For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 8, 2002
President Outlines Education Reform in Boston Speech
Remarks by the President to Students, Faculty and Parents
Boston Latin School
Boston, Massachusetts
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. You
know, I told the folks at the Coffee Shop in Crawford, Texas, that Ted
Kennedy was all right. (Laughter.) They nearly fell
out. (Laughter.) But he is. I've come
to admire him. He's a smart, capable senator. You
want him on your side, I can tell you that. And as a result
of his hard work, we put together a good piece of legislation that has
put Republicans and Democrats on the side of the schoolchildren in
America.
And, Senator, thank you very much for your
leadership. (Applause.)
On September the 11th, my wife was heading to -- was at Capitol
Hill to testify in front of Senator Kennedy. And before
she'd go testify in front of his committee, obviously the evildoers hit
America. And I want to thank him publicly, in front of his
home folks, for providing such comfort to Laura during an incredibly
tough time. Ironically enough, Judd Gregg was there, as
well. And both those men went out of their way to put their
arm around Laura and let her know all would be right.
So, Mr. Senator, not only are you a good senator, you're a good
man. (Applause.)
Speaking about September the 11th, I want the young folks here to
know that the mission we are on to rid the world of terror is a noble
and just mission. I long for peace. But we
learned a terrible lesson, and that lesson is we must rout out terror
wherever it exists, in order for you and your children to grow up in a
free and peaceful society. This nation will not tire, we
will not rest until we bring those who are willing to harm Americans to
justice. And that's exactly what we intend to do.
(Applause.)
We have a job to do overseas, and our military is performing
brilliantly. For those of you who have got relatives in the
military, or those of you who are in the military, thank you from the
bottom of our nation's collective
heart. (Applause.) And we've got a job to do here
at home, as well, and that's to make sure every child in America --
every child -- receives a good education.
Senator Kennedy and I, on the way in here, were talking about the
Latin School. And I want to thank the Headmistress, Kelley,
for having us here. Thank you very
much. (Applause.) After he had finished the
litany of all the Kennedys that had gone to school here -- (laughter)
-- we talked about the quality of education that the kids receive
here. And the truth of the matter is, if you look at this
bill that I signed this morning in Ohio, it says this is the way --
this is Boston Latin all over again. This is what Boston
Latin is about.
It's about expecting high standards, understanding every child can
learn, demanding the best, insisting upon hard work, rewarding success,
solving failure. It is a great school, and I am grateful
that I could come and herald the signing of an important piece of
legislation here at this school. This is not only a
testimony to Senator Ted Kennedy's hard work, it's a testimony to a
fine public school. Thank you for having us. (Applause.)
I appreciate the Governor coming, and I know the Governor is
committed to quality education, as well. Jane, thank you for
being here. I'm honored that members of the Massachusetts
congressional delegation came. Thank you for taking time out of your
busy schedules to come by and say hello. I appreciate so
very much the Mayor being here. Mr. Mayor, thank you for
coming. It's good to see you again. I want to
thank all of you for coming. I particularly want to thank
the students who are here.
I -- you're seeing government at its best with this piece of
legislation. I know there's a lot of folks who look at
Washington and say, can't they ever get along? All they do
is argue. All they do is call each other
names. But on this piece of legislation, on this important
piece of legislation, we figured out how to put our parties aside and
focus on what's right for the American children. We showed
the country that if we so desire, it is possible in Washington to say
the nation matters more than our political parties
matter. (Applause.)
That was not as easy as it
sounds. (Laughter.) It took a lot of hard work,
and it took the leadership of four fine Americans who are on this stage
with me today. These four people decided they would rather
see results than have empty rhetoric dominate the
scene. These people said, look, we disagree on some issues,
but why don't we figure out where we agree and get something
done. And it was in that spirit that we crafted a great
piece of legislation.
Big George Miller is out of California. He is -- he
might be considered left in
Massachusetts. (Laughter.) What do you thing,
Congressman? (Laughter.) That's saying
something. (Laughter.) Before I went to
Washington, I had a group of the gentlemen come down to Austin to talk
about education reform, and George and I had a discussion about making
sure that the systems did not simply shuffle children through; that we
wanted to call a halt to what some call social promotion. I
knew right then and there, when I heard his passion about focusing on
each child that there was a potential ally when it came to writing good
legislation.
And then Boehner from Ohio showed up. He did a fabulous
job, by the way. I signed the bill this morning in his
district to really express my gratitude, and the nation's gratitude,
for his leadership on shepherding this bill through the House of
Representatives. Without John Boehner, without George
Miller, this bill never would have made it throughout the House, and I
want to thank them both from the bottom of my heart. (Applause.)
And then there's the Kennedy-Gregg
alliance. (Laughter.) It was amazing that it
worked, but it did. And the truth of the matter is, the bill
wouldn't have gotten out of the Senate had not Senator Kennedy and Judd
Gregg put their minds to it. This bill could have easily
have stalled. It was a convenient time for people to say,
well, we'd better not move anything out of the Senate because there's a
war. But Ted Kennedy and Judd Gregg went to their respective
caucuses and demanded action. And as a result, the bill came
to the Senate floor, passed overwhelmingly, and I had the honor of
signing it this morning.
I wish you could have seen the piece of
legislation. It's really tall. And I admit, I
haven't read it yet. (Laughter.) You'll be happy
to hear I don't intend to. (Laughter.) But I know
the principles behind the bill, and I want to describe some of them to
you.
First, this bill says that we will hold people accountable for
results. It says, in return for receiving federal money,
states must design accountability systems to measure -- to determine
whether or not children are learning to read and write and add and
subtract. In return for federal money, the state of
Massachusetts or the state of Texas or any other state in the Union
must develop an accountability system to let us know whether children
in grades three through eight are meeting standards. It basically
says, every child can learn. And if they're not learning, we
want to know early, before it is too late.
Now, I've heard them say, well, tests, we're testing too
much. If you don't like to take a test, too
bad. Because we need to know, we need to know whether you're
learning. (Applause.)
I read a quote from a little girl from New York the other day that
touched my heart, and I hope it touches yours. She said, I
don't remember taking exams. They just kept passing me
along. I ended up dropping out in the seventh
grade. I basically felt no one cared. Well, she
was -- she's blowing the whistle on what happens in some of our schools
in America.
You see, sometimes it's easy to walk into a classroom and say,
certain children can't learn, therefore, let's just move them
through. Let's don't test them. Let's just push
them out at the end. And that's wrong in
America. Every child matters, every child should be
diagnosed on whether or not they can read and write and add and
subtract. And if they can't, we need to correct their
problems early, before it's too late. The cornerstone of
reform is strong accountability measures, just like you do here in the
state of Massachusetts.
Secondly, in order for reform to mean anything, there must be
consequences. Something must happen if there's
failure. Now, in this bill, it says schools will be given
time to correct. After posting the test scores and mailing
out the report cards that show mediocrity or failure, schools will
still be given a chance to correct the problems. And
therefore, we provide incentives and resources to make sure that
failing schools have got the opportunity to meet standards.
But if they don't, the consequence is that parents must be
empowered to make different choices. We must not trap
children in schools that will not teach and will not
change. And so, therefore, this bill says parents in failed
schools can send their children to another public school, or charter
school, or be able to get tutoring for their children in either the
public or private sector. It is important to free families
from failure in public education. And that's what this bill
does.
The third principle, it says that we trust the local people to make
the right decisions for the schools. It says we trust the
governors and the school boards to design the path to excellence for
every child. It says Washington has a role of providing
money, and now Washington is demanding results. But
Washington should not micromanage the process. And so, this
bill provides a lot more flexibility for the local folks.
In essence, it says the people of Boston care more about the
children of Boston than people in Washington, D.C. Rod Paige
understands that. The reason I picked Rod to become the
Secretary of Education is because he was the Superintendent of schools
in the Houston Independent School District. He knows what it means to
run a school district. And when we implement this bill, I
can assure you, Rod is going to make sure that the spirit of "no child
is left behind" is a part of the regulations.
But this bill says there -- one size doesn't fit all when it comes
to public schools. It fosters change by pushing power to the
lowest level, and that is at the local school districts, which should
make the teachers in this audience feel good.
First of all, I want to thank all the teachers who are
here. Yours is a noble profession, and thank you for taking
on this tough job. (Applause.) But a system that devolves
power says we've got to trust the teachers and principals to make the
right decisions in the classrooms. And that's what this bill
says.
This bill also wages a battle against illiteracy. It
recognizes that spending money is important, but you need to spend
money effectively in order to make a difference. We've spent
a lot of money in education, a lot. And a lot of it hasn't
made a difference. Well, one area where we're going to make
a difference from this point forward in America, is in reading,
teaching every child to read.
The numbers for inner-city kids, or impoverished -- kids from
impoverished families, their ability to read, or the illiteracy rate --
let me put it to you that way -- is astounding. It is
pitiful. It is not right for America that over 60 percent of
the children in the fourth grade from impoverished families cannot
read. If you can't read in the fourth grade, you're not
going to read in the eighth grade. And if you can't read in
the eighth, you're not going to read in high school. And if
you can't read, you've got a tough life ahead of you.
And we need to do something about it, America, and this bill
does. It triples the amount of money for early reading
programs -- programs based upon the science of reading, not something
that sounds good or feels good, but something that
works. There's money for teacher training; there's money for
enhanced methodology; there's money that says we're going to stay
focused until we teach every child to read by the third grade in
America. (Applause.)
So those are the principles of a good bill. The bill is
not only good for education, but it's a good go-by to show what can
happen in Washington. And that's why the five of us -- or the six of
us, including Rod Paige -- have been traveling around the nation today,
heralding the success, the joint success, the success of people from
both political parties in both houses of Congress. It shows
what is possible when people say I want to get something done.
I know what's possible when it comes to educating
children. You've seen it here in your own state, how the
numbers have improved dramatically. It starts with an attitude that
says public education is crucial; every child can learn, and we must
set high standards. And that's what we've got to do in
America, it seems like, all over the country.
After 9/11, a lot of people have asked: What can I do to
help? How can I make a difference in
America? Well, my advice is, first, love your children like
you've never loved them before. Show them that they're the
most important people in the world. But a way you can help
America is to mentor a child, to teach a child to read. You
can make sure your kids turn off your TV and read. You can
make sure that you support the public school in your
neighborhood. You can make sure you thank a
teacher. You can help by going into classrooms, to make a
difference.
If you're really interested in how to help fight terrorists, if you
want to make sure that the terrorists aren't able to affect the heart
and soul of America, support your public schools. Insist
upon the best; demand accountability, because every child in America
can learn. And when they do, this country is going to be a
heck of a lot better off.
Thank you for letting me come. May God
bless. (Applause.)