For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 3, 2001
Remarks by the President in Leadership Forum
H. Fletcher Brown Boys and Girls Club Wilmington, Delaware
Listen to the President's
Remarks
11:20 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: I loved seeing the
Power Hour kids. I know societies can change one person at a
time. And while those of us in government are trying to do
the best we can with budgets and taxes, what we can't do is make people
love one another. But what we can do is encourage loving
people to help. And so I saw the Power Hour as an
opportunity for children to improve themselves, but I also saw it as an
opportunity for people to give something back in our society.
And so I want to
thank you for giving me the chance to come. I want to say a
couple of things. First, I'm honored to be traveling with
the Delaware delegation, the two United States senators, Senator Biden
and Senator Carper. These are smart, capable
people. I just hope they do it the way I think they ought to
be doing it. (Laughter and applause.)
We will find -- I
will assure you this -- we'll find areas where you can
agree. I noticed Senator Carper dropped a strong charter
school bill, and I was at Maurice's school earlier in the
year. And Tom and I come from the governors ranks, we worked
a lot together, there's a lot of areas where we know we can work
together to improve public education. And there's going to
be some times we don't agree, but my pledge to the American people and
the people of Delaware is, when we disagree, it will be done in a way
that's respectful, where we can treat each other with respect, where we
don't have to have this needless name-calling and finger-pointing to
get ahead. And I
respect these two senators. I may not like every
vote. Of course, they may not like every
proposal. But I can assure you that we're working hard to
change the attitude of Washington, D.C. so there is a more respectful
attitude, and so there can be a more civil debate about where this
country ought to go.
And then, of course, I was pleased to see that I got 100 percent
support on one of my proposals from the Delaware delegate, and that is
Mike Castle. And one thing I love about Mike is that he is a
very thoughtful member who stays focused. And his focus is
education -- amongst a lot of other things -- but his main drive right
now is to make sure we get the education bill right.
And the education
bill that we're trying to get out of the House and eventually the
Senate mirrors much of what you've done here in Delaware under the
leadership of then Governor Carper. And I see members of the
legislature here as well. It really says, every child can
learn; it's important to trust local people to run the schools; and we
must have accountability to determine whether or not every child is
learning. And if children are learning, we'll praise the
teachers and principals and superintendents. But if not,
instead of just moving children through the system as if they don't
matter, we address the problems early, before it's too
late. Strong accountability systems lead to
reforms.
Senator Carper, then Governor Carper,
recognized that. I think I got some credit for recognizing
that in the state of Texas. And the whole cornerstone of the
reform movement that we're trying to get out of the Senate and the
House says that if you receive federal aid, you, the state, must devise
an accountability system to let the folks know whether or not children
are learning.
And, oh, by the way, let's also have a reading
-- national reading program that starts teaching children to read
early. Let's have after-school programs called 21st Century
Programs, that not only are run by public school institutions, if
that's what the local community wants, but also says, programs --
community programs or faith-based programs are just as capable about
running programs as anybody else is. And so all the federal
money, as far as I'm concerned, for after-school programs ought to be
opened up to every program in the state of
Delaware. (Applause.)
And so I'm here to say thanks for what you
do. It's good to see -- I was going to say old friends,
Maurice -- friends I've known for a while -- not all that
old. Maurice runs a great charter school here, as you all
know, and he's done a fantastic job.
Mr. Jones -- I told him earlier that I wrote a
bestseller -- actually, I didn't write it, they say -- they claimed I
wrote it -- called "A Charge To Keep," and it's actually about
me. So if you're having trouble sleeping at night, you may
want to pick it up. At any rate -- but all the proceeds are
going to the Big Brothers and Big Sisters programs and Boys' and Girls'
Clubs of America, because I believe so profoundly -- (applause) -- I
believe so strongly in mentoring, and I believe so strongly in helping
children understand somebody loves them. And government
can't do that. But what government can do is facilitate
programs and allow faith-based programs to access federal monies so
that they can help change hearts.
I don't believe we ought to fund religion, but
I do think we ought to fund a person, and that person should be able to
choose whether or not to find help at a faith-based program or a
secular program.
I view the Boys' and Girls' Clubs as
faith-based programs, by the way -- programs based upon the universal
concept of loving a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved
yourself. And for that, I'm grateful. I want to
congratulate the board of directors of the Boys' and Girls' Clubs of
Delaware for having such a profound impact. One in seven
children in this state are members of the Boys' and Girls' Clubs, for
which I know you all are most proud. (Applause.)
Rather than falling into the legislative
tradition of filibustering, I will now end my remarks by thanking you
all for your hospitality. And I look forward to hearing from
you. (Applause.)
* * * * *
Q (Speaks in Spanish.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
She said, of course,
support the President's tax cut, and then -- (laughter and applause.)
* * * * *
THE PRESIDENT: How old is your
charter school?
Q Our charter school is in its first year.
THE
PRESIDENT: Great. How's it going?
Q It is going well. It is going very
well. THE
PRESIDENT: Did you have many applicants for your charter
school?
Q Yes, we did have quite a few applicants.
THE
PRESIDENT: And what grades?
Q We are currently
servicing children between kindergarten and 5th grade.
THE
PRESIDENT: Oh, great. Big jump. Thanks
for teaching. (Applause.)
* * * * *
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you for
encouraging mentoring. You know, the great strength of the
country takes place when somebody walks across the street or raises
their hand and says, what can I do to help, what can I do to help
somebody in need. And it's the cumulative kindness of
America that really makes our country so different from everyplace
else. And it's really important for all of us to understand
the power of mentoring and what it means, because really what it means
is recognizing that America will be changed one soul at a time.
And I want to thank
you for encouraging the Kiwanis to because mentors, and pass the word
that the President and the senators and the congressmen really do
recognize the limitation of government, and recognize the power
of love and
faith and hope. (Applause.)
* * * * *
THE PRESIDENT: One of the things
we've all got to do in our society is to encourage and herald the
education entrepreneurs all across the country. And the idea
of change and recognizing each student -- an accountability system
recognizing the talents and needs of each student is an incredible part
of reform. And that's what the legislation we're working on
in the Senate and the House is going to foster.
And what triggered my
thinking is there's a lot of times where public schools don't change,
their systems are inert, they just won't move. And yet,
we've got three schools that are new -- four -- four new ideas, which
shows that the state of Delaware has got a system that encourages
change when change is needed. And that's the message we're
trying to get to members of the Senate and Congress who don't want
change.
One thing -- we're going to spend more money, and that's important, but
as well, there needs to be a systemic change to not only encourage
parental involvement, but to recognize that the systems have got to be
geared on a child-by-child basis. And good accountability
measures do that.
We were at a -- I saw a computer -- I'm sorry
to get going here, but we saw a computer upstairs that was able to take
a child, figure out its level of learning, and program, adjust
immediately to that child. And then another child gets on,
the program adjusts to the learning capacities of that particular
child. That's what education systems need to evolve toward
-- individualized learning, as opposed to lumping kids into groups and
just kind of shuffling through the system.
And I appreciate what you're
doing. (Applause.)
* * * * *
THE
PRESIDENT: Thanks. Let me say one thing -- she
talked about partnerships. Senator Biden reminded me that
some of the money in the program here came from Microsoft and AOL --
the point being that corporate Delaware or corporate Texas or corporate
America can play a major role in making sure that we match assets with
needs, particularly in programs that focus on our youth.
And I want to thank
corporate Delaware and your company, as well as others who have heard
the call that part of making sure that capitalism runs the full gamut
is not only to be able to make a good bottom line, which we all hope
for, but also to put something back into the system. So if
you're calling for people to put more back in the system, I'm calling
right with you.
* * * * *
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I want you all
to hear -- it's an interesting thing he just said. He said
the tutorials take place in the church. That doesn't mean
that -- let me start over. It means that we need to focus on
the child and not on the process.
How sad would it be if our system said, you
can't have tutorials in churches because of the legal
process? And it's important for our society to keep in mind,
every child matters. And we ought to be heralding the
Reverend Johnsons of the world, as opposed to trying to thwart the
Reverend Johnsons of the world. That's what the whole
faith-based initiative in Congress is about. (Applause.)
I appreciate what you do. Keep
doing it, like I know you will.
END
11:55
A.M.
EDT
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