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FOIA Number: 2006-0462-F
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the William J. Clinton
Presidential Library Staff.
Collection/Record Group:
Clinton Presidential Records
Subgroup/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting
Series/Staff Member:
Terry Edmonds
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OA/ID Number:
10986
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2-15-96 Technology Literacy N.J. [4]
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Withdrawal/Redaction Sheet
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
SUBJECT/TITLE
DATE
RESTRICTION
AND TYPE
001. memo
To Terry from Tom Kalil re: comments (partial) (1 page)
03/07/96
P6/b(6)
002. sppech
Speech draft, handwritten note (partial) (1 page)
nd
P6/b(6)
003. schedule
Cover Sheet for Schedule (1 page)
03/07/96
P6/b(6)
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
Speechwriting
Terry Edmonds
OA/Box Number: 10986
FOLDER TITLE:
2-15-96 Technology Literacy N.J. [4]
2006-0462-F
ry663
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act - |44 U.S.C. 2204(a)]
Freedom of Information Act - [5 U.S.C. 552(b)]
P1 National Security Classified Information [(a)(1) of the PRA]
b(1) National security classified information [(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office [(a)(2) of the PRA]
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate a Federal statute |(a)(3) of the PRA]
an agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
b(3) Release would violate a Federal statute [(b)(3) of the FOIA]
financial information [(a)(4) of the PRA]
b(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information |(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors, or between such advisors [a)(5) of the PRAJ
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy |(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy |(a)(6) of the PRA]
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes |(b)(7) of the FOIA)
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
of gift.
financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA]
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
b(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
2201(3).
concerning wells [(b)(9) of the FOIA]
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
Draft 3/6/96 12:30 pm
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON
NET DAY VOLUNTEER RALLY
YGNACIO VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL
CONCORD, CALIFORNIA
MARCH 9, 1996
Acknowledgments: Vice President Gore for introduction; Delaine Eastin, California
Superintendent of Public Instruction; Sheila Walker, Principal of Ygnacio [IG-NAY-SEE-O]
High School; student; John Gage; Michael Kaufman; Senator Boxer; Representative George
Miller;
It is great to be back here in California. The Vice President and I have looked forward
to this day with great anticipation. Net Day is the brainchild of two men, John Gage of Sun
Microsystems and Michael Kaufman of KQED-TV, who have revived the old-fashioned
American barnraising tradition -- the idea of people from all walks of life coming together and
pitching in to build something good for their community. There are two things you can say
about barnraisings they are tremendously productive and they are fun. That's what Net Day
is all about. We can begin to connect every one of California's 13,000 schools to the Internet,
and by working together in a spirit of teamwork and community, we can have a great time
doing it.
moment of Change - infor -lwe twok
Net Day is a symbol of the greater technological revolution that is sweeping, not only
need it
this country, but the world. John Gage has said that "The web represents the biggest explosion
Hala
in publishing and distance collaboration in history." What we are doing today will have as
together
much impact on our future as the invention of the telephone or TV, or man's first landing on
the moon. If I may borrow an analogy from the space age, let me say that Net Day is one
small step for California's schools -- one quantum leap into our future.
The beauty of this moment is that we are meeting the challenges of the age of
technology the same way this country has always faced its future -- united, together, as one
America. There is no generation gap between the old-fashioned American values of hard
work, teamwork, and optimism and our forward progress into the 21st century. As I said in
the State of the Union, the era of big government is over. But we must not go back to the era
when our people were left to fend for themselves. We need more of the kind of personal and
corporate responsibility on display here all over America.
When I came to San Francisco last September, we issued a challenge to California to
connect at least 20 percent of your schools to the information superhighway by the end of this
school year. And we knew that the only way this would work is if you mobilized a massive
volunteer effort, involving the corporate community, teachers, students, and engineers from
this state's leading high-tech companies. I am happy to tell you that California has answered
1
the call -- big time. More than 17,000 of you have signed up to help us begin wiring your
schools today. That is a remarkable response. If anyone doubts that Americans still care
about their communities, the education of their children, and the future of this country -- they
should be here today to see what I see. You are what's right with America. And what you
are doing reminds us that we live in an age of great possibility if people are willing to work
together to make the most their lives.
Today, more Americans have more chances to live up to their dreams that at any time
in our nation's history. New technologies are opening up prospects for vast new opportunities
that will bring greater prosperity. A growing marketplace is putting a premium on the kind of
ingenuity and skills Americans must have if we are going to move forward together in the 21st
century. And the key to all this is education. We must make sure that all of our children have
-choldre have
access to the educational opportunities of the present and the future.
access
aupwor
That means high standards for our schools, and high expectations for our students. It
we
means opening the doors of college to every student who wants to enter them. It means
must
supporting efforts like our School-to-Work programs which help young people who don't go
on to college right away find good jobs while they continue their education. It means support
for AmeriCorps, which is now giving 25,000 young Americans a chance to solve community
problems while earning money for college. It means challenging schools to impart the basic
values that keep our society together, through character education, and the teaching of good
values and good citizenship. We are doing all these things. But we have to do more.
That's why I have proposed giving $1000 merit scholarships to the top five percent of
every high school graduating class. I have also proposed expanding work study to include a
million students so more people can work their way through college. And if we are going to
cut taxes, what better way to do it than to give a tax deduction of up to $10,000 to every
American family for the cost of college tuition. That is the right way to cut taxes.
But we know that none of this will matter unless we bring the information and
technology revolution into every classroom in America. In the State of the Union, I called on
Americans to join this national mission to make every child technologically literate. We want
to place quality computers in every classroom and every library in our country by the dawn of
the 21st century. We want trained teachers to bring those computers to life. And we want
creative software to stretch our minds and our horizons. We know this can make a major
difference in the education of our children.
Last month I witnessed this first-hand when I visited the Christopher Columbus Middle
School in Union City, New Jersey. At one time, the Union City school system was so bad, it
the
was on the verge of a state takeover. But it was revitalized by a community partnership
involving Bell Atlantic, local government, teachers, parents and students to put computers in
every classroom and give children and their parents access to the excitement and potential of
the information superhighway. Today, with computers in every seventh grade classroom
2
linked to computers at every student's home, the Columbus School is experiencing a
remarkable turnaround. Test scores are now more than 10 points above the statewide average.
And the school now hold's the district's best attendance record. Students are excited by this
new way of learning. And parents and teachers are communicating by way of e-mail. That is
the potential you are unleashing today. If Union City can do it, California can do it. And
every school system in America can do-it.
This means child learning homewark-
All over this country we are seeing the benefits of this new technology in our schools.
Over 130 recent academic studies have shown clearly that the use of technology in support of
instruction has led to higher achievement in language and art and math and social studies, and,
of course, in science. We have dramatic proof of the power of technology to expand
opportunity for our young people. We have to harness that power and spread it throughout
this country.
I can think of no better place for us to begin than here in California -- the state that
leads the world in technological innovation. Until now, this leadership has too often stopped
at the classroom door. California ranks 45th in the nation in the ratio of students to
computers. While many suburban children have access to computers in their homes, other
children in rural areas and inner cities pass their school years without coming close to the
information superhighway. The longer they are kept away, the less chance they have of
building good lives in a global economy.
Thanks to the dedicated companies and individuals gathered here today, all that is about
to change. You are taking the lead. The rest of America should follow.
And everyone should note that you are doing this through a partnership, not through
big government. Sun Microsystems has helped organize Net Day. More than 10 percent of its
employees are volunteering today. Companies such as AT&T, MCI, Netcom, America Online
and the Scholastic Network are offering free access to the Internet and other on-line services.
Pacific Bell is providing high-speed telephone lines to schools and more than 1,000 wiring
kits. Apple is donating computers. Netscape and Microsoft are providing free software. And
hundreds of other companies are sponsoring individual schools. Corporate responsibility is
alive and well in California. And I want to thank all of you for keeping it that way.
Today is just a beginning. We will not finish our work in one day. There will be
other Net Days until our job is complete. A little while later this morning, I will participate in
the first hook-up here at Ygnacio Valley High School. And others of you will do the same all
over this state. I want to thank all of you for participating in this historic event. I urge more
citizens to do what you are doing -- get involved, make a contribution, be a part of history.
We will reach our goal if we all pull together. The great lesson of our democracy is that when
we are divided we defeat ourselves. But when we are united we never lose.
Your children and grandchildren will look back on this day and thank you for taking
a generation from new absurd asimate
chalkboard educational system laym infrashmenting analogy fer Inew Alln asa
building somether dams highrays just levery as
this important step to secure their future. And the rest of America will thank you for showing
them the way. And so, without further ado, let the future begin.
Thank you and God bless you all.
4
Draft 3/6/96 12:30 pm
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON
NET DAY VOLUNTEER RALLY
YGNACIO VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL
CONCORD, CALIFORNIA
MARCH 9, 1996
Acknowledgments: Vice President Gore for introduction; Delaine Eastin, California
Superintendent of Public Instruction; Sheila Walker, Principal of Ygnacio [IG-NAY-SEE-O]
High School; student; John Gage; Michael Kaufman; Senator Boxer; Representative George
Miller;
It is great to be back here in California. The Vice President and I have looked forward
to this day with great anticipation. Net Day is the brainchild of two men, John Gage of Sun
Microsystems and Michael Kaufman of KQED-TV, who have revived the old-fashioned
American barnraising tradition -- the idea of people from all walks of life coming together and
pitching in to build something good for their community. There are two things you can say
about barnraisings -- they are tremendously productive and they are fun. That's what Net Day
is all about. We can begin to connect every one of California's 13,000 schools to the Internet,
and by working together in a spirit of teamwork and community, we can have a great time
doing it.
Net Day is a symbol of the greater technological revolution that is sweeping, not only
!!
this country, but the world. John Gage has said that "The web represents the biggest explosion
in publishing and distance collaboration in history." What we are doing today will have as
much impact on our future as the invention of the telephone or TV, or man's first landing on
the moon. If I may borrow an analogy from the space age, let me say that Net Day is one
small step for California's schools -- one quantum leap into our future.
moment of change - how will we meet ?[
The beauty of this moment is that we are meeting the challenges of the age of
technology the same way this country has always faced its future -- united, together, as one
America. There is no generation gap between the old-fashioned American values of hard
work, teamwork, and optimism and our forward progress into the 21st century. As I said in
the State of the Union, the era of big government is over. But we must not go back to the era
when our people were left to fend for themselves. We need more of the kind of personal and
corporate responsibility on display here all over America.
When I came to San Francisco last September, we issued a challenge to California to
connect at least 20 percent of your schools to the information superhighway by the end of this
school year. And we knew that the only way this would work is if you mobilized a massive
volunteer effort, involving the corporate community, teachers, students, and engineers from
this state's leading high-tech companies. I am happy to tell you that California has answered
1
the call -- big time. More than 17,000 of you have signed up to help us begin wiring your
schools today. That is a remarkable response. If anyone doubts that Americans still care
about their communities, the education of their children, and the future of this country -- they
should be here today to see what I see. You are what's right with America. And what you
are doing reminds us that we live in an age of great possibility if people are willing to work
together to make the most their lives.
p.1
Today, more Americans have more chances to live up to their dreams that at any time
E
in our nation's history. New technologies are opening up prospects for vast new opportunities
that will bring greater prosperity. A growing marketplace is putting a premium on the kind of
ingenuity and skills Americans must have if we are going to move forward together in the 21st
century And the key to all this is education. We must make sure that all of our children have
access to the educational opportunities of the present and the future
That means high standards for our schools, and high expectations for our students. It
means opening the doors of college to every student who wants to enter them. It means
supporting efforts like our School-to-Work programs which help young people who don't go
CONDENSE
on to college right away find good jobs while they continue their education. It means support
for AmeriCorps, which is now giving 25,000 young Americans a chance to solve community
problems while earning money for college. It means challenging schools to impart the basic
values that keep our society together, through character education, and the teaching of good
values and good citizenship. We are doing all these things. But we have to do more.
That's why I have proposed giving $1000 merit scholarships to the top five percent of
every high school graduating class. I have also proposed expanding work study to include a
million students so more people can work their way through college. And if we are going to
cut taxes, what better way to do it than to give a tax deduction of up to $10,000 to every
American family for the cost of college tuition. That is the right way to cut taxes.
But we know that none of this will matter unless we bring the information and
technology revolution into every classroom in America. In the State of the Union, I called on
Americans to join this national mission to make every child technologically literate. We want
to place quality computers in every classroom and every library in our country by the dawn of
the 21st century. We want trained teachers to bring those computers to life. And we want
creative software to stretch our minds and our horizons. We know this can make a major
difference in the education of our children.
from
fromnextpage
Last month I witnessed this first-hand when I visited the Christopher Columbus Middle
School in Union City, New Jersey. At one time, the Union City school system was so bad, it
was on the verge of a state takeover. But it was revitalized by a community partnership
involving Bell Atlantic, local government, teachers, parents and students to put computers in
every classroom and give children and their parents access to the excitement and potential of
duo
the information superhighway. Today, with computers in every seventh grade classroom
3
2
have their
nomes, stores,
place
comp.
isches
linked to computers at every student's home, the Columbus School is experiencing a
remarkable turnaround. Test scores are now more than 10 points above the statewide average.
And the school now hold's the district's best attendance record. Students are excited by this
new way of learning. And parents and teachers are communicating by way of e-mail. That is
the potential you are unleashing today. If Union City can do it, California can do it. And
every school system in America can do it.
All over this country we are seeing the benefits of this new technology in our schools.
Over 130 recent academic studies have shown clearly that the use of technology in support of
instruction has led to higher achievement in language and art and math and social studies, and,
of course, in science. We have dramatic proof of the power of technology to expand
opportunity for our young people. We have to harness that power and spread it throughout
this country.
I can think of no better place for us to begin than here in California -- the state that
leads the world in technological innovation. Until now, this leadership has too often stopped
at the classroom door. California ranks 45th in the nation in the ratio of students to
computers. While many suburban children have access to computers in their homes, other
children in rural areas and inner cities pass their school years without coming close to the
information superhighway. The longer they are kept away, the less chance they have of
building good lives in a global economy.
Thanks to the dedicated companies and individuals gathered here today, all that is about
to change. You are taking the lead. The rest of America should follow.
And everyone should note that you are doing this through a partnership, not through
big government. Sun Microsystems has helped organize Net Day. More than 10 percent of its
employees are volunteering today. Companies such as AT&T, MCI, Netcom, America Online
and the Scholastic Network are offering free access to the Internet and other on-line services.
Pacific Bell is providing high-speed telephone lines to schools and more than 1,000 wiring
kits. Apple is donating computers. Netscape and Microsoft are providing free software. And
hundreds of other companies are sponsoring individual schools. Corporate responsibility is
alive and well in California. And I want to thank all of you for keeping it that way.
Today is just a beginning. We will not finish our work in one day. There will be
other Net Days until our job is complete. A little while later this morning, I will participate in
the first hook-up here at Ygnacio Valley High School. And others of you will do the same all
over this state. I want to thank all of you for participating in this historic event. I urge more
citizens to do what you are doing -- get involved, make a contribution, be a part of history.
We will reach our goal if we all pull together. The great lesson of our democracy is that when
we are divided we defeat ourselves. But when we are united we never lose.
Your children and grandchildren will look back on this day and thank you for taking
from
3
p.2
THEN AGI 22
CHILDRENS
this important step to secure their future. And the rest of America will thank you for showing
them the way. And so, without further ado, let the future begin.
Thank you and God bless you all.
4
Draft 3/5/96 6:30 pm
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON
NET DAY VOLUNTEER RALLY
CALIFORNIA
MARCH 9, 1996
Acknowledgments: Vice President Gore for introduction; student; John Gage; Michael
Kaufman; Senator Boxer; Representative George Miller;
It is great to be back here in California. The Vice President and I have looked forward
to this day with great anticipation. Net Day is a symbol of the greater technological revolution
that is sweeping, not only this country, but the world. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, in
his book, The Road Ahead, says that the digital chip is the biggest change in information
technology in 500 years, since Gutenberg first printed the Bible in Europe. What we are doing
today will have as much impact on our future as the invention of the telephone or TV, or
man's first landing on the moon. If I may borrow an analogy from the space age, let me say
that Net Day is one small step for California's schools. And it is one quantum leap into our
future.
The beauty of this moment is that we are meeting the challenges of the age of
technology the same way this country has always faced its future -- united, together, as one
America. There is no generation gap between the old-fashioned American values of hard
work, teamwork, and optimism and our forward progress into the 21st century. As I said in
the State of the Union, the era of big government is over. But we must not go back to the era
when our people were left to fend for themselves. We need more of the kind of personal and
corporate responsibility that has made Net Day a reality.
When I came to San Francisco last September, we issued a challenge to California to
connect at least 20 percent of your schools to the information superhighway by the end of this
school year. And we knew that the only way this would work is if we mobilized a massive
volunteer effort, involving the corporate community, teachers, students, and engineers from
this state's leading high-tech companies. I am happy to tell you that California has answered
the call -- big time. More than 13,000 of you have signed up to help us begin wiring your
schools today. That is a remarkable response. If anyone doubts that Americans still care
about their communities, the education of their children, and the future of this country -- they
should be here today to see what I see. You are what's right with America. And what you
are doing reminds us that we live in an age of great possibility if people are willing to work
together to make the most their lives.
More Americans will have more chances to live up to their dreams that at any time in
our nation's history. New technologies are opening up prospects for vast new opportunities
that will bring greater prosperity. A growing marketplace is putting a premium on the kind of
1
ingenuity and skills Americans must have if we are going to move forward together in the 21st
century. And the key to all this is education. We must make sure that all of our children have
access to the educational opportunities of the present and the future. That means high
standards for our schools, and high expectations for our students. It means opening the doors
of college to every student who wants to enter them. It means supporting efforts like our
School-to-Work programs which help young people who don't go on to college right away find
good jobs while they continue their education. It means support for AmeriCorps, which is
now giving 25,000 young Americans a chance to solve community problems while earning
money for college. It means challenging schools to impart the basic values that keep our
society together, through character education, and the teaching of good values and good
citizenship. We are doing all these things. But we have to do more.
That's why I have proposed giving $1000 merit scholarships to the top five percent of
every high school graduating class. I have also proposed expanding work study to include a
million students so more people can work their way through college. And if we are going to
cut taxes, what better way to do it than to give a tax deduction of up to $10,000 to every
American family for the cost of college tuition. That is the right way to cut taxes.
But we know that none of this will matter unless we bring the information and
technology revolution into every classroom in America. In the State of the Union, I called on
Americans to join this national mission to make every child technologically literate. We want
to place quality computers in every classroom and every library in our country by the dawn of
the 21st century. We want trained teachers to bring those computers to life. And we want
creative software to stretch our minds and our horizons. We know this can make a major
difference in the education of our children.
Last month I visited a school system in New Jersey that at one time was so bad, it was
on the verge of a state takeover. But it was revitalized by a partnership effort, much like the
one here, to put computers in every classroom and give children and their parents access to the
excitement and potential of the information superhighway. Today, with computers in the
classroom and at home, linked together, homework is being done in a new way; classroom
lessons have taken on a new life; and parents and teachers are keeping in touch by e-mail.
Test scores have gone up and truancy and dropout rates have gone down.
All over this country we are seeing the benefits of this new technology in our schools.
Over 130 recent academic studies have shown clearly that the use of technology in support of
instruction has led to higher achievement in language and art and math and social studies, and,
of course, in science. We have dramatic proof of the power of technology to expand
opportunity for our young people. We have to harness that power and spread it throughout
this country.
I can think of no better place for us to begin than here in California -- the state that
leads the world in technological innovation. Until now, this leadership has too often stopped
2
at the classroom door. California ranks 45th in the nation in the ratio of students to
computers. While many suburban children have access to computers in their homes, other
children in rural areas and inner cities pass their school years without coming close to the
information superhighway. The longer they are kept away, the less chance they have of
building good lives in a global economy.
Thanks to the dedicated companies and individuals gathered here today, all that is about
to change. You are taking the lead. The rest of America should follow.
And everyone should note that you are doing this through a partnership, not through
big government. Companies such as AT&T, MCI, Netcom, and AOL are providing free
Internet access. Pacific Bell is providing more than 1,000 wiring kits. Other companies are
providing free software. And hundreds of other companies are sponsoring individual schools.
Corporate responsibility is not dead in California. It is alive and well. And I want to thank all
of you for keeping it that way.
Today is just a beginning. We will not finish our work in one day. There will be
other Net Days until our job is complete. I urge more citizens to do what you are doing -- get
involved, make a contribution, be a part of history. Your children and grandchildren will look
back on this day and thank you for taking this important step to secure their future. And the
rest of America will thank you for showing them the way.
A little while later this morning, I will participate in the first hook-up here at Ygnzcio
Valley High School. And others of you will do the same all over this state. I want to thank
all of you for participating in this historic event. And so, without further ado, let the future
begin.
Thank you and God bless you all.
3
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
March 6, 1996
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT PRESENTATION OF THE 1995
MALCOLM BALDRIGE QUALITY AWARDS
The Roosevelt Room
12:10 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Let me say how delighted I
am to be here today to be a part of this again. I want to begin by
thanking a few people. First I'd like to thank Secretary Brown and
all the others who are here from the Commerce Department for, I
think, giving this country the best Commerce Department it has had in
many, many decades. And I thank them for that.
Mr. Houghton and Mr. Bradshaw, I thank you and all your
team for coming here today. And we want to especially welcome Mr.
Houghton's brother, Congress's most prominent musician -- (laughter)
-- Congressman Amo Houghton from New York.
I thank the Baldrige Foundation. Its chair, Bob Allen
is here -- thank you, sir, for your work. I want to thank the people
in the White House who are my eyes and ears in outreach to the
American business community -- Mack McLarty and Alexis Herman.
Let me say, I have some remarks here I decided not to
give because I want to just tell you a little bit from the heart what
this means to me. When I became President I had worked for 12 years
as a governor, starting in a state with an unemployment rate that was
3 percent above the national average, and that never got down to the
national average but one month until 1992, the last year I served.
We decided that we had to build a partnership with business. We
decided that America would not do well unless manufacturing came
back, and we decided to put a special emphasis on the whole quality
management approach, to make people who were committed to that feel
welcome in our state. In the 1980s when there was a dramatic drop
in manufacturing employment nationwide, it went up in our state.
And we were proud of it, and we worked on it.
So I am very familiar with the Baldrige Award -- with
the memory of Secretary Baldrige and all those in both parties who
have supported this award since its inception. And I just want to
say a few words about what the significance of this is.
There's a lot of discussion today about whether things
are good or bad in the American economy. The truth is, there's a lot
Withdrawal/Redaction Marker
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
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001. memo
To Terry from Tom Kalil re: comments (partial) (1 page)
03/07/96
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COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
Speechwriting
Terry Edmonds
OA/Box Number: 10986
FOLDER TITLE:
2-15-96 Technology Literacy N.J. [4]
2006-0462-F
ry663
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act - [44 U.S.C. 2204(a)]
Freedom of Information Act - |5 U.S.C. 552(b)|
PI National Security Classified Information [(a)(1) of the PRA]
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information [(b)(4) of the FOIA]
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C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
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of gift.
financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA]
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
b(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
2201(3).
concerning wells [(b)(9) of the FOIA]
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
03/07/96
10:04
202 456 7132
WHITE HOUSE/NEC
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A
Terry: few minor she comments Supervement for of Public Instruction
1. Add Delaine Eastin to acknowledgements
[001]
(b)(6)
3. Number of volunteers is continuing to go up - put over 17,000 thousand as a placc holder
4 More details on corporate contributions
And everyone should note that you are doing this through a partnership, not through big
government. Sun Microsystems has helped organize NetDay, and more than 10 percent of its
employees are volunteering today. Companies such as AT&T, MCI, Netcom, America Online
and the Scholastic Network are offering free access to the Internet and other on-line services.
Pacific Bell is providing high-speed telephone lines to schools and more than 1,000 wiring
kits. Apple is donating computers. Netscape and Microsoft are providing free software. And
hundreds of other companies are sponsoring individual schools.
5. We may want a reference to President's Technology Literacy Challenge
6. President has called NetDay an "electronic barnraising" -- which is a good metaphor.
,
7. School is spelled Ygnacio
Tom Kalil
6-2802
Sheila worker.
Tomkalil Concord, CA
Amish-
Withdrawal/Redaction Marker
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
SUBJECT/TITLE
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AND TYPE
002. sppech
Speech draft, handwritten note (partial) (1 page)
nd
P6/b(6)
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
Speechwriting
Terry Edmonds
OA/Box Number: 10986
FOLDER TITLE:
2-15-96 Technology Literacy N.J. [4]
2006-0462-F
ry663
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act - |44 U.S.C. 2204(a)]
Freedom of Information Act - 15 U.S.C. 552(b)]
P1 National Security Classified Information |(a)(1) of the PRA]
b(1) National security classified information [(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office [(a)(2) of the PRA|
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate a Federal statute [(a)(3) of the PRA
an agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
b(3) Release would violate a Federal statute [(b)(3) of the FOIA]
financial information |(a)(4) of the PRA]
b(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information |(b)(4) of the FOIA|
and his advisors, or between such advisors [a)(5) of the PRA]
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy [(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy [(a)(6) of the PRA|
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes [(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
of gift.
financial institutions |(b)(8) of the FOIA]
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
b(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
2201(3).
concerning wells |(b)(9) of the FOIA)
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
Connecting every classroom in America to the information superhighway will open up
opportunities and possibilities for the children of today, and for future generations. The
internet will enable America's students to learn about the history of our country, and our
world, as well as give them up to the minute news and information from around the globe,
preparing them for tomorrow's challenges. The internet will give our students access to
libraries, newspapers and magazines from around the world, it will provide them access to
historical documents like the Declaration of Independence as well as archives from countries
worldwide. Students will be able to prepare reports and projects with all of their resources
right at their fingertips. Everything from sending e-mail to myself and Vice President Gore
to the national flag of Brazil will be available to our children and serve as a gateway to their
future.
white House web site where
The web sites
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(b)(6)
webse
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
March 7, 1996
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO THE STUDENTS AT ELEANOR ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL
Eleanor Roosevelt High School
Greenbelt, Maryland
11:23 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you, Mark, for your fine introduction
and for your fine example, and for reminding us about why this is an important day for the
United States. Thank you, Dr. Boarman, for recalling my previous trip to Eleanor Roosevelt.
That was a great day. I must say, when I was there then talking about the national education
goals, I didn't have any idea I'd be back here a few years later in this role to discuss this issue.
I'd like to thank the members of Congress who are here, and my good friend, Secretary
Cisneros, Governor Glendening and Lt. Governor Townsend; your County Executive Wayne
Curry, who was with me just yesterday in the White House telling me about how this is the best
county in America. (Applause.) I thank Reverend Jackson and all the people from the
entertainment community and the other leaders who are here from across America today at this
national conference.
I also want you to know that there are two graduates of this high school who work in the
White House -- one of my associate counsels, Cheryl Mills, and Andy Blocker, who works in
Legislative Affairs. So I am a direct beneficiary of Eleanor Roosevelt High School, and I thank
you for that. (Applause.)
When I leave you here we're going over to the conference with the delegates, but I
wanted to come here with the Vice President and with General McCaffrey because, really, this
conference is about you. And, frankly, this is a day when I wish that as President, it weren't
my job to give a speech, that I could just spend the next hour or two sitting around visiting with
a number of you and listening to you and talking with you about your future, because we're here
to try to do what we can to make your lives safer and your future stronger.
You probably don't think about this very much, but already in your lives you have
acquired different roles and different responsibilities, and they give you different perspectives.
You are students and you're still children you're sons or daughters. You may be brothers or
sisters. If you have an association with organizations, you're in the ROTC or in an athletic club
or in the band, you have obligations, doubtless, to your friends that have become more and more
important to you as you get older.
That's the position that I find myself in today. I want to speak with you about this whole
issue of crime and violence and drugs from the perspective of a President, the head of our
nation's government, a citizen who understands that much of this work needs to be done in
grass-roots citizens' community-based organizations, and the father of a high school-aged
daughter. I see this whole issue in terms of what's good for families and what's good for the
country.
You're old enough now that you're being confronted on a regular basis with tough
decisions, where you have to choose right from wrong, dangerous from safe. What you may
not know is that the decisions that you make also may be good or bad not only for this
community, but for your entire country.
That's what I want to talk to you about today: the decisions that I have to make as
President to try to create more opportunity for you and a more secure environment; the decisions
that we all have to make as citizens to try to improve your future and your present; and, most
important, the decisions that I hope you will make to choose life over death, to choose what is
right for you over plainly what is wrong.
You are coming of age at the moment of greatest possibility in all of American history,
where young people who are prepared for it will be able to have more options to live out the
future of their dreams than any previous generation. And the technological revolution which is
still a mystery to me is something that many of you just take for granted. It can be the most
democratic instrument in our history. It can offer enormous opportunities to children who not
so many years ago could never had had them just because they came up in poor households.
The other day the Vice President and I were in a school district in New Jersey that is in
a poor neighborhood where most of the children come from immigrant families, the per capita
income is way below the state average and New Jersey is one of the two or three richest states
in America. The school district was performing so poorly a few years ago that the state almost
had to come in and close it and take it over.
But they got new leadership, major companies came in with a commitment to help. They
put computers in all the classrooms for the kids, and then they even had computer hook-ups in
the homes of these poor parents, many of whom had only been in our country for a few years.
Within a matter of weeks, immigrant parents were e-mailing the principal to see how their kids
were doing and whether they were doing their homework. Within two or three years, this
2
district that was on the verge of failure and all these poor children on the verge of being denied
the Americant Dream, had attendance rates and graduation rates and, most important of all, test
scores above the state average in one of the wealthiest states in this country.
That can happen to America. That is the technological age were are living in. But the
interesting thing about it, and the perplexing thing about it, is that technology is like every other
tool of human beings -- that's all it is. And in order for technology to work, it still has to be
used by people who have good values, a strong background and who choose life, who choose
their future, who choose what is right for themselves and their country.
Our nation has a lot of challenges that we have to meet together if we're going to make
sure the American Dream is available for all young people without regard to their background,
if we're going to see that our country remains the strongest country in the world, if we're going
to see this country come together instead of being divided by race, by region, by income.
We've got a lot of challenges to meet. Some of them are obvious. We have to do a
better job of strengthening all families and giving all children a chance of a good childhood
through things like better nutrition programs and immunization programs and Head Start for kids
who need it. We have to provide excellence in educational opportunities for a lifetime now, not
even just for children kindergarten through 12th grade -- through things like a better student loan
program and more college scholarships and the national service program and the program that
first brought me here, the national education goals, giving schools the grass-roots tools they need
to meet high national standards of educational attainment for all of our young people; through
economic strategies to create more high-wage jobs in the places that don't have them. We've
got a lot of work to do.
But in the end, if you think about it, we cannot succeed in any of these challenges unless
first we deal with the problems of crime and violence and gangs and drugs. For, in the absence
of safety, people are not free.
I don't know how many of you saw -- I'm sure many of you did -- the gripping, painful
pictures coming across our airwaves from the Middle East in the last few days, where innocent
children were killed by suicide bombers bent on destroying the peace process in the Middle East.
But I couldn't help -- I was so moved by the interviews with children, with young people. And
it struck me just so clearly there that Israel is a very great democracy, but if every child goes
to bed at night afraid, it is not a free country.
And the same thing is true here. If you are imprisoned from within by drugs, or from
without by a fear that you can't even walk down the street without looking over your shoulder,
this is not a free country and you are not a free person. And you can never be everything that
you ought to believe unless you are free. Part of it involves your choice to choose life and a
future. Part of it involves what we can all do together to make sure that nothing takes that
future, nothing takes that life away from you.
3
And that is in many ways our most fundamental mission; because from it all else flows:
your mission to decide what kind of person you're going to be; our mission to decide what we're
going to do to make sure you get the chance to become that person. And in our country it still
means -- even though the crime rate is down, even though drug use is way down from where
it was at its peak -- we still have a lot of work to do.
We have to get rid of the guns that turn arguments into terrible tragedies, like the one
that took the life of C.J. Brown. We have to take back our streets so that mothers and fathers
don't have to be afraid when a son or daughter is waiting for a ride after work, like Julie
Ferguson was on the night she was killed.
So that's why I want to talk to you about this. And I have a real perspective, I think,
about the whole drug and crime and violence problem. I grew up in the '60s when most people
your age, when I was your age, they just sort of got into this business. They didn't really
believe drugs were dangerous until it nearly destroyed our generation. I heard General
McCaffrey, who served with great distinction and valor in Vietnam, talking about yesterday how
in our generation when we were younger, the United States military was nearly destroyed by it.
I had a brother who nearly lost his life because of a drug problem. I know a lot about this.
And we have seen this incredible progress in the drug issue in the last several years
where drug usage has gone way done, still going down among people 18 to 34, but now casual
drug use going up again among people under 18. We have to stop that.
We see the crime rate going down in America, the murder rate going down, the violence
rate going down, but casual violence among people under 18 going up again. There are people
in this conference with me today who became friends of mine who were once members of gangs
and devoted the rest of their lives to stopping young people from making that mistake, trying
to get them to choose life. And we have to do that.
I tell you today, the most perplexing challenge facing us is how to make sure that drug
use goes down among people who are under 18, that violence continues to go down among
people who are under 18. We do not want to lose any more children. We don't want to rob
any more people of their future. We have to fight these things whenever and wherever we see
them.
Let me begin by saying that one of the most disturbing findings in a lot of the national
surveys is that more and more young people in your age group and maybe you're among them
seem to believe that drugs are not dangerous anymore. That is factually wrong. It's not only
wrong about cocaine, it's not only wrong about methamphetamine; it's wrong about marijuana.
It is just wrong. We know that the toxic content of marijuana alone, for example, is roughly
three times greater than it was 30 years ago. It is not true that they are not dangerous. They
are illegal, and, therefore, wrong, but they are also dangerous.
And I'll say again, I nearly lost my only brother. I'm not just telling you as a President.
4
This is not a political speech. This is a personal statement. And there is no reason for the
people of this country who happen to be under 18 to start seeing drug use go up again and
violence go up again when the future for you is the brightest future any group of Americans
have ever known, if you can make the transition into this new high-tech age.
So no matter what we do with the laws and all the things that we should be doing, you
have to make the right decision first. And I want to say, one of the reasons that we wanted to
come here to have this conference at Roosevelt instead of some hotel or government building
is because of what you have done at this school; because the students, the teachers and the
parents of this school are doing such a remarkable job of fighting drugs and violence. They're
not a perfect stranger here, drugs and violence, but this community has come together to send
them packing. And I thank you for that. The way you're doing it is a lesson for all of
America.
I've spent a lot of time saying what the government can do and what the government
cannot do. We cannot solve the drug problem from Washington. We can't stamp out youth
violence just by passing laws. We can't even do it by giving resources to local communities
unless they are properly used. Each of us has our own role to play.
Our government has a responsibility which we have tried to fulfill. The Crime Bill we
fought for in 1994 is helping to put 100,000 more police officers on the street. That helps to
deter crime and it is working everywhere it's being used aggressively.
We banned 19 kinds of assault weapons, and you've already heard that we passed the
Brady Bill to require a five-day waiting period before people can buy handguns. And tens of
thousands of people who have criminal records now have failed to get guns. This is a safer
country because of that.
We passed the "three strikes and you're out" law to put the most dangerous criminals
behind bars for life. We are fighting against domestic violence as never before because of that
Crime Bill. And we're trying to help thousands of schools to fight drugs and violence with drug
education and gang prevention and increased security. We're supporting programs like the
DARE program, which I think is doing a wonderful amount of good in elementary schools
throughout our country. I know that that can work.
We also made it a national federal crime for any person under the age of 18 to carry a
handgun except when supervised by an adult. Last year I fought for a law requiring every state
to expel any student who brings a gun to a school for a year -- no excuses.
You have a zero tolerance policy for guns here at Roosevelt. We ought to have a zero
tolerance for guns in every school in America. You should never worry about your safety when
you're in school. (Applause.)
We've launched an aggressive campaign to crack down on advertising to convince young
5
people to begin smoking. Cigarette smoking is now rapidly becoming the greatest cause of
future health dangers to young people in America. Three thousand children start smoking every
day, even though it's illegal in every state; 1,000 will have there lives shortened as a result.
Don't let that happen to you. If you don't smoke, don't start. If you started, stop. It could be
the best thing you ever do for your health. (Applause.)
You heard General McCaffrey a few moments ago. The national government has a
responsibility that is embodied by General McCaffrey to do everything we can to try to stop the
flow of drugs into our country and to try to deal with it after it comes in our country to try to
help people who have already fallen victims to drug abuse. We're doing everything we can in
that regard.
We also, in the Crime Bill, gave communities some funds that I'm struggling with the
Congress to preserve now, not only to tell our young people they should say no to drugs, but
to give young people in difficult circumstances more things to say yes to, more opportunities to
be involved in positive activities and engaged in things that will help to build their lives. That
is all our responsibility.
But General McCaffrey cannot do this alone. The President cannot do this alone. The
government cannot do this alone. That's why I say the things you've done here may count for
more than anything èlse. I was given some notes before I came over here about your Grad
Night program, which I think is a remarkable thing. Every school in the country ought to do
that. Your parents know that peer pressure to use drugs and alcohol is always strong, especially
on graduation night. But they want you to celebrate your achievement, not end your life. And
I think it's a very impressive thing that businesses have supported this, parents have supported
it -- every year they throw you an all-night party. I don't think it's advisable every week; but
I think once a year it's a pretty good idea. (Laughter.)
For the benefit of the press and the others who are here, the seniors come to school at
11:00 p.m., give their keys and bags to their parents, load up the buses -- they don't come back
until 6:00 a.m. in the morning. They can spend the night swimming, playing basketball,
dancing, eating all kinds of food. They even have a chance to win a car. I wonder if that gets
the participation rate up. (Laughter.)
Last year -- listen to this -- 622 seniors here; 597 showed up to celebrate. That's an
amazing thing. That's an amazing thing. (Applause.) That's the kind of community spirit and
commitment we need all across this country. And today, I want you to know that we're getting
that kind of community spirit in other ways as well. Working with the Drug Czar's Office, the
leaders of a major American industry have come together to try to do their part.
We know the fight against youth drug abuse has to begin at home. We also know that
a lot of parents don't always recognize the warning signs of drug abuse, and they're unsure
about how they should approach their children when they do. Well what can we do about this?
We know that America can do a lot. When people need health advice, they normally turn to
6
their family doctor. We know that the pharmaceutical industry sends sales representatives to see
every doctor in his or her office in the entire country.
Today I am proud to announce that the 15 major pharmaceutical companies in America
are launching a $33-million campaign to put the kind of drug education material that parents
need in the hands of 400,000 doctors, so that they can give it to parents and we can work to stop
this problem earlier. (Applause.)
We have some pharmaceutical executives who are here with us today. I'd like to ask
them to stand up and be recognized. Where are they? Here they are. Let's give them a hand.
Thank you very much, gentlemen. Thank you. (Applause:)
All of us who are parents have a big role to play. We are the beginning of how children
learn right from wrong. We are the beginning of what children believe about drugs and whether
they're safe or unsafe, how wrong it is to break the law. But in the end, it still comes down to
all of you and your counterparts all across America.
I will say again, you have a lot of responsibilities. You have responsibilities to students.
You have responsibilities as children, responsibilities as members of various organizations.
Your most important responsibility is still to you. Your most import responsibility is to choose
life. Your most important responsibility is to make the most of your own life. As my wife
always says when we have a big argument around our house, life is not a dress rehearsal. That
is your most important responsibility.
I know a lot of you have been pressured to do drugs before and you will be again. And
when I tell you you shouldn't do it, you look at me and say, look at that he may be President,
but he's still 50 years old and has gray hair. It's easy for him to say. (Laughter.) I know
that's what you must be thinking. And you're right. It is easy for me to say. But, believe it
or not, all of us who -- adults who are here today were once young, and we're not entirely
without our memories
We understand what you're going through. And if we're lucky
enough to be parents, we see it firsthand, up close.
There are things we can do -- things I can do as President, things these pharmaceutical
executives can do, things General McCaffrey and the Vice President can do, things the schools
can do. But in the end, when you look at this from my perspective, when what I really want
to do with the presidency is to make sure every American has a chance to live out their dreams,
I realize that if large numbers of our young people give up on their dreams, nothing I do will
permit me to succeed. And I know there are other people that have a lot more influence than
I do. A lot of these entertainers that you cheered for -- you may listen to them more. My
friend, Charles Rayoff -- (phonetic) -- from Los Angeles, he used to be in a gang, now spends
his life telling kids they shouldn't do that anymore. Maybe he's got more influence over the
people on his street than I do.
I know this -- in the end, you're going to make the decisions about what happens to you,
7
I'm not. And neither is anybody between me and you in the chain of command in our society.
So I say to you in closing, I believe that your future can be the brightest future any
generation of Americans have ever enjoyed. I believe that the kinds of things you're going to
be able to do because of the explosion of information and technology, because the world is
drawing closer together, because America is -- look around this room here. This is the most
successful, multiracial, multiethnic democracy in all of human history. This is a great thing.
(Applause.)
The rest of us, we'll keep doing our part. I want to say a word about Reverend Jackson
-- you clapped when he was introduced: A long time before either one of us knew we'd be
sitting here, 20 years ago -- 20 years ago next year was the first time I went with Jesse Jackson
into a school to hear him give a speech to young people about staying off drugs. Twenty years
ago, long before it was the fashionable thing to do he was out there doing it. I thank you for
that. Twenty years ago this year. (Applause.) Thank you
General McCaffrey will keep doing his part. He'll be a great role model and a great
leader. But in the end, you have to do it. And let me say, I know most of you are doing the
right thing. I get tired of hearing only the bad things about America's younger generation.
Most of the younger generation is pretty great, and that's why we're doing as well as we are.
I understand that. (Applause.) But if you're in doubt, don't do it. If you're in trouble, get
help. If you're doing the right thing, don't be afraid to be a role model, don't be afraid to be
a friend.
This country will be the greatest country in human history 50 years from now if we whip
the problems that are afflicting childhood, if we give our children back their childhood; if when
you turn on the television at night and you see some act of violence on the news, you are
surprised instead of just deadened, well, that's what I always see.
We've got to make violence the exception, not the rule. We've got to make drug abuse
the exception, not the rule. We've got to make the rule what I see out here when I look in your
faces: young people who are committed to themselves, committed to their families, committed
to their communities, committed to their own future., Choose life and we'll be all right.
Thank you, and God bless you. (Applause.)
END
11:50 A.M. EST
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FAX Transmission
National Economic Council
The White House
To: Terry
Phone:
FAX: 6-5709
From: THOMAS A. KALIL
Phone: 202-456-2802 FAX: 202-456-2223
Date:
Time:
Pages to follow:
/
Comments:
03/06/96
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202 456 2223
WHITE HOUSE/NEC
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BACKGROUND ON NETDAY96
March 5, 1996
President Clinton and Vice President Gore Participate in NET DAY -- "Electronic
Barnraising." On March 9th, President Clinton, Vicc President Gorc and members of the
Cabinet will visit California schools to participate in NetDay96, a grassroots, volunteer
effort to connect as many California classrooms to the "information supcrhighway" as
possible. The President has called NetDay an "electronic barnraising."
20 Percent of California's Schools Wired By The End Of This School Year. The goal
of NctDay is to connect classrooms in at least 20 percent of California's schools by the end
of the year. March 9th will be the kick-off for these activities, other events will be
scheduled later in 1996.
President Clinton Has Been One Of The Driving Forces Behind NetDay. The President
helped to kickstart NetDay, first proposed by John Gage (Sun Microsystems) and Michael
Kauffman (KQED), by bringing together high-tech industry leaders for a meeting on
educational technology in California schools on September 21, 1995. The President also
highlighted NetDay in his State of the Union address, and has sent letters to California's
largest employers, urging them to participate.
The response to the President's challenge has been overwhelming:
As of March 4th, over 13,000 parents, engineers and other volunteers have signed up
to help on NetDay. They will go to a local school to connect the library and at least
5 other classrooms in the school with internal wiring.
Companics such as MCI, Netcom, AT&T and AOL have agreed to provide free
Internet access, Pacific Bell is providing more than 1,000 wiring kits, other
companies are providing free software, and hundreds of other companics have
sponsored individual schools.
NetDay has also been endorsed by the mayors of LA, San Jose, San Francisco, and
Oakland, the California School Employees Association, and Delaine Eastin, State
Superintendent of Public Instruction.
This Is The First Activity Of Its Kind Organized On The Internet. Voluntecrs sign up
on-line, indicating their level of expertise. They can also see who else has voluntecred to
help that school. An on-line, color-coded map of California, available down to the street
level, allows people to see which schools have volunteers. Teachers can find out which
companies are offering free or discounted Internet access or software.
NetDay Also Advances The 4 Goals Of The President's $2 Billion Technology Literacy
Challenge, Unveiled In Union City, New Jersey On February 15th. The President
believes we must make progress in four areas: connections, computers, teacher training, and
educational software, and that the private sector must be a partner. NetDay helps advance
the goal of connecting all classrooms to the information superhighway by the year 2000.
More information on NctDay is available on the World Wide Web at
http://www.netday96.com.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
OFFICE OF
SPEECHWRITING
PHONE: (202) 456-2777
FAX: (202) 456-5709
TO:
Dan Pink
FROM:
RECEIVER FAX:
RECEIVER PHONE:
NUMBER OF PAGES (INCLUDING COVER SHEET):
COMMENTS: Early draft. Let's talk
later.
Thanks,
Terry 6-2499
***WARNING***
Unauthorized use of these materials is subject to federal prosecution
Draft 3/5/96 6:30 pm
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON
NET DAY VOLUNTEER RALLY
CALIFORNIA
MARCH 9, 1996
Acknowledgments: Vice President Gore for introduction; student; John Gage; Michael
Kaufman; Senator Boxer; Representative George Miller;
It is great to be back here in California. The Vice President and I have looked forward
to this day with great anticipation. Net Day is a symbol of the greater technological revolution
that is sweeping, not only this country, but the world. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, in
his book, The Road Ahead, says that the digital chip is the biggest change in information
technology in 500 years, since Gutenberg first printed the Bible in Europe. What we are doing
today will have as much impact on our future as the invention of the telephone or TV, or
man's first landing on the moon. If I may borrow an analogy from the space age, let me say
that Net Day is one small step for California's schools. And it is one quantum leap into our
future.
The beauty of this moment is that we are meeting the challenges of the age of
technology the same way this country has always faced its future -- united, together, as one
America. There is no generation gap between the old-fashioned American values of hard
work, teamwork, and optimism and our forward progress into the 21st century. As I said in
the State of the Union, the era of big government is over. But we must not go back to the era
when our people were left to fend for themselves. We need more of the kind of personal and
corporate responsibility that has made Net Day a reality.
When I came to San Francisco last September, we issued a challenge to California to
connect at least 20 percent of your schools to the information superhighway by the end of this
school year. And we knew that the only way this would work is if we mobilized a massive
volunteer effort, involving the corporate community, teachers, students, and engineers from
this state's leading high-tech companies. I am happy to tell you that California has answered
the call -- big time. More than 13,000 of you have signed up to help us begin wiring your
schools today. That is a remarkable response. If anyone doubts that Americans still care
about their communities, the education of their children, and the future of this country -- they
should be here today to see what I see. You are what's right with America. And what you
are doing reminds us that we live in an age of great possibility if people are willing to work
together to make the most their lives.
More Americans will have more chances to live up to their dreams that at any time in
our nation's history. New technologies are opening up prospects for vast new opportunities
that will bring greater prosperity. A growing marketplace is putting a premium on the kind of
1
ingenuity and skills Americans must have if we are going to move forward together in the 21st
century. And the key to all this is education. We must make sure that all of our children have
access to the educational opportunities of the present and the future. That means high
standards for our schools, and high expectations for our students. It means opening the doors
of college to every student who wants to enter them. It means supporting efforts like our
School-to-Work programs which help young people who don't go on to college right away find
good jobs while they continue their education. It means support for AmeriCorps, which is
now giving 25,000 young Americans a chance to solve community problems while earning
money for college. It means challenging schools to impart the basic values that keep our
society together, through character education, and the teaching of good values and good
citizenship. We are doing all these things. But we have to do more.
That's why I have proposed giving $1000 merit scholarships to the top five percent of
every high school graduating class. I have also proposed expanding work study to include a
million students so more people can work their way through college. And if we are going to
cut taxes, what better way to do it than to give a tax deduction of up to $10,000 to every
American family for the cost of college tuition. That is the right way to cut taxes.
But we know that none of this will matter unless we bring the information and
technology revolution into every classroom in America. In the State of the Union, I called on
Americans to join this national mission to make every child technologically literate. We want
to place quality computers in every classroom and every library in our country by the dawn of
the 21st century. We want trained teachers to bring those computers to life. And we want
creative software to stretch our minds and our horizons. We know this can make a major
difference in the education of our children.
Last month I visited a school system in New Jersey that at one time was so bad, it was
on the verge of a state takeover. But it was revitalized by a partnership effort, much like the
one here, to put computers in every classroom and give children and their parents access to the
excitement and potential of the information superhighway. Today, with computers in the
classroom and at home, linked together, homework is being done in a new way; classroom
lessons have taken on a new life; and parents and teachers are keeping in touch by e-mail.
Test scores have gone up and truancy and dropout rates have gone down.
All over this country we are seeing the benefits of this new technology in our schools.
Over 130 recent academic studies have shown clearly that the use of technology in support of
instruction has led to higher achievement in language and art and math and social studies, and,
of course, in science. We have dramatic proof of the power of technology to expand
opportunity for our young people. We have to harness that power and spread it throughout
this country.
I can think of no better place for us to begin than here in California -- the state that
leads the world in technological innovation. Until now, this leadership has too often stopped
2
at the classroom door. California ranks 45th in the nation in the ratio of students to
computers. While many suburban children have access to computers in their homes, other
children in rural areas and inner cities pass their school years without coming close to the
information superhighway. The longer they are kept away, the less chance they have of
building good lives in a global economy.
Thanks to the dedicated companies and individuals gathered here today, all that is about
to change. You are taking the lead. The rest of America should follow.
And everyone should note that you are doing this through a partnership, not through
big government. Companies such as AT&T, MCI, Netcom, and AOL are providing free
Internet access. Pacific Bell is providing more than 1,000 wiring kits. Other companies are
providing free software. And hundreds of other companies are sponsoring individual schools.
Corporate responsibility is not dead in California. It is alive and well. And I want to thank all
of you for keeping it that way.
Today is just a beginning. We will not finish our work in one day. There will be
other Net Days until our job is complete. I urge more citizens to do what you are doing -- get
involved, make a contribution, be a part of history. Your children and grandchildren will look
back on this day and thank you for taking this important step to secure their future. And the
rest of America will thank you for showing them the way.
A little while later this morning, I will participate in the first hook-up here at Ygnzcio
Valley High School. And others of you will do the same all over this state. I want to thank
all of you for participating in this historic event. And so, without further ado, let the future
begin.
Thank you and God bless you all.
3
Withdrawal/Redaction Marker
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DOCUMENT NO.
SUBJECT/TITLE
DATE
RESTRICTION
AND TYPE
003. schedule
Cover Sheet for Schedule (1 page)
03/07/96
P6/b(6)
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
Speechwriting
Terry Edmonds
OA/Box Number: 10986
FOLDER TITLE:
2-15-96 Technology Literacy N.J. [4]
2006-0462-F
ry663
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act - |44 U.S.C. 2204(a)]
Freedom of Information Act - [5 U.S.C. 552(b)|
P1 National Security Classified Information |(a)(1) of the PRA]
b(1) National security classified information |(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office [(a)(2) of the PRA]
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate a Federal statute |(a)(3) of the PRAJ
an agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
b(3) Release would violate a Federal statute [(b)(3) of the FOIA]
financial information |(a)(4) of the PRA]
b(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information |(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors, or between such advisors (a)(5) of the PRAJ
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy [(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy |(a)(6) of the PRAJ
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes [(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
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financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA]
PRM. Personal record mistile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
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concerning wells [(b)(9) of the FOIA]
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
D BAER
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002
SCHEDULE OF THE PRESIDENT
FOR
THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1996
FINAL
NOTE:
Staff vans depart at 9:30 am from the West Basement.
tba
MORNING RUN
8:00 am-
MEETING
8:30 am
OVAL OFFICE
Staff Contact: Jack Quinn, Bruce Lindsey
8:30 am-
MEETING
8:35 am
OVAL OFFICE
Staff Contact: Leon Panetta
8:35 am-
FOREIGN POLICY PHONE CALL
8:55 am
OVAL OFFICE
Staff Contact: Tony Lake
8:55 am-
BRIEFING
9:00 am
OVAL OFFICE
Staff Contact: Tony Lake
9:00 am-
MEETING WITH KING HUSSEIN OF JORDAN
9:30 am
OVAL OFFICE
Staff Contact: Tony Lake
POOL SPRAY (At the top)
9:45 am-
BRIEFING
10:15 am
OVAL OFFICE
Staff Contact: Carol Rasco
10:20 am
THE PRESIDENT proceeds to the South Lawn
10:25 am
THE PRESIDENT departs the White House via Marine One en route
the Landing Zone at Eleanor Roosevelt High School,
Greenbelt, MD
[flight time: 15 minutes]
NOTE:
In the event of inclement weather, the President's motorcade will depart from
the South Portico at 10:20 am. The drive time to the event is 30 minutes.
. of March 6. 1996 8:34pm
00/07/80 THU 00:30 FAA
D BAER
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003
10:40 am
THE PRESIDENT arrives the Landing Zone at Eleanor Roosevelt
High School, Greenbelt, Maryland
10:45 am
THE PRESIDENT departs the Landing Zone at Eleanor Roosevelt
High School via foot en route the Gymnasium, Eleanor
Roosevelt High School
[walk time: 5 minutes]
10:50 am
THE PRESIDENT arrives the Gymnasium, Eleanor Roosevelt
High School
Greeters:
Governor Parris Glendening
Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
Senator Paul Sarbanes
Representative Steny Hoyer
General Barry McCaffrey (Ret.)
Wayne Curry, Prince George's County Executive
David Mitchell, State Superintendent of Police
Dr. Gerald Boarman, Principal, Eleanor Roosevelt
High School
Mark Anderes, student, Eleanor Roosevelt High
School
M of March 6. 1996 9:06pm
ГАЛ
D BAER
004
10:55 am-
REMARKS TO STUDENTS AT ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
11:55 am
HIGH SCHOOL
THE GYMNASIUM
Eleanor Roosevelt High School
Remarks: Jonathan Prince
Staff Contact: Carol Rasco, Jeremy Ben-Ami
Event Coordinator: Patrick Steel
OPEN PRESS
-
Off-stage announcement of the President, Vice President,
General Barry McCaffrey (Ret.), Director, Office of National
Drug Control Policy, Dr. Gerald Boarman, Principal, Eleanor
Roosevelt High School and Mark Anderes, Student
Government President, Eleanor Roosevelt High School to
"Ruffles and Flourishes" and "Hail to the Chief".
Dr. Gerald Boarman makes welcoming remarks and introduces
General Barry McCaffrey (Ret.)
General Barry McCaffrey (Ret.) makes remarks and introduces
the Vice President.
The Vice President makes remarks and introduces Mark
Anderes.
Mark Anderes makes remarks and introduces the President.
-
The President makes remarks.
I
Upon conclusion of remarks, the President and the Vice
President work a ropeline and depart.
12:05 pm
THE PRESIDENT and the Vice President depart the Gymnasium,
Eleanor Roosevelt High School via motorcade en route the
Auditorium, Eleanor Roosevelt High School
[drive time: 5 minutes]
12:10 pm
THE PRESIDENT and the Vice President arrive the Auditorium,
Eleanor Roosevelt High School
as of March 6, 1996 8:15pm
inu 00:00 FAA
D BAER
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12:10 pm-
MEET AND GREET WITH MARYLAND COMMUNITY
12:15 pm
LEADERS
MUSIC ROOM
Eleanor Roosevelt High School
Staff Contact: John Hilley
Event Coordinator: Patrick Steel
CLOSED PRESS
PARTICIPANTS:
THE PRESIDENT
Debbic Bogush, Chief of Police, Crofton, MD
Fred Davis, Sheriff, Charles County
Roberts Roper, Executive Director, Roper Center
Emest Jenkins, Prince George County PTA
Loo Smith. TRIAD program, Elderly anti-crime group
Greg Laxton, Police Officer, Community Policing
Michelle Hotten, District Court Judge
12:20 pm-
ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION AT THE WHITE HOUSE
1:30 pm
LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON YOUTH, DRUG USE
AND VIOLENCE
THE AUDITORIUM
Eleanor Roosevelt High School
Talking Points: Gabrielle Bushman
Staff Contact: Carol Rasco, Jeremy Ben-Ami
Event Coordinator: Patrick Steel
OPEN PRESS
ROUND TABLE PARTICIPANTS:
THE PRESIDENT
The Vice President
General Barry McCaffrey (Res.)
Governor Parris Glendening
Senator Paul Sarbance
Representative Steny Hoyer
James Burke, Partnership for a Drug-Free America
Joseph Califano, Center for Alcohol & Substance Abuse
Reverend Jesse Jackson, National Rainbow Coalition
Jeffrey Tauber, President, Nat'l Assoc. of Drug Court Professionals
Izaak Prado, Visalia, California
Carl Cohn. Superintendent, Lang Beach, CA School District
Evon Green, Representative, Safe and Drug-Free Schools
Lonise Bias, Mother of Len Bias
Kurt M. Landgraf. President & CEO, DuPont Merck
Sheriff Nat Glover, Community Policing Representative, Jacksonville, FL
Margaret Alstactier, Student of the Year, SADD
Karen Lee, ERHS, Students Against Violence
- of March 6, 1996 8:15pm
inu
00:01
ГАД
Off-stage announcement of the President, Vice President and
General Barry McCaffrey. (Ret.)
-
The President makes brief remarks.
-
The Vice President makes brief remarks.
-
The President invites the following people to report about
programs that are addressing youth violence and drug abuse.
-
Joseph Califano, Center for Alcohol and Substance
Abuse
-
Reverend Jesse Jackson, National Rainbow Coalition
-
James Burke, Partnership for a Drug-Free America
-
Lonise Bias, Mother of Len Bias
-
The President invites the panelists to participate in a round
table discussion.
-
The President makes closing remarks.
-
Upon conclusion of remarks, the President and the Vice
President depart.
1:35 pm
THE PRESIDENT departs the Auditorium, Eleanor Roosevelt High
School via motorcade en route the Landing Zone at Eleanor Roosevelt
High School
[drive time: 5 minutes]
1:40 pm
THE PRESIDENT arrives the Landing Zone at Eleanor Roosevelt
High School
1:45 pm
THE PRESIDENT departs the Landing Zone at Eleanor Roosevelt
High School, Greenbelt, Maryland, via Marine One en route
the White House
[flight time: 15 minutes]
2:00 pm
THE PRESIDENT arrives the White House
as of March 6, 1996 8:15pm
03/07/80 THU 00:37 FAX
D BAER
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2:05 pm-
VIDEO TAPINGS
2:15 pm
ROOSEVELT ROOM
Staff Contact: Laura Schwartz
BRIEFING AND TAPING OF VIDEO MESSAGE TO
MUSLIMS WORLDWIDE
Staff Contact: Tony Lake
VIDEO FOR THE SECOND ANNUAL MAYORS'
YOUTH SUMMIT
Staff Contact: Marcia Hale
2:15 pm-
LUNCH WITH VICE PRESIDENT GORE
3:15 pm
OVAL OFFICE
tha
FOREIGN POLICY PHONE CALL
OVAL OFFICE
Staff Contact: Tony Lake
3:15 pm-
PHONE/OFFICE TIME
6:00 pm
OVAL OFFICE
OPTION:
Between
DROP-BY CHIEF OF STAFF'S MEETING WITH THE
5:30 pm-
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE
6:15 pm
OF CITIES
CHIEF OF STAFF'S OFFICE
Staff Contact: Marcia Hale
CLOSED PRESS
6:00 pm-
DROP-BY MEETING WITH THE PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL
6:15 pm
ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
ROOSEVELT ROOM
Staff Contact: Beth Viola
CLOSED PRESS
6:15 pm-
SCHEDULING MEETING
6:45 pm
CABINET ROOM
Staff Contact: Stephanie Streett, Anne Walley
6:45 pm-
PHONE CALL TO NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATS
6:50 pm
RESIDENCE/OVAL OFFICE
Staff Contact: Doug Sosnik
CLOSED PRESS
EVENING OFF
BC AND HRC RON
THE WHITE HOUSE
as of March 6, 1996 8:15pm
Termy
1
As
promised
DANIEL H. PINK
Chief Speechwriter
B
Office of the Vice President
(202) 456-7173
Washington, DC 20501
[email protected]
03/07/96
12:56
617 497 1363
FAST COMPANY
003
OHN GAGE IS HOLDING court at one of his favorite haunts, the
We're here to talk about business, but at the
Espresso Roma Café in Berkeley, California. With laptop and
moment one of your passions is wiring the Cal-
ifornia school system for Internet access. Does
latte, he's spinning scenarios about the future of the Internet
NetDay96 offer lessons for business?
and marveling at the explosive growth of Sun Microsystems, the
NetDay is only possible because of e-mail
and the Web. It has no office, no telephone
company he's been part of since its earliest days nearly 15
number, no fax number, no paid staff. It's a
years ago. 1 Gage's official title at Sun is director of the sci-
totally decentralized virtual company. We
ence office, but most everyone refers to him as the company's
don't order anyone to do anything. We give
people an opportunity, and they choose
"chief scientist." It's a role that leaves him less and less time
whether to embrace the opportunity. People
for latte. Gage, 53, logs 1 million air miles per year in his role
can visit our Web page (HTTP://WWW.NET
DAY96.COM). decide if they're interested, iden-
as techno-troubadour and scientific ambassador. He com-
tify the school where they want to volunteer,
pares notes with Russian supercomputer designers; keeps in touch with
tell us about their skills, and become part of
the company. The best way to organize 100,000
officials at the ultrasecret National Security Agency (an early and still-
people is to let them organize themselves.
important Sun customer); swaps ideas with software nerds in Japan; reviews
And there's a message in there for organiz-
product strategies with the hard-nosed executives at Sun's Mountain View,
ing companies?
The basic message is that the network cre-
California headquarters. His most important job, he says, is "keeping
ates the company-whether that company is
the smartest people at Sun thinking, talking, and working together."
NetDay or Sun Microsystems. Your e-mail
flow determines whether you're really part of
the organization; the mailing lists you're on
At the moment, though, Gage's thoughts
like the quaint rallying cry of a bygone eΓa.
say a lot about the power you have. I've been
aren't on business. He plans to spend the
But it's a way of life at young companies like
part of the Java group at Sun for four or five
evening generating more than 10,000 World
Sun-where information flows freely and
years. Recently, by mistake, someone removed
Wide Web pages-that's right, ten thousand,
people aren't afraid to express their opin-
my.name ([email protected]) from the
one for every K-12 school in California-in
ions-and in the explosion of activity around
Java e-mail list. My flow of information just
connection with a nonprofit initiative called
the Internet. For Gage, the Net-and in par-
stopped-and I stopped being part of the orga-
NetDay96. Gage is organizing an army of up
ticular, the World Wide Web-is an electronic
nization, no matter what the org chart said.
to 100,000 volunteers to descend on the state's
frontier that marries technology and democ-
I got back on in a hurry.
schools on a Saturday in March and wire them
racy, the last best hope for an economy built
The best way to understand what's hap-
for Internet access. It a program bold enough
around grassroots participation and person-
pening in a company is to get to its alias file-
to be laughable. But NetDay has won the
al expression. "The Web represents the biggest
the master list of all its e-mail lists. Before the
endorsement of President Clinton and cap-
explosion in publishing and distance collab-
Web, I used the alias file as my main mecha-
tured the imagination of business leaders.
oration in history," he says. "It's the enabling
nism for knowing what was going on at Sun.
"I'm a one-man organizer of a virtual com-
mechanism for fast companies."
I didn't need anyone to tell me when we were
pany with 100,000 employees," Gage beams.
Where better to pursue this vision than
working on a new chip project. Suddenly
Why would a senior leader in a $6 billion
Sun (HTTP://WWW.SUN.COM), one of the most
there's a new e-mail list, Sun Blazer, and I
enterprise choose to complicate his life with
"connected" organizations on the planet?
know what's happening. I didn't need any-
a project like NetDay? Partly to demonstrate
Its hardware products account for more than
one to tell me Java was getting hot. There
the power of Sun's technology; this initia-
one-third of the world's Web servers. Its Java
used to be 35 people on the Java alias list, then
tive simply could not exist without e-mail and
programming language is the hottest thing
there were 120. Something's happening.
the World Wide Web. The larger reason is
since the Netscape Navigator. Sun's 15,000
And people create their own private alias-
that Gage is more than just a scientific vision-
people generate up to 2 million e-mail mes-
es. I have one called JavaBoss. It lists the peo-
ary or business executive. He's a rabble rouser,
sages per day. The company's 1,000 internal
ple I believe are the real players in Java, my
an agent provocateur, a product of the 1960s
servers store 250,000 Web and other electronic
personal view on the power structure. They're
who never lost his activist fire or democratic
pages. By mid-1996, all U.S. employees will be
the people I send messages to. A fellow named
values. Gage was active in the Berkeley Free
equipped with desktop videoconferencing.
Geoff Baehr is on my JavaBoss list even though
Speech Movement He was a California orga-
The ethos is simple: people should be able to
he works in a completely different part of
nizer for the Robert Kennedy presidendateam
communicate with anyone, anywhere. at any
Sun, But he's one of the drivers. You'd nev-
paign and a delegate to the 1968 Chicago
time, through any media imaginable.
er know it from the org chart.
vention. He coordinated the national traveling
All of which leaves John Gage thorough-
You're suggesting everyone can develop their
campaign for McGovern for President. "Do
ly in his element. "This whole thing has a
own organization chart, their personal view of
you remember that book, The Boys on the Bus?"
'60s flavor to it," he says. "There's a pop-
who does what at the company?
Gage asks. "Well, that was my bus!"
ulist ethic. You don't like the news? Make
That's right. And then there's a second
These days, "Power to the People" sounds
some of your own. Put it on the Net."
round. Let's say I mail you a message about
118
MAY 1996
03/07/96
12:57
617 497 1363
FAST COMPANY
004
java. or I mail Sun CEO] Scon McNealy:
lots of gaines. They prune their lists to lim-
express it as a series of links to other pages.
along with everyone else on my JavaBoss list.
it distribution. They time-stamp messages so
It just alters things. With conventional e-
Suddenly the CEO sees who I think should
when you're at a meeting, they can tell you
mail, I can persuade you through my words,
get this information, who I think is impor-
exactly when they sent the memo you're sup-
with ad hominem arguments about why
tant. I remember bumping into Scott at a
posed to have read. They are legalistic in their
something is important. With live e-mail, I
conference in Geneva. Java is really heating
style. E-mail breeds people like this too.
can show you. There's power in that.
up, he's getting lots of mail, and everybody
Will the spread of World Wide Web tech-
At what point does technology create too much
is copying a guy named Mike Clary. Scott
nology inside companies-intranets-make tra-
communications? Sun's people generate 2 million
asks me, "Who's Mike Clary?" He's never
ditional e-mail less important?
e-mail messages per day and have created 250,000
met him, Mike works with [Sun cofounder]
The Web is a step beyond e-mail. Putting
Web pages. Now you're installing universal video-
Bill Joy in Aspen. There's a new, virtual orga-
up a Web page means you have something to
conferencing. Don't you risk overload?
nization taking shape below the CEO.
say. And the way you put it together says a lot
Every time we've increased the ability of
That's important. Because he is on a lot
about who you are-not just the words but
people at Sun to communicate electronically,
of e-mail lists, Mike Clary has been recognized
also the style, and your links to other pages.
good things have happened. So we just keep
by his peers as an important person. It's like
E-mail and the Web are merging. It means
increasing it. I can think of lots of interest-
the science citation index. This affects people's
I can e-mail you a hypertext page which,
ing ways to use video. Let's say Bill Joy is sit-
careers. If your name is on e-mails flying around
when you bring it up on your machine, has
ting in Aspen and he has an idea, and he wants
the company, that's good. You're getting far
links to other documents, other people, oth-
to start a discussion about it inside the com-
better exposure than in any annual review.
er computers in other companies. We've
pany. He can do a video and put it out on
That doesn't mean people can't play pol-
gone from "dead" e-mail to "live" e-mail.
the Net. Suddenly the entire company can
itics. E-mail is a Rorschach test. People who
People won't just send messages anymore.
learn from its most brilliant person. People
are masters of back-office politics still play
They'll send their view of the world, and
can play it over and over and have an electronic
discussion. We are merging video, audio, pub-
The Company as Talk Show
lishing, and telecommunications to create a
new work environment that lets us combine
and distribute our collective wisdom.
It's mid-December, the time each month that Sun Microsystems creates a virtual recording studio
in a conference room outside the office of CEO Scott McNealy. For the next hour, McNealy does a
Let's move from networks inside companies
radio show. This month's featured guests are senior technologists Bill Joy and Eric, Schmidt, two of
to the networked economy. Is it all that different
the figures most closely associated with Sun's Java programming language. McNealy rounds out
doing business on the Net?
the program with business updates, pep talks, and surprise phone calls to employees. This month's
For one thing-and this is only a slight
"candid mike" segment is a hilarious exchange with an administrative assistant in Sun's product-
overstatement-you can fire your vice pres-
development group. She urges the CEO to telephone the rest of her group at a restaurant, where
ident of marketing. The Internet style is to
they are In the midst of a long lunch, and summan them back to work.
put something up and let other people exam-
If this sounds like a drive-time broadcast by a wacky FM deejay, It's not too far off the mark. In
ine it-no hype, no hoopla, no advertising
fact, the monthly show goes by the name "The McNealy Report" and it's broadcast over WSUN Radio.
But it doesn't travel over the airwaves. In keeping with Sun's commitment to the Net, the show is
unless it's substantive. That style is the basis
digitized and stored on an Internal Web server. Employees can visit the site, click on the show (or past
of Java's success. We didn't make a big
shows), and listen at their workstations.
announcement. There were no tents, no spot-
WSUN Radio is an important element in McNealy's energetic stay-in-touch style, which also includes
lights, no celebrity endorsements. We put up
regular appearances on John Gage's bimenthly television show. The format and tone of Gage's
the Web page (HTTP://JAVA.SUN.COM) and invit-
Sunergy broadcast couldn't be more different from his CEO's program. Sunergy revolves around earnest
ed people to visit. They could read about
(and unabashedly futuristic) panel discussions on topics such as "Cyberjockeying in the 21st Centu-
Java, download code, and make up their own
ry." Its guests include digital celebrities such as Apple founder Steve Jobs and Web guru Marc Andreessen.
minds. And lots of people do. Our Java page
It's PBS to McNealy's ESPN.
gets 1.5 million hits per day.
"Scott's view of the world is wins and losses," Gage explains. "It's hockey, it's fast-paced, and
It's no-obligation marketing. And it cre-
at the end you either score the goal or you don't. That's also the pace of his radio broadcast. Suner-
ates a different kind of customer, a much
gy is the counterpoint to that. The banner is: 'Here are some important technology directions.
more committed customer.
Learn to evaluate what is valuable among the innovations arising worldwide."
Sunergy is beamed via satellite to roughly 1,500 downlink sites in 40 countries and gets an
Most people view this "download-for-free"
average of 100,000 viewers per show. It's also transmitted via the Internet's Multicast Backbone
model as a way to build market share and estab-
to computers with the processing horsepower and bandwidth to receive live video over the Net. The
lish a standard. We'll give it away first, domi-
broadcast is closed-captioned as well-not to assist the hearing-impaired, but to support an index-
nate later. You see it differently?
ing system for people who want to review past Sunergy programs. Soon, interested viewers will be
What you're really trying to do is harness
able to call up a tape, search it by keyword, and see segments on specific subjects.
the collective brainpower of the Net in the
The Sunergy Web site (HTTP://WWW.SUN.COM/SUNERGY) already offers rich material from past
service of your product The old idea was that
shows-including transcripts, audio clips, white papers, and links to resources on the Net. It also
includes a schedule of future programs and their satellite coordinates.
the only people who could help you invent new
Why is Gage so committed to Sunergy? "Companies degrade when people like me, who have been
things were people inside your company. On
In place for a long time, develop a 'not-invented-here' attitude," he says. "The moment you reject
the Net, you can invoke the talents of people
outside innovations, the company starts to die."
worldwide, 24 hours a day, who are doing it out
of love-doing it just to do it. You don't have
03/07/96
12:59
'617 497 1363
FAST COMPANY
005
the Net, you can invoke the talents of People
WORLDWIDE. You don't HAVI to
know their NAMES; they're on the Net. You don't
have to pay THEM; they're on the NET. They work
ALL THE TIME; they're on the Net all the TIME."
to know their names; they're on the Net. You
the night the message went out announc-
network model says that's wrong. Patrick
have to pay them; they're on the Net. They
ing the policy. I'm in Sun's booth drinking
Naughton was one of the early leaders of the
work all the time; they're on the Net all the time.
beer with a hundred Germans. The e-mail
project that became Java. In 1994 he went to
The Net doesn't let you do away with your
comes across people's machines and there's
Seattle to join Starwave, the sports-informa-
vice president of engineering, but it does
this huge uproar. So the Germans start send-
tion and entertainment company owned by
change the job. The VP of engineering be-
ing e-mail to Mountain View saying, "I can't
[Microsoft cofounder] Paul Allen (HTTP://WWW.
comes a conductor and an explorer who looks
believe this." The messages startled people
STARWAVE.COM). Patrick championed Java at
for advanced work around the world and how
here, because they didn't realize where they
Starwave. One of the reasons Microsoft adopt-
to incorporate it into your product.
were being written. That's another thing with
ed Java is because Naughton's group showed
The Net becomes the foundation for a
e-mail. You get a bunch of angry messages
how Java could create something powerful.
vast acceleration in product development.
from people and you think they're sitting
Business is in a struggle: Who speaks for
It's the goal of the new fast company: instant
calmly in their offices. You don't realize they're
the company? Is it always the CEO? I don't
communication with people you've never
on the floor of Hannover Fair, drunk, with
chink so. Sun stands for the collection of tal-
met, to create something of value that
the Sun rock-and-roll band playing behind
ent we've assembled; lots of people speak for
becomes the heart of a business.
them. This movement from Germany start-
Sun. The power-and terror-of the Net is
It's an alluring model-and one that few com-
ed a series of flames, and the company backed
that it lets them reach a huge global audience.
panies have adopted. What's stopping more com-
off-you know, "Upon further reflection..'
We are a multifaceted human organism
panies from competing this way?
Are there other sources of resistance?
artempting to explain ourselves to other peo-
The network style isn't for everybody. Peo-
Many HR people, including ours, are ter-
ple. Suddenly, our explanations, which some-
ple who are over 40 and grew up in compa-
rified by these ideas. Just try finding a phone
times conflict, don't reach one person, they
nies where proprietary information is a big
book at Sun. Impossible! Why? "Headhunters
reach 30 million people. It makes lots of peo-
deal go crazy. You're going to post internal
will come after our best people."
ple nervous. To me it's the best thing that
product documentation on the Web? What
That whole attitude misses the point. Peo-
could happen.
if our competitors, the enemy, get their hands
ple assume that if someone leaves the com-
on it? Which of course they will.
pany, they're no longer part of the compa-
RICHARD RAPAPORT ([email protected]) IS A WRITER
BASED IN SAN FRANCISCO. HIS ARTICLES APPEAR REGU-
But there's value in talking with the ene-
ny, that it won't benefit from their ideas. The
LARLY IN WIRED, FORBES ASAP, AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS.
my. The more information you get, and the
more quickly you get it, the more likely you
are to adapt and survive. It's like accelerat-
Speaking with the Enemy
ing the evolutionary cycle. There are no real
In 1989, techno-glasnost brought John Gage and Sun cofounder Bill Joy to Russia for meetings with
secrets. Speed is the only form of security.
that country's computer elite. Gage describes the fallout as a funny-and instructive-example of
Are there times when Sun doesn't walk its
the cost of closed minds and closed systems.
talk when it comes to living on the Net?
There was a big Unix event that brought together the smartest people in the Russian computer
One of these days [ plan to add a new fea-
underground. All of a sudden Boris Babaian, the guy who built all of Russia's supercomputers, holds up
ture to my personal home page: a Hall of
a glass of wine and describes, in 90 seconds, the architecture of Elbrus III, Russia's newest, not-yet-
Sharne. The first inductees will be some senior
built supercomputer. It was amazingly close to the architecture Bill Joy had been thinking about for
the next generation of Sun machines. My first thought was: This guy can get shot for saying this. Remem-
people who proposed in 1994 that Sun charge
ber, it was 1989. My second thought was: He really has to come to Sun so we can talk about his ideas.
$50 per month to any employee who want-
"About six months later, Boris and three of his people show up at Sun. It happened to be the day
ed to use the Mosaic Web browser. It's always
that a top guy from the National Security Agency was visiting as well. Now this is an agency that's spent
the same objections-capacity and security.
hundreds of millions of dollars spying on people like Boris Babaian. So we're sitting in the cafeteria,
They claimed that Web browsers were a huge
and I look up, and who's walking over to the table, carrying his little cafeteria tray, heading directly for
source of viruses and extremely dangerous
me, with a big smile on his face-but Babaian! So I say to the NSA guy, 'Tom, you've got to meet Boris.'
to the Sun network. It was ridiculous.
And Tom says, 'I can't.' I'm stunned. 'But you've spent lots of taxpayer money spying on Babaian, and
here he is!' Tom says, 'But if I talk to him, I'll have to meet with our internal security people. It will be
Did the proposal go through?
a long debrief, and I can't afford it. I've got big meetings coming up. I don't have the time to meet him.'
There was a grassroots revolt. I happened
"It was amazing. But Tom was caught up in an environment where speaking with the enemy is bad."
to be in Germany. at the Hannover trade fair.
of good and there's some bad, because, as all of you know who are
working in this arena, we are going through a period of breathtaking
change, the most dramatic change in a hundred years, since we became
an industrial society from an agricultural one. And that is forming
great changes in the nature of work, there's more mind and less
muscle in it; great changes in the nature of the workplace -- there's
not a person to waste, there has to be very high levels of
productivity; great changes in the market -- all the markets for
money products and services are global now, either directly or
indirectly. And that has put great new challenges on our society.
We should not underestimate, first of all, the
importance of a commitment to productivity and to quality. It is the
revolution which has occurred in American manufacturing, I am
convinced, that has led the way to giving us the kind of economy,
with declining deficits and lower interest rates, which has permitted
the United States to create 7.7 million new jobs in the last three
years, when the other six big economies in the G-7, together, have
netted out at zero. It is not easy to create new jobs in the
beginning of this technological revolution. So I cannot tell you how
important that is.
The second thing I want to say is that that has been a
model for me for what we should do in government. Our state, when I
was a governor, had the first quality management program of any state
government. And the Vice President's reinventing government
operation here has, obviously, had a significant impact on not only
reducing the size of government to its lowest in 30 years, getting
rid of 16,000 pages of regulation, but, more important, raising the
performance level in many, many agencies.
The third thing I want to say is that one of the ways we
have to manage this transition is to continue to create more good
high-wage jobs. And we can do that through the passage of specific
legislation, as we did with the Telecommunications Bill, which passed
with virtually the unanimous support of the Congress, members of both
parties, and which I believe and Secretary Brown believes will create
millions of new jobs. That directly affects, obviously, Corning and
this specific division, but it will indirectly affect all of America
if we can create three to three-and-a-half million more high-wage
jobs. It will help people undergoing transitions in other companies
to move to those new jobs.
The third point I want to make is that both of these
companies have proved that you can have the right sort of partnership
with the government. The Secretary mentioned that both of them had
done work with NIST, which is our technology division within the
Commerce Department. The Commerce Department has done two things
better than any predecessor, I believe, thanks to Secretary Brown and
the others who work there. First of all, they've done a better job
in opening the doors around the world for American businesses and
American products. And secondly, they have tried to help in a very
effective way, managed the transition by investing in partnership
with the private sector in important emerging areas of technology.
And that is very important. That's the sort of thing government
ought to do -- not deciding exactly how this economy will grow, not
picking winners and losers, but working with the private sector to
provide that extra added measure of cooperation in the new
technologies that will enable us to win.
The final thing I want to say is this: These two
companies -- and I want to say a special word here about Armstrong.
Henry said that, well, Armstrong was not -- it was a traditional
manufacturing company, not a high-tech company. All manufacturing
operations that are going to succeed have to be high performance
companies. And they have to get the most out of their people. And
they are managing this transition in the same way I'm convinced we
have to manage it here -- teamwork. The people who aren't here whose
names we'll never know are just as important as the people who are
here in the fact that these two companies won these awards today.
And that's something we need to keep in mind here in
Washington. If we had more teamwork we would be more successful at
giving the American people a higher return on their tax dollar and in
moving more quickly through this transition. That is what works.
And in a time of transition you simply don't have the luxury of
engaging in politics as usual, just like you can't engage in business
as usual.
So that's the significance of this day to me. It's the
validation of years and years of effort by people who believe in
quality management. It's the validation of the proposition that we
can create new opportunities for Americans if we work together to
move into the future instead of running away from it. It proves that
there is a proper role for the nation's government in a limited
supportive way to help to create new economic opportunities, and,
most important, it shows that when we work together, we never lose.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
END
12:15 P.M. EST
SCHEDULE OF THE PRESIDENT
FOR
SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1996
CLINTON/GORE TRAVEL DAY
8:00 am
THE PRESIDENT and the Vice President depart the Sheraton
Concord Hotel via motorcade en route Ygnacio Valley High School
[drive time: 20 minutes]
8:20 am
THE PRESIDENT and the Vice President arrive Ygnacio Valley
High School
8:30 am-
RALLY WITH "NET DAY" VOLUNTEERS
9:30 am
SITE TBA
Tom Kalil
9:15-
Ygnacio Valley High School
Remarks: Terry Edmonds
10:15
Staff Contact: Gene Sperling
ig-Nay-She.O
Event Coordinator: Lucie Naphin
OPEN PRESS
6-5366
9:40 am-
MEETING WITH "NET DAY" COORDINATORS PriNciPal
10:00 am
SITE TBA
Ygnacio Valley High School
Po John Hasey,
Staff Contact: Gene Sperling
Ben Student microsyptems
Event Coordinator: Lucie Naphin
CLOSED PRESS
UP-
POTUS-
10:10 am-
"NET DAY" VOLUNTEER EVENT
11:00 am
SITE TBA
Ygnacio Valley High School
-
Talking Points:
Staff Contact: Gene Sperling
Event Coordinator: Lucie Naphin
POOL PRESS
11:15 am
THE PRESIDENT departs Ygnacio Valley High School via
motorcade en route site tba
[drive time: 30 minutes]
11:15 am
THE PRESIDENT arrives site tba
11:30 am-
DOWN TIME/MEETINGS
5:30 pm
SITE TBA
as of March 6, 1996 10:14am
5:35 pm
THE PRESIDENT departs site tba via motorcade en route private
residence
[drive time: 20 minutes]
5:55 pm
THE PRESIDENT arrives private residence
6:00 pm-
RECEPTION
7:30 pm
PRIVATE RESIDENCE
Remarks:
Staff Contact: Doug Sosnik
Event Coordinator: Lucie Naphin
CLOSED PRESS
7:40 pm
THE PRESIDENT departs site tba via motorcade en route
airport tba
[drive time: 20 minutes]
8:00 pm
THE PRESIDENT arrives airport tbd
8:15 pm (PST)
THE PRESIDENT departs airport, location tbd via Air Force One en
route Andrews Air Force Base
[flight time: 4 hours, 30 minutes]
[time change: + 3 hours]
3:45 am (EST)
THE PRESIDENT arrives Andrews Air Force Base
3:55 am
THE PRESIDENT departs Andrews Air Force Base via Marine One
en route the White House
[flight time: 10 minutes]
4:05 am
THE PRESIDENT arrives the White House
BC AND HRC RON
THE WHITE HOUSE
as of March 6, 1996 10: 14am
NetDay96 to turn California students into cybersurfers
By Bruce Haring
to install wiring in
President Clinton challenging busi-
bor and administration. Most of
USA TODAY
We're acting as a
about a fifth of the
nesses to get behind the initiative.
those costs have been mitigated by
state's 13,000 public
clearinghouse for
Linda Roberts of the U.S. Depart-
corporate donations and volunteers.
LOS ANGELES -
and private schools
ment of Education says Net access is
Once classrooms are wired, every
Linking schools to the
other states We
this weekend.
"becoming a very, very important
California school can choose from a
Internet may be a
very interested in
"NetDay won't get
tool for our kids," offering links to re-
variety of Internet access resources.
'90s concept, but in
done on March 9,"
sources outside schools and to stu-
California it has a
having the project
Accounts are being provided by MCI,
admits Kaufman, di-
dents at other institutions.
AT&T, NetCom, Pacific Bell and
definite '60s vibe.
replicated
rector of information
"If It can happen in California, it
America Online, among others.
More than 12,000
John Gage,
at public TV station
NetDer's
can happen in other states," she says.
NetDay96 publicity has spawned
volunteers will take
KQED. "Once it's
"We hope we can learn a lot from the
interest from more than 20 states
cables in hand Satur-
NetDay96 creator
more visible to the
first NetDay and figure out how to
and several foreign countries. The
day and begin wiring
general public, the
have people in California help in oth-
NetDay96 team is "acting as a clear-
California schools for
likelihood is the next
er communities."
inghouse," putting groups in touch
NetDay96, which sponsors hope will
phase should triple the wirings."
California's high-profile sponsors
with each other, Gage says.
be a model for moving the nation's
Kaufman, a former teacher, con-
include AT&T, Apple, Pacific Telesis
Kaufman believes the network
educational systems into cyberspace.
ceived of connecting California
Group, Xerox, Sprint and the Com-
created by his volunteer army will
NetDay, mentioned in President
schools to the Net several years ago.
munication Workers of America.
help make parents and communities
Clinton's State of the Union address,
But the high cost, California's slug-
Each installation kit contains ma-
more proactive in education. "Get-
has "no staff, no organization, no
gish economy and estimates that the
terials for two information ports
ting some sort of link to the class-
budget, no time line," says co-creator
project would take at least five years
each in five classrooms and in a II-
room is critical," he says.
Michael Kaufman. "It's just a couple
dampened enthusiasm among gov-
brary, computer lab or media cen-
And it will save money as well.
of characters from the '60s and a
ernment and private organizations.
By
John
Makely,
AP
ter. More than 700 sponsors have
The state education department's
handful of hard-working staff people
But Kaufman found a kindred ac-
Wired for the cause: John Gage, chief scientist for Sun Microsystems, helped
purchased 2,500 kits at $350 each so
first NetDay mailing was "a single-
who've managed to piece together
tivist spirit when he met John Gage,
organize NetDay96, a volunteer effort to give California schools Internet access.
far; some also are contributing
page letter that cost $6,000 to distrib-
this virtual environment."
Sun Microsystems' chief scientist.
equipment and skilled Installers.
ute to 10,000 schools," he says. "The
Volunteers, including teachers,
Gage had organized anti-war pro-
Gage created a Web site last April
need for schools to have Web access.
The costs of wiring one classroom
moment (access) is available, that
students, parents and engineers from
tests in the '60s; he decided to take
(http://www.netday96.com) to re-
Momentum built among corpora-
are estimated at $2,800, including en-
cost disappears. The state can com-
the state's high-tech companies, hope
his cause to the streets once again.
cruit volunteers and to advertise the
tions and individuals, capped by
gineering, materials, equipment, la-
municate to all of them" for free.
USA TODAY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1996
drawn us back into reality."
of racial harmony. "These recent events have
tion has grown comfortable with the appearance
central region, said that over the years the na-
Melvin Jenkins, director of the commission's
the federal budget battle and furloughs.
Miss, were canceled in December because of
hearings in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago
In the past six years, the commission has held
dent and Congress.
Results from the current investigations, in-
government policies affect civil rights.
employment. The agency also investigates
Founded in 1957, the Civil Rights Commission
leaving the scene. The FBI is investigating
tenced two white men for vandalizing two black
judge was a target of gunfire shortly after he sen-
USA TODAY
scheduled for the Deep South, in Greenville,
and Washington, D.C. But the only hearings
equal opportunities in housing, education and
is charged with protecting voting rights and
churches. Witnesses said they saw a black man
in Livingston, Ala., where the home of a circuit
The commission also plans to hold meetings
church near Tyler, Ala, on Feb. 28.
abama since Dec. 22. The latest fire was at a
isiana, Mississippi and Missouri.
hate groups.
how it can be improved, will be sent to the presi-
cluding an analysis of what may be wrong and
claims of civil rights violations and studies how
and four churches have been burned in west Al-
nization were burned in Louisiana in February,
Three black churches and a charitable orga-
includes Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Lou-
been in the commission's central region, which
All but one of the remaining arson fires have
involvement of U.S. soldiers in extremist and
dent has led to an Army investigation into the
charged in the Fayetteville shootings. The inci-
Three soldiers from nearby Fort Bragg were
relations are deteriorating
ple in Fayetteville, N.C., are evidence that race
ly motivated killing in December of a black cou-
Dollar said those arsons, along with the racial-
lina and Tennessee.
Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Caro-
At least 10 of the fires have been in Florida,
ties are investigating 25 fires set since 1993.
dramatically in recent years. Federal authori-
the number of fires at black churches has risen
A USA TODAY investigation has found that
director of the commission's Southern region.
reflections of this increase," said Bobby Dollar,
on the increase, and the fires you see are merely
we've received, that racial and ethnic tension is
"Itis is very clear, based on the information that
attitudes about race.
much of a barometer the fires are for overall
agency said they're trying to determine just how
black churches have been targeted by arsonists.
areas of the country where at least two dozen
mission have begun studying race relations in
By Gary Fields
Officials at the independent government
Regional offices of the U.S. Civil Rights Com-
on racial tension
prompt study
Church fires
USA TODAY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1996
Budget, trade deficits follow same course
Growth of the twin deficits
When the federal budget deficit Increases, the U.S. trade
By Bill Montague
wouldn't stop imports. It would
roughly 15%, the U.S. national
deficit tends to do the same, usually after a ne-or-two
USA TODAY
THE ECONOMY
against the Japanese yen and
only fuel inflation, economists
savings rate isn't high enough
other foreign currencies. U.S.
year lag
say. Rising U.S. prices, in turn,
to pay for both the federal defi-
workers are paid in dollars, SO a
$300
The USA has a serious trade
Carl Weinberg, chief econo-
would suck in more imports.
cit and private investment. To
strong dollar encourages textile
(in billions)
problem - it's called the fed-
mist for High Frequency Eco-
The link between the budget
cover the shortfall, the USA
makers and other companies
$250
eral budget deficit.
nomics, a consulting firm.
and trade actually is a bit more
must import foreign goods -
with high labor costs to move
Budget deficit
On the presidential cam-
In simple form, the argu-
complex. The USA could re-
and borrow foreign savings to
factories to countries like Mexi-
$200
paign trail, attention has shift-
ment runs something like this:
duce imports without cutting
pay for them.
co, where wages are lower.
ed from the budget deficit to
The USA consumes more
the budget deficit, but only by
Could the USA reduce the
By running huge budget defi-
other economic issues, such as
than it produces. Main reason:
saving more or investing less.
trade deficit by cutting back on
cits, the USA "is just heaping
$150
slow wage growth and corpo-
the federal deficit, $164 billion
Reason: Most of the goods
investment? Yes, but that
additional burdens on indus-
rate layoffs. Republican candi-
last year. By spending more
and services made in the USA
would cripple the economy's
tries already under fierce pres-
$100
date Pat Buchanan has hit a
than it receives in taxes, the
are consumed by the workers
growth potential, eventually
sure," says William Cline, econ-
Merchandise
nerve with some voters by
government creates extra de-
who make them. So when the
leading to even slower wage
omist at the Institute for
$50
trade deficit
blaming those woes on trade
mand for goods and services.
government runs a deficit, it
growth and more layoffs.
International Finance.
with Japan, China and other
When the U.S. economy is
must draw on the surplus in the
The need to finance the budg-
Those problems aren't as
0
foreign countries.
slack, that excess demand can
private sector - mainly indi-
et deficit itself damages U.S.
bad now as they were in the
80
85
90
'95
But most economists agree:
be met by U.S. producers. But
vidual savings, pension funds
trade hopes. To attract foreign
1980s, when soaring budget
Source: Economic Report of the President, Department of Commerce
By Julie Stacey, USA TODAY
The trade deficit - the excess
when the economy is near full
and corporate profits.
savings, interest rates must stay
deficits pushed interest rates
of imports over exports - is a
capacity, as it is now, the need-
The U.S. Treasury borrows
relatively high. That hurts com-
and the dollar through the roof.
sharp recession.
ly to cheer.
problem made in the USA. The
ed goods and services can only
those savings by selling bonds
panies such as the Big Three
But years of big deficits have
That almost certainly would
"Sooner or later, we're going
merchandise trade deficit hit a
come from foreign sources.
to investors. But firms that
automakers, which need capi-
made foreigners somewhat
eliminate the trade deficit -
to have to start paying our
record $174.5 billion in 1995.
Result: surging imports.
need money to invest in new
tal to upgrade their U.S. fac-
leery of lending to the USA.
the hard way. Jobless workers
debts," warns Barry Bosworth,
"The only way to get rid of
So as long as the U.S. runs
factories also must borrow
tories and stay competitive.
And if that flow of foreign sav-
couldn't afford to buy as many
economist at the Brookings In-
the trade deficit is to get rid of
big budget deficits, it will run
from the same savings pool.
The flow of foreign savings
ings dries up, U.S. bond yields
imports, while a weak dollar
stitution, a research group.
its domestic counterpart, and
big trade deficits. Raising tar-
The problem: Americans
into the USA also tends to hold
will soar and the dollar could
would tend to boost U.S. ex-
"What we're doing is not sus-
that's the budget deficit," says
iffs or other trade barriers
like to spend, not save. At
the dollar relatively high
collapse. The likely result: a
ports. But the voters aren't like-
tainable."
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
REMARKS ON THE
TECHNOLOGY LITERACY CHALLENGE
UNION CITY, NEW JERSEY
FEBRUARY 15, 1996
[VP Gore; Mayor Walter; Tom Highton, Superintendent of the
Union City School District; Senator Lautenberg; Congressman
Menendez; Bob Fazio, Principal of Christopher Columbus School;
Jim Cullen, Vice Chairman of Bell Atlantic; parents, teachers,
students of the Christopher Columbus School, and citizens of
Union City. I'd also like to say hello to Education Secretary
Dick Riley and Congressman Bob Torricelli, as well as the
students from 65 schools in 3 counties who are joining us via the
information superhighway]
It's great to be back here in New Jersey and in Union City.
I came here today because this city and your school system are
undergoing a remarkable transformation that the rest of the
country needs to know about. Let me begin by acknowledging one of
the original architects of this transformation -- your former
mayor and current Congressman, Bob Menendez. Bob is a true native
son of Union City. He is a product of your school system and a
tireless advocate for quality education. It is fitting that the
second largest Cuban-American community in America have a
representative as fine as Bob Menendez.
It was his sponsorship of the New Jersey Telecommunications
Act in 1991 that set the stage for the remarkable turnaround we
are witnessing today. I'll talk more about that later.
The rebirth of Union City and your schools reminds us that
we live in an age of great possibility. More Americans, from all
walks of life, will have more chances to build the future of
their dreams than ever before. New technologies are opening
remarkable new vistas of prosperity. A growing global
marketplace is putting a premium on American ingenuity and skill.
But we also know that this new era is producing new
pressures and stiff challenges for our people. While more of our
citizens are living better, too many of them are working harder
just to keep up. And they justifiably wonder if they and their
children will be winners in the new age, or if they will be left
behind. After what I have seen today, I can tell you -- Union
City will not be left behind. It will lead the way.
In my State of the Union, I outlined our seven biggest
challenges for the future -- challenges we must meet if we are to
enable our people to make the most of their own lives.
Those challenges are: strengthening our families and giving
our children better childhoods; renewing our schools; enhancing
the security of working families through access to health care,
lifetime education and training and secure pensions; fighting
crime and gangs and drugs until crime is the exception, not the
rule, in America again; protecting our environment; maintaining
our world leadership for peace and freedom; and reforming and
reinventing our government so that it works better for the
American people.
How will we meet these challenges? The era of big
government is over. But, we must not go back to an era when
people were left to fend for themselves.
We cannot solve the complex problems of the modern world
unless we work together in the genuine spirit of community --
together, teamwork, each of us doing our part. Businesses
building the communities they serve. Schools providing the
highest quality education, and recognizing that they cannot walk
away from teaching values. Religious institutions bringing their
teachings to life through service to the community.
And government at every level helping, too -- not by trying
to do more than it should, but by giving every American the
tools so they can make the most of their own lives.
That means students like you and parents like you who are
taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the schools
here in Union City.
That is how America will meet its great challenges in the
Age of Possibility. And there is no better example of what I'm
talking about than what you are doing right here in the Union
City.
Today I want to talk to you about how we will meet the
challenge of educating our young people.
Education is the way we give every child a future, the
chance to live the American dream. That's why, in my State of
the Union Address, I said we must renew our schools, demand high
standards, throw the doors of college open wider than ever
before.
My administration has already put in place a comprehensive
strategy to renew education. We have expanded Head Start
preschool; we have enacted Goals 2000, a grassroots effort to
meet national standards; we have created a network of school-to-
work programs to help high-school graduates get better jobs, even
if they do not go on to college right away.
I have challenged schools to provide character education, to
teach good values and good citizenship. I have challenged states
to give all parents the right to choose which public schools
their children will attend. And we should let teachers form new
schools with a charter they can keep only if they do a good job.
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And I am determined that college be more available than ever
before. We expanded Pell Grant scholarships for deserving
students; we created a new direct lending program that makes it
easier to pay back student loans; our AmeriCorps program is
giving 25,000 young people the chance to serve their community
while helping pay for college. Here, too, we must do more.
I have proposed that every family be able to deduct $10,000
of college tuition; I have proposed a $1000 scholarship for the
top 5% of every high school graduating class; and I have proposed
that work study be expanded so that 1 million young people can
work their way through college.
School standards and college opportunity are critical. But
we must recognize that as our country enters the era of the
supercomputer and the internet, our schools must move forward as
well. We must modernize our public schools.
A hundred years ago, America made a commitment to provide
its children the skills to navigate the move from farm to
factory. With universal public schooling, we wiped out
widespread illiteracy while preparing every child for the world
of steel, electricity and internal combustion.
Now, we are moving into an economy built on information and
intense global competition. We know that in the era to come,
America's prosperity will depend on its technological edge. We
know that the key to expanding opportunity is to give every child
the skills to master the information age.
And we all know that it's no longer enough to teach our
children reading, writing and 'rithmetic. Education in the Age
of Possibility will require the kind of computer literacy that my
generation could not even imagine. The Vice-President was in
Philadelphia yesterday to celebrate the birthday of the first
computer, called ENIAC [ee-nee-ack], which was born the same year
I was. When I was the age of the students here, we were amazed
by those technological breakthroughs -- technicolor and stereo.
Color television, cellular telephones, and computers that fit on
a desk were the stuff of science fiction.
For our young people today, it's a far different world.
They interact with computers at the supermarket check-out
counter, in video arcades, and in their homes. But one of the
few rooms you can enter in America today where you can't find a
computer
is a classroom. And that's wrong.
That is why I have issued a challenge to our nation, and
called for a national partnership to ensure that every young
person in America has access to the future. When I looked
around the country to find a community that is leading the way, I
3
didn't have to look far. I found the best model right here in
Union City.
You have taken a school system that was once on the brink of
state takeover and you have rescued it. And the way you did this
is the way we can meet all our challenges -- everyone working
together, everyone doing their part. The Board of Education voted
to modernize. Bell Atlantic linked up the schools. The State of
New Jersey helped with resources. Teachers and experts wrote a
new curriculum. Parents have come in for weekend training,
taught by a teacher and her students, and now work with their
children on computers at home. And the students have seized this
opportunity and taken responsibility.
You know what has happened here. With computers in the
classroom and computers at home, all linked together, homework is
being done in a new way
classroom lessons take on a new
life
parents and teachers keep in touch by e-mail
test scores have skyrocketed while truancy and drop-out rates
have plummeted.
Technology in the classroom is not just a fancy toy. It is
dramatically improving the critical thinking and problem solving
skills of students, all over the country. Over 130 recent
academic studies found that the use of technology to support
instruction led to higher achievement in language, art, math,
social studies and science.
So, now we have dramatic proof of the power of technology to
expand opportunity for our young people. We must harness that
power and spread it throughout this country.
In the State of the Union, I called on all Americans to join
a national mission to make every child technologically literate.
We must connect every classroom and library in the country by the
dawn of the 21st century, with quality computers, trained
teachers, and creative software. We must do everywhere what you
have done here.
We are already making real progress. We are bringing
companies and volunteers together in California to wire 20% of
the state's schools this year alone. And we insisted that the
Telecommunications Bill which I signed last week require
companies to provide a discount for connecting classrooms and
libraries. And as we all do our part, our national government
must continue to do its part.
Today, I am announcing a major initiative to energize our
people as we work together to fulfill this mission. I am
proposing a $2 billion Technology Literacy Challenge that will
put the future at the fingertips of every child in every
classroom in America.
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When we do this, we will open new horizons of opportunity
for our children and our future.
This proposal is part of the balanced budget I submitted to
Congress. Let me be clear: We must balance the budget, so that we
do not leave our children a burden of debt. But I am determined
that even as spending is cut dramatically, the education of our
children will not suffer. The funding for this new initiative
will mean we have to cut spending elsewhere -- but nothing is
more important than preparing our children to compete and win in
the new global economy.
Computers in every classroom. Students eager to learn.
Parents able to help them. People reaching out to one another.
We can do all this -- if we do it together. If we all do our
part, if we are as dedicated to creating opportunity for our
children as our parents were to giving us opportunity, then the
Age of Possibility will belong to all of our people.
Thank you and God bless you all.
5
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON
THE TECHNOLOGY LITERACY CHALLENGE
UNION CITY, NEW JERSEY
FEBRUARY 15, 1996
[Mayor Walter; Tom Highton, Superintendent of the Union City School District;
Senator Lautenberg; Congressman Menendez; Vice President Gore; Bob Fazio, Principal of
Christopher Columbus School; Jim Cullen, Vice President of Bell Atlantic; parents, teachers,
students of the Christopher Columbus School. I'd also like to say hello to Education
Secretary Dick Riley and Congressman Bob Torricelli, as well as the students from 65
schools in 3 counties who are joining us via the magic of video technology; and citizens of
Union City]
It's great to be back here in New Jersey and in Union City. I came here today
because this city and your school system are undergoing a remarkable transformation that the
rest of the country needs to know about. Let me begin by acknowledging one of the original
architects of this transformation -- your former mayor and current Congressman, Bob
Menendez. Bob is a true native son of Union City. He is a product of your school system
and a tireless advocate for quality education. It is fitting that the second largest Cuban-
American community in America have a representative as fine as Bob Menendez. It was his
sponsorship of the New Jersey Telecommunications Act in 1991 that set the stage for the
remarkable turnaround we are witnessing today. I'll talk more about that later.
The revitalization of Union City and your schools reminds us that we live in an age of
great possibility. More Americans, from all walks of life, will have more chances to build
the future of their dreams than ever before.
We have the lowest combined rate of unemployment and inflation in 27 years.
Homeownership is at a 15-year high. Our auto industry leads the world again. In the last
three years, we have created over 7.7 million new jobs -- 700,000 of them in the
construction industry alone. For three years in a row our people have set successive records
for the formation of new businesses. America is strong and growing stronger.
And New Jersey is also on the move. Unemployment here is down. In the last 35
months, 140,700 new jobs have been created. New home building has increased 4 percent
per year in this state, after falling 17 percent in the 4 years before I took office.
Around the world, from the Middle East to Bosnia, America is leading the way
toward peace and freedom. And perhaps, most important, Americans are coming together
around our basic values of family, work and community. The crime rate, the welfare rate,
the food stamp rate, the poverty rate, the teen pregnancy rate are all down.
But this new era is also producing new pressures and new challenges. While more
of our citizens are living better, too many of them are working harder just to keep up, and
1
they justifiably wonder if they will be winners, of if they will be left behind. After what
I've seen today, I can tell you, Union City is not going to be left behind.
Our challenge in this time of change is to preserve the American Dream for all
citizens who are willing to work for it, to maintain our cherished values and to assert our
leadership for peace and freedom -- at home and around the world.
But, we have new challenges, even as we become stronger. In my State of the
Union, I outlined our seven biggest challenges for the future -- challenges we must meet if
we are to make the American Dream available to all our people and unite our country around
our shared values. Those challenges are: strengthening our families and giving our children
better childhoods; enhancing the security of working families through access to health care,
lifetime education and training and secure pensions; fighting crime and gangs and drugs until
crime is the exception, not the rule, in America again; protecting our environment,
maintaining our world leadership for peace and freedom, continuing to reform and reinvent
our government so that it works better for the American people, and finally, providing better
education for all our citizens.
How are we going to meet these challenges? The same way you are doing it here --
through teamwork. As I also said in the State of the Union, the era of big government is
over. But, we must not go back to an era when people were left to fend for themselves. We
cannot solve the complex problems of the modern world unless we work together in the
genuine spirit of community -- everybody doing his or her part to enable all of us to make
the most of our lives: businesses, schools, churches, families, and government at every
level. Again, there is no better example of what I'm talking about than what you are doing
right here in the Union City schools. And that's what I want to talk with you about today:
the challenge of providing a better education for all our citizens.
We all know that it's no longer enough to teach our children reading, writing and
'rithmetic. Education in the Age of Possibility will require the kind of computer literacy that
my generation only dreamed about. It's not that today's young people are unfamiliar with
the new computer technology. They interact with it at the supermarket check-out counter, in
video arcades, and in their homes. It is ironic that one of the few rooms you can enter in
America today where you can't find this technology is a classroom. We have to change that.
That's why I have called for a national partnership to ensure that every young person in
America has access to the future. I have proposed that every classroom in America be
connected to the information superhighway, with computers and good software and well-
trained teachers by the year 2000. When I looked around the country to find a community
that is leading the way, I didn't have to look far. I found the best model right here in Union
City.
You have taken a school system that was once on the brink of state takeover and
rescued it through a public-private partnership involving the Bell Atlantic Corporation, the
Union City Board of Education, and the Education Development Center. A few minutes
2
ago, just across the street at Christopher Columbus School, I got a first-hand look at the
difference they are making.
Beginning in September of 1993, thanks to the efforts of Congressman Menendez and
others, computers were supplied at the Christopher Columbus School and in the homes of the
school's 135 seventh-grade students and their teachers. Since then, an interactive television
network linking classrooms at Columbus to schools in Bergen, Hudson and Morris counties
has been installed. This technology has resulted in an extraordinary improvement in the lives
of students at Columbus. Since going on-line, student test scores have skyrocketed while
truancy and drop-out rates have plummeted.
Technology is revolutionizing education. It's not just a fancy toy. It is dramatically
improving the critical thinking and problem solving skills of students -- and not just here in
Union City, but all over the country. New York City's Computer Pilot Program showed
gains of 80 percent for reading and 90 percent for math when computers were used to assist
in the learning process.
A 1995 review of more than 130 recent academic studies found that the use of
technology to support instruction improved student achievement in language, art, math, social
studies and science.
And a Congressionally mandated review of 47 comparisons of multimedia instruction
with more conventional approaches found time savings of 30 percent, improved achievement
and cost savings of 30 to 40 percent, and a direct positive link between the amount of
interactivity provided and instructional effectiveness.
So, we now have dramatic proof of the power of technology to expand opportunity
for our young people. We must harness that power and spread it throughout this country.
In the State of the Union, I called on all Americans to join a national mission to make
every child technologically literate. Today, I am announcing a major initiative to energize
our people as we work together to fulfill this mission. I am proposing a $2 billion
Technology Literacy Challenge that will put the future at the fingertips of every child in
every classroom in America. The way we will do this is through the kind of partnership
that is working here in Union City: state and local governments, the private sector, and
local communities all working together to achieve our goal of advancing the technological
literacy of American students.
We want to accomplish four things: one, provide access to modern computers for all
teachers and students; two, provide every teacher the training and support they need to help
students learn through computers and the information highway; three, develop effective and
engaging software and on-line learning resources for the full curriculum; and four, connect
every school and classroom to the information superhighway by the year 2000. When we do
this, we will open new horizons of opportunity for our children and our future. This
3
proposal is part of the balanced budget I submitted to Congress. We can do this while we
balance the budget.
This new initiative builds on other recent steps we have taken to move America
forward into the age of technology. We're bringing companies together in California to wire
the state's classrooms by the year 2000. And we insisted that the Telecommunications Bill
which I signed last week require that companies provide a discount for wiring classrooms to
the information superhighway.
Let me be clear: I made a commitment in my balanced budget plan that even as
spending was being cut dramatically, the education of our children would not suffer. The
funding for this new initiative may mean we have to cut spending elsewhere -- but nothing is
more important than preparing our children to compete and win in the new global economy.
A hundred years ago, America made a commitment to provide its children the skills
to navigate the move from farm to factory. America's little red schoolhouses helped wipe
out illiteracy while preparing every child for the world of steel, electricity and internal
combustion. Now, we are moving into an economy built on information and intense global
competition. Our commitment to our children today must include finding a way to use the
enormous power of new information technology to prepare our children for the challenges of
the 21st century.
I believe the national government has a responsibility to work with schools and
communities meet this challenge. The Technology Literacy Challenge will help state and
local communities succeed. The future will be ours, but only if we work together to ensure
everyone a chance at the American Dream.
Thank you and God bless you all.
4