THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for receiving me. I'm honored to be here at
Parkview. I appreciate the Patriots Band playing. I'm sorry I missed
it. They tell me it's one of the best in the state. (Applause.)
I want to thank my friend, Mike Huckabee, for introducing me. I
appreciate his leadership. As you'll hear here in a second, we've got
some interesting initiatives taking place in Arkansas, because of the
determination by this state and by this government to set high
expectations for every child.
I want to thank very much Rod Paige for his leadership. You know,
when I was trying to determine who to pick as the Secretary of
Education, I wanted somebody who actually had been an educator.
They've got a lot of theorists in Washington. I wasn't interested in
theory, I was interested in results. (Applause.) And Rod was running
the largest school district in our state, the Houston Independent
School District. And he did a fine job. And I figured if he could
handle the Houston Independent School District, the Department of
Education was nothing.
And so I want to thank Rod for being here. I appreciate his
leadership. He understands the role of principal and superintendent.
Speaking about principal, I want to thank Dr. Brown, Linda Brown, for
her hospitality, and all the folks at this fine school for making this
event -- or setting up this event, giving us a chance to come. I fully
understand the presidential entourage can be a burden sometimes. But
you handled it well. And, Linda, thank you very much. Appreciate
you. (Applause.)
I want to thank Senator Tim Hutchinson for coming; Congressman Vic
Snyder and Congressman John Boozman, three members of the Arkansas
federal delegation. I appreciate you all being here today. Thanks for
your hospitality. I appreciate so very much Lt. Governor Win
Rockefeller for joining us here today, as well. I want to thank your
Mayor, Jim Daley, for being here. Mr. Mayor, thank you for your
hospitality. I appreciate so very much Ray Simon, who's the Director
of the Arkansas Department of Education; Dr. Steve Franks who's the
Director of the Arkansas Work Force Education; and Ken James who's the
Superintendent of Little Rock schools.
We had the honor -- I had the honor of meeting them and talking to
them and visiting about how best to implement a strategy that not only
encourages every child to learn, but a strategy that continues to raise
the standards that raises the bar. I found the visit to be extremely
worthwhile and I hope they did, as well.
I'm here to talk about education. Before I do so, I want to remind
people we've got a lot of challenges ahead of us here in America. One
of the things that's very important as we confront those challenges is
to never forget about education. See, the big challenge we have now is
to make sure the enemy doesn't hit us again. That's a big challenge.
I want the students to understand here why someone would want to hurt
America in the first place. And it's because your country loves
freedom; that's why. We love freedom. We love the freedom to worship
-- (applause.) See, we value the idea of being able to -- people being
able to worship freely an Almighty God. That's what we value in
America. And we're not going to change. (Applause.)
We value the idea of people being free to succeed. See, each life
matters in America. Everybody has worth. And yet the enemy, they hate
what we love. They don't -- they don't respect innocence. Life
doesn't mean anything to them. They've hijacked a great religion in
order to spread their hate. So long as we love freedom, there's going
to be this enemy out there.
And so my biggest job, my most important job as your President is
to secure our homeland; is to do everything we can, everything in our
power, to make sure that you're safe, and your families are safe. But
it's even more than that -- to make sure you can grow up in a free
society; to make sure that you have the same freedoms that I enjoyed
when I was growing up. That's the job at hand.
And let me tell you what we're doing about it. We're working at
all levels of government to run down any lead, any hint, any evidence
that somebody might be fixing to try to do something to America.
There's a lot of really fine people at the federal and state and local
level who are working hard to protect you. Working hard to do anything
we can to disrupt what might be a plan to hurt America, or Americans.
I've asked the Congress recently to help me meet this task by
setting up what we call a department of homeland security. So when you
hear talk about the department of homeland security, it's really meant
to make sure that we coordinate at the federal level all these agencies
involved with some sense of homeland security. See, prior to September
the 11th we never really had a focus for securing our homeland; now we
do.
And the best way to make sure everybody involved with homeland
security is focused on this number one priority is to put them under
one department. And it's moving along okay. Seems to be a few
roadblocks in the way; some are more interested in their own political
turf than they are in the security of the American people, and they're
worried about special interests as opposed to the security of the
people. But I'm confident that by working together, that we'll get us
a homeland security department that will actually function, that will
have flexibility, that will allow us to move people to where they need
to be. I mean, we need to enforce our border in this new day. We need
to understand who's coming in, what they're bringing, and whether
they're leaving when they say they're leaving, for the sake of homeland
security. And I need the flexibility to be able to do that. And I
want to be able to report to you that we do have the capacity to do
everything in our power to protect you. It's my number one p riority.
But you all have got to understand the best way to protect the
homeland security is to chase these killers, these people down, one by
one, and bring them to justice, which is precisely what our government
is going to do.
I say justice because we don't seek revenge. We seek justice. We
seek justice. And you need to know that when we go into a country to
enforce a doctrine -- see, there was a doctrine that said, if you
harbor a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, if you hide a terrorist,
you're just as guilty as the terrorist. But when we went to enforce
that doctrine, this great country didn't go in as conquerors. We went
in to liberate. And we liberated a country from the clutches of a
barbaric regime. It's hard for any American to understand this, but
many young girls never went to school because of these people. And
now, thanks to America and our friends and allies, they're going to
school. We're liberators, not conquerors, here in America. Every life
matters, whether it be an American life or the life of an Afghan girl.
(Applause.)
And we've got a lot of work ahead of us. See, you all are growing
up in an era with a different kind of war. You used to be able to tell
the strength and size of the enemy by counting his tanks, or his
airplanes. These haters are the types that, since they don't value
innocent life, are willing to bomb indiscriminately. And they hide in
caves, and send youngsters to their suicidal death. That's the nature
of the enemy.
But they have picked on a country which is a strong country, a
country which, because we love our freedoms, is a country that's
patient and tough and resolved to do what it takes to define history in
a way that is -- that values your life and your freedoms. And that's
what this country is going to do.
We've got a big task at hand. I just wanted you to know. I want
to give you an update so that when you read the newspapers or watch
television about this war, that it's a different kind of war. The war
goes on, and it's a war the United States is going to win. (Applause.)
These are big challenges for our country. These are big challenges
for this great nation. But we'll meet the challenges. And we've got
another big challenge, is to make sure every child gets educated.
That's a huge and significant challenge for our country. And notice I
said every child. I didn't say just a handful of children here, or
maybe just those who go to suburban school districts. I said every
child. And I mean every single child in America. And it starts with
setting high standards. It starts with believing that every child can
learn. It's a mind-set that's essential for this country.
See, if you believe that only certain children can learn -- in
other words, if you have low standards -- you're going to get low
results. If you set the bar low, that's exactly what you're going to
get. You're going to get mediocrity. So the mind-set has got to be
that every child can learn. It's a mind-set you have here in Arkansas,
by the way. You do, you believe it. I can feel it. I've been to this
-- this isn't my first time to go to an Arkansas school. Certainly
you've got it at this school. The Patriots believe every child can
learn. (Applause.)
That starts with the leadership of the principal. Really fine
schools have always had a fine principal. It starts with the
understanding of your teachers. And for the teachers who are here, I
want to thank you for teaching. It's a noble profession and an
important profession. (Applause.)
It also is a mind-set necessary for the moms and dads of Arkansas
and America. The moms and dads have got to understand that they should
expect the best for their children. They ought to set high standards.
There's another part of this philosophy that matches what I just
said, and that is, who best to trust when it comes to meeting those
standards. See, I've learned something firsthand --I kind of always
knew it, but not all the smart people in the world live in Washington.
(Laughter.) A lot of smart ones right here in Little Rock. As a
matter of fact, the people who care more about the children of Little
Rock, Arkansas, are the citizens of Little Rock, Arkansas.
(Applause.) And therefore, the cornerstone of good education policy
ought to be to trust the citizens of Little Rock, Arkansas to chart the
path for excellence for every child. That's call local control of
schools. (Applause.)
This new bill I had the honor of signing -- and by the way, I
reminded some people earlier, I was traveling the country with Senator
Kennedy of Massachusetts. We were an odd couple in some people's
mind. (Laughter.) But nevertheless, we both share the same vision of
high standards and trust in the local people. He was a supporter of
this bill. And I had the honor of signing it; I pushed it, as well.
And a secondary -- a third part of the philosophy is this, and this is
a very important part of the philosophy. It says, if you believe every
child can learn, then you want to know whether every child is
learning.
See, if you believe every child can learn, then it's important to
have an accountability system which tells us whether every child is
learning. I've heard it all. I'm sure -- some of the students are
saying, all he wants to do is test us all the time. I don't like
tests. Well, too bad. (Laughter.) We want to know. How do you know
whether every child is learning unless you measure. (Applause.) You
got to measure in order to know. In order to correct problems early,
before they're too late, you must measure.
See, accountability will serve as confirmation as to whether or not
the curriculum is working. It will serve as confirmation as to whether
or not your teacher training programs are working. It will serve as
confirmation as to whether or not children are learning the basics of
education.
And so we have -- we say, in return for federal money, show us --
show us whether or not kids are learning to read and write and add and
subtract. Show us whether or not the minimum is being met. Because
every child matters in America, every child matters. And as we named
this bill, no child should be left behind. The name of the bill is No
Child Left Behind. And I meant no child.
And so, therefore, we've got this philosophy in place that the
Governor has been working on, and your states have been working on, and
there's -- in an accountability system there are consequences. If the
state is unable to meet standards, if a school can't meet state
standards after a period of time, something has to happen. In other
words, you can't leave children trapped in schools that won't teach and
won't change. And so one of the things that's going to happen is
public school choice, or after-school tutoring.
In other words, every child matters, and therefore, when a child is
trapped in a school that's not changing, the parents have got to know
something is going on. There's a consequence. It's not meant to
punish anybody, it's meant to save lives. Every child counts. And so,
therefore, what Arkansas is beginning to do as they develop standards
and accountability, a score card to let us all know who's succeeding
and who needs improvement, you've got an after-school tutoring program
that's cranking up. And I want to thank the Governor for that. And I
want to thank the Commissioner of Education for that. It is a way to
assure the parents and enforce to the children that somebody cares
about them. If you're deficient, you need help. And this good bill we
passed provides that help for the state of Arkansas. And you all are
on the forefront of that.
You know, one of the interesting things, one of the initial grants
we gave out was for reading. Reading is a civil right. See, reading
is the new civil right in the 21st century. It's important for our
citizens to understand that if you can't read, it's going to be hard to
make it in America. If you cannot read, you've got a problem. And if
you can't read in the 4th grade, it's likely you're not going to be
able to read in the 8th grade.
And we've got to get it right, folks, early, before it's too late.
Accountability will tell us whether or not the curriculum you're using
makes sense -- and there is a science to reading. It's not an art,
it's a science. We know what works and what doesn't work. And so part
of this no child left behind, we have what we call the Reading First
program, with significant grants to states, to get people up to speed,
to get them to the starting line. T make sure the accountability
system has got merit, every child has got to be reading early.
And the state of Arkansas has got a reading program based upon
sound research, and a reading program that has been proven to be
effective. And so you've got one of the first Reading First grants in
this state, by the way. And it's going to make a huge difference in
the lives of your children. And I want to appreciate very much those
who are working on making sure that the minimum is met -- no child is
left behind. But the minimum is not good enough for America. See, we
don't believe in the minimum in this country. We believe in the
maximum. (Applause.)
We've got to aim higher. We need to challenge every student. I
don't mean just the top 10, I mean every student needs to be
challenged. We've got to make sure that people understand, starting
with the parents, by the way, that they ought to challenge their
children to take the toughest classes possible. That's what we have to
do. You get people up to the minimum, but that's not good enough.
We've got to provide people to continue to challenge themselves.
I talked to three fine students today, two from this school and one
from another school, talking about the need to be challenged. We heard
from -- we heard that many times parents don't really understand the
significance of challenging, of having their students taking
challenging courses. That many students -- and maybe you all are some
of them here -- say, well, I don't want to take a tough course. See, I
can't pass that. Only the really smart people take the tough courses,
and I don't happen to be all that smart. Therefore, I'm not going to
take it. I doubt that's the case in this school, but there are schools
where that's the case.
Or you hear students saying, don't take the tough courses, it will
make you a nerd. (Laughter.) You're missing out if that's the way you
think. See, you're missing an opportunity. It's an opportunity lost.
It is not in your self-interest that you think for such low standards.
And I want the parents of this state and across the country to
understand that the minimum isn't acceptable for your children. And
there's a way to achieve -- there's a way to achieve something
significant in this state, and I want to talk to you about an
interesting program that we actually tried in Texas that worked.
But it's to the citizen's advantage not only that we raise
standards and challenge students, you've got colleges where they're
teaching remedial reading -- not only colleges in Arkansas, but around
the country. That's not right, see. You don't want your higher
education systems to be remedial education systems. If you want the
best for your citizens -- and I presume everybody in this state does --
then we've got to get it right early, and make sure that we continue to
challenge our students. One reason I came here is because this is a
school that challenges the students -- in two incredibly important
subjects, math and science, and of course, the arts, as well.
But today I want to talk about what we're creating in Arkansas,
called the Center for State Scholars. It's the first of five states
that had been chosen. Again, you were chosen because you've got a
Governor who cares, you've got people who care, you believe in setting
high standards. And here's the way it works. The first thing that
happens is that the business community, which is -- and the catalyst
will be what they call the Business Roundtable, which is a national
group of large employers -- comes together and they start becoming
involved in the school -- Little Rock school district, for example.
And they start interviewing children in 8th grade about their
ambitions, and explaining reality. If you don't have any ambitions,
the minimum wage job isn't going to get you to where you want to get,
for example. In other words, what is your ambitions; and oh, by the
way, if that is your ambition, here's what it's going to take to
achieve it. It's kind of a reality check.
And again, I'll repeat to you, the meetings don't take place with
just A students. Every student, every student is going to be
contacted. Every student is going to be involved. And then what
happens is, is that they start promoting advance courses. In other
words, it's a practical application of reality to what must take place
in the classrooms.
It sounds so simple, but it works, by the way. We've seen it work
in Texas. I mean, thousands of students have been challenged to take
AP courses. Thousands of students who didn't really realize the value
of raising the bar have gone -- taken extra credits, and have learned
new language. I mean, it is an effective way to spread the word to
parent and student alike that if you're interested in your future,
raise the bar. Take the toughest courses. That, in itself, has a
positive effect on the schools.
See, I believe teachers want the very best. I believe they love
the thought when students say, teach me more, raise the standards for
me, please. This is going to be a positive thing for the state of
Arkansas, I can assure you. The Texas Scholars Curriculum score --
Texas Scholars score 102 points higher on the SAT than their
counterpart. By the way, this is thousands of students, not just a
handful.
Those who have completed physics and pre-calculus are now up by 50
percent since the program was started 10 years ago. It works. And
it's going to be implemented here in Arkansas. One of the reasons I've
come is not only to herald the need for good education, but to talk
about this center right here in your state. I call upon your business
community to participate. The grants that we're issuing from the
federal government will help kind of bring people together, help people
understand what it takes to make this program successful. It takes
business participation; it takes a willing school district; it takes a
state that's willing to facilitate; it takes parents who care; and it
takes students willing to listen. And it's going to happen here in
Arkansas. And as a result of this program, I firmly believe when you
implement it, your great state is going to be better off. You'll
shine. You'll be a beacon for others to see what is possible.
(Applause.)
I want to talk about one other thing, if you don't mind. Here's
how I think. Out of the evil done to America is going to come some
incredible good. And I want our students to hear that. Out of the
evil -- and make no mistake, what was done on September the 11th was
evil -- is going to come some good. I believe the world will be more
peaceful. And you just need to know that that's the game, that's the
goal, is peace in this world. Not only peace here at home, but peace
in parts of the world where people have quit on peace. Peace in parts
of the world where people have said peace is impossible. I think it
is. That's the vision I have. And I know by leading in that direction
that we can achieve peace. I believe that.
And here at home we can have a more compassionate America. I don't
know what went into the minds of the people that attacked us. They
probably said, well, this country is so self-absorbed and so
materialistic and so selfish that nothing would happen. Oh, they may
file a lawsuit or two, but other than that, they're so weak, nothing
would happen -- is what they probably thought. And they're learning
something else about America. See, they're learning the true character
of the country.
Not only are we tough when we need to be tough, not only are we
patient when we need to be patient, but we're a compassionate country.
That's what they're learning. See, people understand that being a
patriot is now -- now they understand is more than just putting your
hand over your heart. See, a patriot is loving a neighbor just like
you'd like to be loved yourself. If you want to join the war on
terror, do some good. (Applause.)
There are pockets of despair and hopelessness and addiction in this
good country. There just are. And when one of us hurts, we all hurt.
Now, my view of government is government can hand out money -- and it
can, and it does quite often, I might add. (Laughter.) But what it
cannot do is put hope in people's hearts, or a sense of purpose in
people's lives. That happens when a loving soul says, I love you, to
somebody in need. That's when that happens. It happens when somebody
puts their arm around a child and says, what can I do to make your life
better? How can I mentor you? How can I help?
My call to the seniors and juniors and sophomores here is to
understand that serving something greater than yourself in life is a
part of being an American. And when the enemy hit us, a lot of good
folks stepped back and said, what is life worth? What do we need to
do? How can I help? How can I serve? Service is a part of being a
responsible citizen. Service to somebody in need is part of being a
whole person.
Today I had the honor of meeting Connie Melton, who greeted me at
Air Force One. She's a graduate of Parkview Arts and Science Magnet
School. She is the founder of the Arkansas affiliate for Dress For
Success, which provides suits and business attire to low-income women
trying to enter the work force. I met her at the airport. I said, how
are you doing; she said, we've helped over 100 -- 100 -- people
already. She's been in business I think she said a little over a
year. One hundred lives have been changed, she said, through the
simple act of providing somebody with some decent clothes to help them
out.
You see, our society hurts in many places, but it can change. It
can change -- one heart, one soul at a time. And while we all realize
one of us can't do everything, one of us can do something to be a part
of helping change those hearts and souls. Connie Melton, citizen,
soldier in the army of compassion. Didn't need a government law to
tell her to step forward. She listened to a universal call, something
much higher than government. And she's affecting the community in
which she lives in such an incredibly positive and hopeful way.
Connie, thank you for coming. Appreciate you being here.
(Applause.)
The reason I appreciate so very much Connie coming is I want all of
us, older and younger alike, to realize one person can make a
difference. And I hope you do. I hope the youngsters here aim high
and shoot high. I hope you set high standards for yourself and work
hard. I hope you make the right choices in life. But I also hope you
understand that here in America, helping somebody in need doesn't take
all that much, but by doing so, you can help set the true face of
compassion for this great nation.
It is my honor to come to this wonderful school. I wish you all
the best. May God bless you all, and may God bless America.