President Discusses Education with Hispanic Leaders
Bowers Museum of Cultural Art
Santa Ana, California
3:07 P.M. PDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thank you all very much. Gosh,
thanks for coming today. It's my honor to be back in California. Such
a vibrant and exciting state. I am thrilled to be here in Santa Ana --
and this is a vibrant city. And one reason why is because it's got
such an energetic, visionary Mayor. And, Mr. Mayor, I appreciate --
(applause.) And I appreciate your hospitality, and I want to thank
Laura, the First Lady of this city. (Applause.)
I know something about marrying people named Laura. (Laughter.)
We both married above ourselves, Mr. Mayor. (Laughter.) So, I want to
thank you, and I want to thank your City Council for hosting us here.
And I want to thank very much the -- (applause) -- I want to thank the
fine folks at this beautiful facility for welcoming us. It's a
magnificent asset for this community and for this county and for this
state.
It's a thrill to be here to talk about some of the priorities or
our nation. We've got some big priorities and we've got some big jobs
to do, but there's no doubt in my mind we can achieve our objectives.
Because we're America, and we're full of Americans -- people bold and
courageous and strong. (Applause.)
But before I do so, I want to talk about two members of the
Congress who have joined us, two fine Americans and good, solid
citizens and friends of mine -- that would be Chris Cox and Ed Royce.
Thank you both for coming. (Applause.)
Rosario Marin -- she's a former mayor in a little -- couple of
cities away from here. She's now the Treasurer of the United States of
America. And I appreciate you coming, Rosario. (Laughter.) I like to
always say hello to the high sheriff. In this case, we've got two high
sheriffs -- one I appreciate so much, Mike Corona. He's done a fine
job. We saw him on TV the other day announcing an important arrest,
saying he's going to help do everything he can to make neighborhoods
safe. Sheriff, you did a fine job. And I also want to thank my
friend, Lee Baca, for being here, as well. (Applause.) Good to see
you, Lee.
Everybody had got to have a good lawyer these days. (Laughter.)
And I've got one of the best, and he is here with his family,
vacationing in Orange County. He came over from Washington, D.C. He
knows a good place to travel to when he sees one. And his name is Al
Gonzales, and I want to thank my friend and lawyer, Al Gonzales, for
being here. (Applause.)
And finally, I want to thank Francisco Paret for being here. He's
a member of the President's Commission on Educational Excellence for
Hispanic Americans. And that's a commission we take very seriously.
We take it seriously because we understand every child in America must
be educated in order for this country to realize its full promise. I
don't mean a few children, I mean every single child. (Applause.)
And you've got your Superintendent of Schools here, the good young
leader. He told me the district is 92 percent Hispanic. My attitude
is, so what -- that means when you succeed, you've done such a great
job for America. That's his attitude. You see, some would say 92
percent Hispanic, that's an impossible district. Some believe certain
children can't learn. I don't believe that. And neither does the
Superintendent of Schools.
You see, we start with the premise that every child can learn --
every child can learn. We set high standards because we believe that
every child has got the capacity to learn. You see, if you set low
standards in society, you know what you're going to get? You're going
to get low results. You have standards so low that you've got these
school districts that are going to quit on certain kids. And guess who
gets quit on here in America -- children whose parents don't speak
English as a first language, for example. Those are the easiest kids
to quit on. Or how about inner-city African American kids? They're
easy to quit on.
For the sake of America, for the sake of our future, we must, first
and foremost, every child can learn, and devise systems to make sure
they do. That's why, at the federal level we're spending plenty of
money; but we're also saying, we trust you all to chart the path to
excellence. One size doesn't fit all when it comes to running the
public schools. But we're also saying since we believe every child can
learn, why don't you show us. Why don't you measure. You see, why
don't you tell America, or your community, or your state whether or not
your children are learning to read and write and add and subtract.
And if they are, there will be plenty of praise. But you measure
also to make sure that if children are failing, you catch the problems
early, before it's too late. No child in America should be left
behind. Every child, no matter his or her background, deserves a
positive, solid, excellent education. (Applause.)
And we've got to do a better job. And we've got to face the facts
that too many of our Latino youngsters aren't learning to read early
enough, and that's a problem. If you can't read by the fourth grade,
you're not going to be able to read by the eighth grade. And if you
can't read by the eighth grade, you can't read in high school. It's a
problem, and we've got to take it head on. That's why I want to make
sure that we measure that's why I want to make sure we challenge a
system that sometimes has got standards so low, it's what I call the
soft bigotry of low expectations. So one of the things we've done in
the No Child Left Behind is said, let's start with first things first.
Let's make sure children can read, children from all backgrounds.
Here in California, our new law provides a 50-percent increase to
help students from non-English speaking homes learn to read. And
that's important. No child should be left behind.
So today, the Department of Education -- I'm going to report to you
the Department of Education has awarded California a $133 million
reading grand. (Applause.) And that's to make sure every child can
read by the third grade. That's what that's for. I don't mean just a
few, I don't mean those from the nice, fancy school districts. I mean
every single child.
And one of the reasons why California is one of the first states to
receive the grant is because California is using research-based
instruction to teach reading. Your state probably because your
superintendent insists on it has asked the question, what works?
Not what sounds good, not what feels good, but what actually works.
How do you teach kids to read? And that's what you're doing in this
state, and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing
that, and we've got a little money to make sure it works and make sure
that we focus on every child. (Applause.)
I don't care for the fact that a lot of the youngsters, the Latino
youngsters don't go to college. It's not a good statistic for
America. Less than 10 percent go on to higher education. We must, we
must work to encourage participation at all levels of education. But
we must make it clear to our youngsters from all walks of life,
particularly Hispanic youngsters, that going to college is essential to
being able to fully realize the American dream.
All of us must set that clear goal for everybody, but we also must
help. And that's why we've increased Pell grant funding by more than
$2.5 billion from last year's budget to this year's budget. There's a
way to help and we need to help through scholarship programs like Pell
grants.
I also want to note want you to know that we're focusing on what
they call the Latino-serving higher institutions. For the fiscal year
2003 budget, I've asked for more money to go to support colleges which
provide 600,000 Latino students nationwide with educational
opportunities. It's an increase of 30 percent.
My point is, is that we've got to make sure that education is
affordable and accessible. And we've got to set the goals. We've got
to make people understand what's possible here in America. But first
things first. We've got to make sure every child learns to read and no
child is left behind. (Applause.)
The White House initiative on educational excellence for Hispanic
Americans is launching what we call the Yes I Can national awareness
campaign. And it's aimed at encouraging Latino students to obtain a
college education. They called together citizens from around the
country, they put together this initiative, this plan, this way to
convince people that higher education is essential.
Parents can click on to a bilingual website called yesican.gov,
yesican.gov, to learn about college costs, financial aid, and what
their children should be asking their guidance counselor about
college. In other words, it's a go-by, it's a help, it's a way to
encourage people and help people understand that they that sending
their children to college here in America is a way forward.
And finally, about education, I know it's an important part of life
for many students in our border communities in Mexico and Canada to
attend school here in the United States. There's a lot of trans-border
crossing on a daily basis, to take advantage of our great educational
opportunities. That's what we want, by the way. We shouldn't try to
restrict people. It's good for our colleges, and it's good for the
Mexican citizens and the Canadian citizens. And so we're going to
expand eligibility for student visas, to ensure that part-time commuter
students can continue to study here in America. (Applause.)
You know, education is the pathway to success, and there's just
example after example of people who came here with nothing except a
dream or a hope and love and got a good education and succeeded.
That's what America is about. That's what I love about our country.
That's the hope. That's what distinguishes us from many other
countries, that we welcome people from all walks of life. We proudly
call you an American. We don't say, show us your birth certificate,
how you're born, where you're born; you're American and we love you for
being in America. We welcomed you to this country. (Applause.)
And, you know, I've got a shining example right there in Washington
I want to share a story with you about, because it's a we've got a
little problem up there with this particular fellow. His name is
Miguel Estrada. He's a young guy. He came to our country as a
teenager. He barely spoke English. He had trouble with the language,
because he didn't spend any time learning the language. And he got
here, and he worked hard, and as a result of a good brain, brilliant
mind, he now has argued 15 cases before the United States Supreme
Court.
I've named him to a high bench, but the Senate won't give him a
hearing. Here's a kid who comes to our country, works hard, learns the
language. He's a brilliant jurist. He can't even get a hearing. I
nominated him over a year and a half ago. I want this man to serve as
a bright example of what is possible in America. He'll be a great
judge, and the Senate needs to act. (Applause.)
Making sure every child is educated is part of making sure America
is a secure country and a hopeful country. We've also got to do some
other work to make sure we're secure and hopeful. I want to thank the
law enforcement officers who are here today. You've got a big job.
(Applause.) Our job at the federal government is to put a strategy in
place that will make our first responders more effective. It's not
only law enforcement, fire fighters and EMS.
And we're doing just that. I've actually tried to create a new
department of homeland security, to put agencies under one roof, to
make sure that the number one priority of the federal government is to
protect the homeland. And we need to do that.
I've got to tell you we need to do that, because there are still
cold blooded killers out there that would like to hurt America. I want
the youngsters to know why. And the reason why is because we love
freedom. We value each life here in America. Everybody is important,
every life has meaning, every life has worth.
And the enemy doesn't think that way. See, they hate freedom.
They hate the idea of people being able to worship freely. They can't
stand the thought of Republican and Democrat actually getting along.
(Laughter.) They don't like a free press, and we do. And we uphold
those values, and we will defend them at all cost. (Applause.)
And so for the sake of our freedom, for the sake of values we hold
dear, the best way for us to secure our homeland, other than
reorganizing and encouraging and focusing on every lead and every hint,
is to chase these killers down, one person at a time and bring them to
justice. The best way to protect America, the best way to uphold that
which we love dear, is to get them before they get us. And that's
precisely what this country is going to do. (Applause.)
We don't seek revenge, we seek justice. We don't want to conquer
anybody, we want to liberate people, because every life matters. Every
person has worth. I want the youngsters here to understand that when
we went into Afghanistan to uphold the doctrine, if you harbor a
terrorist you're just as guilty as the terrorists, that we freed
people. Young girls now go to school for the first time, thanks to the
goodness of the United States of America and our friends and allies.
(Applause.)
No, we're on a mission. I believe out of the evil done to America
will come some very -- some incredible good. That's what I believe. I
believe these people hit a country, and they didn't understand who they
were hitting. And who they hit was a country that's tough and strong
and determined, but also a country that's beginning to find its soul
and its deep compassion.
See, not only if we're -- not only can we achieve peace, which I
believe can happen, and will happen, that we can address those pockets
of despair and hopelessness that exist in America, one person at a
time. My call to people in this country is that if you want to join on
the war on terror, if you want to fight evil, love your neighbor like
you'd like to be loved yourself.
You see, this great country can change, and will change, one heart,
one soul, one conscience at a time. One of us can't do everything, I
know that, but each of us can do something. And I call upon my fellow
Americans to be that person doing something: mentor a child, help a
shut-in, love a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself.
No, out of the evil done to America is going to come some great
good, because this is the greatest nation on the face of the Earth,
full of the most decent and compassionate people. (Applause.)