generating interest and enthu-
ican cities. And Congress said no to school
e economy,
siasm among Governors and mayors, Demo-
choice.
arent should
crats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives,
So today, let me just serve notice on the
ch school is
among business leaders-Ed Donley right
lobby, on the education lobby and their
or religious.
here and the Allentown-Lehigh County
friends back on Capitol Hill: One year ago,
herica's col-
Chamber of Commerce to the Fortune
I asked you to join with me in a revolution,
r university
500-among teachers and students and par-
a revolution to be part of America 2000. The
Each year,
ents and principals, everyone at every level
time has come to get on board or get out
deral grants
who understands the need for change.
of the way and stay behind. No more busi-
ne of every
Everyone, that is, except the leaders of the
ness as usual. Congress can drag its feet, but
right now,
United States Congress. At a moment when
it cannot stop change.
choice. No
the consensus for change seems to be reach-
Lehigh Valley is living proof of the words
Penn State
ing critical mass, on Capitol Hill you can
of the great Abraham Lincoln, "Revolutions
illanova or
watch the last stand of the status quo. Forces
do not go backward." There's a time early
make the
there are waging a last-ditch effort to put the
in every revolution when the status quo looks
is from the
brakes on change, to preserve the business-
steady and strong and the forces that chal-
1. Whether
as-usual approach that brought us the
lenge it weak and without effect. And there's
eet or the
present crisis in education. The mindset up
the moment when the forces of change carry
670
Apr. 16 / Administration of George Bush, 1992
the day; the bankruptcy of the status quo
Act, and having made the report to the Con-
stands revealed, and the whole hollow house
gress required by section 402(c)(2) of the
of cards collapses.
Act, I hereby waive the application of sec-
The revolution in American education is
tions 402(a) and 402(b) of the Act with re-
already underway. In Lehigh Valley and in
spect to the Republic of Byelarus, the Re-
communities all across America, the old ways
public of Kyrgyzstan, and the Russian Fed-
are being pushed aside. They're being aban-
eration.
doned; new ideas, advanced. This revolution
will triumph for the simplest and the strong-
George Bush
est of reasons, because American parents
The White House,
want the best for their children and also be-
April 16, 1992.
cause there isn't a single child anywhere in
the United States of America who doesn't
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register,
deserve the best education possible.
2:52 p.m., April 16, 1992]
From our schools to our courts, from our
hospitals to the halls of Government, from
the neighborhoods outside our door to the
Note: This Executive order was published in
realities of the new world economy, the need
the Federal Register on April 20.
for reform won't wait. The only acceptable
response is the American response. We must
rekindle a revolution, a revolution to bring
change to the country that's changed the
Nomination of Roger A. McGuire To
world. The American people have made their
Be United States Ambassador to
choice. The American people want change.
Guinea-Bissau
And you here in Lehigh Valley can proudly
April 16, 1992
say, "We are out front for fundamental, con-
structive change."
The President today announced his inten-
Thank you all for this wonderful day of
tion to nominate Roger A. McGuire, of Ohio,
learning, this warm welcome. Any may God
a career member of the Senior Foreign Serv-
bless the United States of America. Thank
ice, class of Counselor, to be Ambassador Ex-
you very much.
traordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United
Note: The President spoke at 12:35 p.m. at
States of America to the Republic of Guinea-
Dieruff High School. In his remarks, he re-
Bissau. He would succeed William H. Jacob-
ferred to Hilda Rivas, senior class president
sen, Jr.
of Dieruff High School.
Currently Mr. McGuire serves as Principal
Officer at the American Consulate in Porto
Alegre, Brazil. Prior to this, he served as
Chargé d'Affaires at the American Embassy
Executive Order 12802-Waiver
in Windhoek, Namibia, 1990; Director of the
Under the Trade Act of 1974 With
U.S. Liaison Office in Windhoek, Namibia,
Respect to Byelarus, Kyrgyzstan, and
1989-90; and Deputy Examiner of the Board
the Russian Federation
of Examiners of the Foreign Service, 1988-
April 16, 1992
90. In addition, he served as Deputy Director
of the Office of West African Affairs at the
By the authority vested in me as President
U.S. Department of State, 1986-88; and Po-
by the Constitution and the laws of the Unit-
litical Officer at the American Embassy in
ed States of America, including section
Lusaka, Zambia, 1983-86.
402(c)(2) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amend-
Mr. McGuire graduated from Beloit Col-
ed ("Act") (19 U.S.C. 2432(c)(2)), which con-
lege (B.A., 1965) and the University of Wis-
tinues to apply to the Republic of Byelarus,
consin (M.A., 1967). He was born July 1,
the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, and the Russian
1943, in Troy, OH. Mr. McGuire is married,
Federation pursuant to section 402(d) of the
has two children, and resides in Brazil.