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Remarks to a Joint Session of the Governor, you’ll get mad at it. [Laughter] Legislature in Lansing, There were 95 Republicans and 5 Democrats Michigan in the House. And it was the aftermath of March 6, 1997 the Civil War. I say this because our two States have been Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. entwined in an interesting way over the Speaker, Governor. Thank you all for that course of time. We were allowed together wonderful welcome in this magnificent cap- into the Union because Michigan was a free itol. I’m delighted to be here today with so State and Arkansas was a Southern slave many of your State officials—Lieutenant State, and Michigan became the party—ad- Governor Binsfeld; your State board of edu- hering to the party of Abraham Lincoln, of cation president, Kathleen Strauss. I don’t freedom, and the party of Theodore Roo- know if Frank Kelley met Theodore Roo- sevelt, which the Governor explained. And sevelt, but he did meet me when I became most of us Democrats are pretty proud of attorney general. [Laughter] And some days those folks, too. They represent the best in I feel about that old. I want to thank the America. mayor of Lansing, Mayor Hollister, for meet- Then, after the Great Depression, Michi- ing me at the airport, and all the other State gan basically became the home of tens of officials and dignitaries who are here—Rep- thousands of people from my State who sim- resentative Sikkema, thank you, sir; and Sen- ply could not make a living anymore on the ator Cherry and Senator Posthumus. farm, and the factories of Michigan gave peo- I want to thank the Members of Congress ple from Arkansas, black and white together, and others who flew down here with me the chance to come up here and build a de- today—your former Governor, Jim Blan- cent middle class life and educate their chil- chard and his wife, Janet; Congressman Din- dren and be a part of what was then Ameri- gell; your Congresswoman from here, Con- ca’s future. So anybody from my roots must gressman ; Representative be exceedingly grateful to the people of Levin; Representative Kilpatrick; Represent- Michigan and the history and the heritage ative Conyers; Representative Stupak; Rep- of Michigan. resentative Camp; and Representative When Theodore Roosevelt was here, he Hoekstra and Representative Barcia. Did I was going to Michigan State to address the get them all? [Laughter] Nine, we only had graduates there, just as I did a couple of years nine here. I could only muster nine, but ago. And I might say the president of Michi- that’s a quorum—[laughter]—even in the gan State is here, and I told him today that State legislature—of the Michigan delega- he gave me a picture of Theodore Roosevelt’s tion. I thank them for coming down. address to the graduates at Michigan State, Thank you, Wendell Anthony, for your in- and it now hangs on my office wall at the vocation, and thank you for making me feel White House at the entrance to my little pri- so welcome. vate office off the Oval Office, and I look When I came in, the Speaker and I were up there and see Teddy Roosevelt speaking looking up at this magnificent ceiling, and every day that I go to work. I noticed that the seal of the State of Michi- Before that, he came here, and when he gan was right next to the seal of my home spoke here I suppose the place looked about State of Arkansas. And maybe one reason for like it does now, thanks to your magnificent that is that the Congress approved us coming renovation, and I applaud you for doing this. into the Union at the same time. People all over America should remember I was reading also the account of Theodore it’s worth investing a little money to protect Roosevelt coming here 90 years ago. I know your roots and your heritage, and the beauty you have partisan differences today. You and meaning of what we were, as well as what might be interested to know that 90 years we hope to be. ago there were 32 Republicans and no In 1907 when Teddy Roosevelt came here Democrats in the Senate. [Laughter] If you we were at the dawn of the industrial era. clap too much, I’ve got a great closing line— This building had been wired for electricity Administration of William J. Clinton, 1997 / Mar. 6 291 only 2 years before he showed up. And when that set the framework for America’s leader- President Roosevelt left here to go to the ship, growth, and prosperity, and the explo- college campus, he got in a newfangled con- sion of people into the middle class, which traption called a Reo automobile. I read the became the hallmark of Michigan’s great- newspaper article from your local paper from ness. 1907 this morning, and it said that it was When I was a kid in Arkansas our per cap- something of a risk for him to get into the ita income was barely half the national aver- car, but it was probably the wave of the fu- age. We all knew if you could find your way ture, who knew what would turn out. [Laugh- up here and got a job, you could still make ter] a good living. That all began at the beginning Then, like a good politician, I read that of this century. It is a very rare thing for when he was at Michigan State, at the cam- a country to have peace and prosperity and pus, he learned that there were, in fact, two the possibility of shaping its own future. different car manufacturers competing with Abraham Lincoln said in the Civil War, ‘‘My one another in Lansing, so he took the other policy is to have no policy. I’m controlled one back. [Laughter] He took a Reo out and by events.’’ If I said that, I would be ridi- an Olds back. culed, rightly so. But he was controlled by That was a rare moment. Just think what events. He did have a policy; it was to keep happened from that moment to this one. the Union together and then to liberate us Think about the century that that moment from the scourge of slavery. But he was con- and this one spans—all but 10 years of this trolled by events. century—and why it became the American When the Depression came on and Presi- Century, what a big part of it Michigan was. dent Roosevelt called for an era of bold ex- Building a great middle class, offering a perimentation, he was controlled by events haven to people from all over America and to some extent. He couldn’t say, the major to immigrants who would come here from issue in America is the climate or even edu- other lands to work, to make their way. cation or anything else. He was controlled Building an industrial power that could pre- by events, and the war did that. And to some vail in two World Wars and overcome a Great extent, the cold war did that for us. When Depression. Building an ethical power that Sputnik went up and we got into the space could live up to the meaning of its Constitu- race and wound up winning it, we were al- tion in the civil rights revolution and expand- most forced into it. Now we have peace and ing opportunities to young people to vote and prosperity on the edge of an era of unimagi- to women to fully participate in the life of nable possibility. America. Just think what has happened in We just finished 4 years where our coun- the 20th century. try, for the first time during one administra- When Roosevelt was here in 1907, it was tion, has produced 111⁄2 million jobs. Michi- a rare moment. We were moving on to the gan, the unemployment rate has dropped, stage as a world power. Everyone recognized and the Governor said your welfare rolls are it. We had by then been a nation for more down 30 percent. You see this kind of than 100 years, and everybody knew there progress, this energy, this movement, this was something unique about America, a free possibility in America—dramatic new ad- democracy where people could vote and de- vances in science and technology occurring. cide and make their judgments. And it was This is a rare time. growing and being nourished. We were ex- What happens to people, usually, when ceedingly prosperous by the standards of the they are prosperous and unthreatened? Well, time. they usually get complacent, and then they And Roosevelt knew that you had to make normally find some reason to fall out with the most of peace and prosperity and leader- one another, usually over something incred- ship, and he did. And so did his successor, ibly petty, just in the nature of human events. Woodrow Wilson. And because of them to- And I come here to say to you today, we gether and the work they did with like-mind- here in America and you here especially in ed members of both parties, we built an era Michigan who have done so much for so 292 Mar. 6 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1997 long, we cannot afford to do that. We owe not equipped for the new world of work. something better to our children. We have That is why our number one priority must been given this unique opportunity, the same be to make our system of public education sort of opportunity we had when your prede- the best in the world, and you must believe cessors were listening to Theodore Roosevelt we can do this. here 90 years ago, except one on an even A few years ago, almost 8 years ago now, grander scale. And we have to make the most I had the honor of joining the other Gov- of it. We have to build America in the new ernors then serving with President Bush at century. And we also have to know that we the University of Virginia to write the na- have to do it as one America. tional education goals. I still think they’re I am gratified that Governor Engler said pretty good goals. If you ask me what the what he did about the education program consequences would be if they were imple- today. I am gratified that this bipartisan State mented, we could say bluntly that it would legislature has given me such a warm wel- mean that every 8-year-old would be able to come, for we have to forge a new partnership read independently, every 12-year-old could for a new time. now log on to the Internet, every 18-year- While the era of big Government is truly old could go to college, and every adult over—the Federal Government now has American could keep on learning for a life- 285,000 fewer people working for it than it time. That is what I want to be the reality did on the day I took the oath of office— in this country. the era of big challenges for our Nation is In the State of the Union Address, I laid not over. And now, we know that national out a 10-point plan, a call to action for Amer- leadership can and must point the way, but ican education that describes the steps I be- the real responsibility is one we all share. lieve we must all take, beginning with the Especially, there are two areas I want to youngest children, expanding and improving discuss today—educational excellence, high early childhood learning. The First Lady and standards for all students; and welfare re- I will be having a conference on early child- form, breaking the cycle of dependency for hood learning and the brain to try to deal everyone capable of independence in Amer- with these enormously significant new find- ica—for these issues are at the core of what ings over the last couple of years, what we it means to prepare America for the 21st cen- know about not only when children learn but tury, giving all Americans not only the oppor- how they learn and what happens if we don’t tunity but the tools they need to make the do for them what they should do. most of their own lives in this new global An enormous percentage of the capacity knowledge economy. of the brain to absorb information to operate The Governor referred to this in his re- is developed in the first 4 years. I’ll just give marks. When I gave the State of the Union you one statistic: The average child that Address, I said that during the cold war, be- grows up in a family with two parents caring cause our national security was threatened for that child, even if they both work, that by communism, politics stopped at the wa- have reasonably good educations and deal ter’s edge. Today, our national security de- with the basic developmental tasks, will give pends upon our ability to develop the capac- that child 700,000 positive interactions in the ities of all of our people, so politics should first 4 years. The average child being raised stop at the schoolhouse door. by a single parent with low self-esteem and Between 1992 and 2000—think of this— low self-confidence and no training in 89 percent of the new jobs created in this parenting will get 150,000 positive inter- economy will require more than high school actions and spend roughly 7 times as much levels of literacy and math skills. But only time before a television doing nothing, in the half the people entering the work force are first 4 years. This has enormous con- prepared for these high-paying jobs, even sequences for the way we become. So we’re though about 80 percent of them are high going to talk about that. school graduates. Our schools are still turning We have to open the doors of college out millions of young people who simply are wider than ever. If 90 percent of the jobs Administration of William J. Clinton, 1997 / Mar. 6 293 require more than a high school education year, the first time we’ve ever had a bigger and the 1990 census shows that the only group than the baby boom generation. I have group of younger workers whose incomes been to schools where the buildings were went up instead of down after you adjust for falling down. My wife was in a school this inflation were those that had at least 2 years week where some of the floors were closed, of some kind of training after high school, and the kids were going to school on some we ought to make the 13th and 14th years floors and couldn’t go into other floors or of education just as universal by the year other rooms because they didn’t comply with 2000 as a high school education is today. the building codes. I have been into other I know that for years Michigan has been schools with beautiful old school buildings in the forefront of that, helping people to surrounded by temporary facilities to hold save for college. I have a proposal to provide the children. tax credits for the cost of a typical community So I think it’s an appropriate thing for us college for 2 years, and tax deductions up to do, not to try to take over this function to $10,000 a year for the tuition cost in any and not to try to substitute for people assum- post-high school education, and an expanded ing responsibility, but when there’s a terrible IRA that can be used for the same purpose. problem and people are doing their own We have to do this. work, if we can, by a prudent and limited We also have to give more of our workers investment, lower the cost of that so that the ability to keep on learning for a lifetime. more people can afford to do more construc- For 4 years, through a Democratic Congress tion and repair, I think we should. and a Republican Congress, I have been I’m also strongly committed—the Vice given equal opportunity to fail to pass the President and I have been working on this ‘‘GI bill’’ for American workers. But it seems very hard—to getting every classroom and to me to be a simple idea. I just want to take the 70-odd programs that were devel- every library in the country hooked up to the oped with the best of intentions over the Internet by the year 2000. And I want to years, for this training program, that training thank your Congresswoman, Debbie program, and the other one, put them in a Stabenow, for the work that she’s done in big fund, and when a worker becomes eligi- supporting that. ble for help through unemployment or Secretary Riley has awarded Michigan a underemployment, send them a skills grant grant of $8.6 million for the technology lit- and let them take it to the local community eracy challenge to help your classrooms move college or the nearest education institution. into the 21st century, and I ask all of you They can find out for themselves what they to support that. There is enormous willing- need to do to improve their education. We ness in the private sector to help us get this don’t need all that stuff in the middle of done, and it can revolutionize—just think of them, between them and the money. Send it—if we can hook up every classroom and them the money, let them get the education. every library to the Internet by the year 2000, I hope you will help me pass that in the Con- for the first time in the history of the country gress. I think it is a good thing. ever—ever—children in the poorest district, I want to help for the very first time the richest districts, the middle class districts, through an innovative program to use Fed- all of them will have access to the same learn- eral funds to lower the interest rates on local ing in the same way in the same time. bond issues to help schools with enormous And those of you who have children or building problems to repair their broken in- know children who are already proficient in frastructure or build new facilities when they using the Internet, it’s a stunning thing. The are doing their part. This is a very important other day, my daughter picked a topic to do thing. a research paper on, and she said, ‘‘Dad, can We have the largest number of school- you get me a couple of books on this out children—as Secretary Riley never lets me of the library?’’ I came home with four books, forget—we have the largest number of and she had eight citations she had gotten schoolchildren in history in our schools this off the Internet—eight articles and things. 294 Mar. 6 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1997

So my labors were one-third of her research children attend all across America. I think project. we should help teachers, parents, museums, This is an incredible thing. If we make this and others to create new public charter available to all children, it will change in a schools. breathtaking way what people can become, I have proposed to double the budget of what our children can imagine themselves the program so that we can increase by ten- becoming. And I ask you to help us do that. fold the number of charter schools we have I thank you, Governor, for what you said by the year 2000, to create—[applause]—and about our support for greater discipline and I think it’s important to emphasize what we safety and character education in the schools. want. We want high standards, schools that I have proposed funding 1,000 new commu- are open to all children regardless of their nity school programs across the country to backgrounds. We want an example of ac- help our schools stay open after school, on countability which will then spread to all the weekends, in the summertime, to try to other public schools. But we want to say to give those children who need some positive them, you can stay open only as long as you place to go, some support, some help to stay do a good job. That’s what the charter means; out of trouble, a place to do that. that’s what a charter is. I have studied very carefully this problem Ultimately, what we want to do is to prove of rising juvenile crime when overall crime that we have a model here that can be used has been going down dramatically in Amer- everywhere else. It is simply not true that ica. And the communities that are reversing if you have a few public schools that all the that trend, that had juvenile crime going rest of them can’t be good, if some of them down are the places that make sure that all are good that they all can’t be good. That those kids have something positive to say yes is not true. It is not true that because it’s to, even as they’re being told to say no to a public institution we can’t achieve excel- the wrong things. So I want the schools to lence everywhere. If that were true, we’d be able to do that in every community where have some good Army units and some bad it’s needed in the United States. Army units. And we’d be afraid to go to war, We have to make sure that we do every- and you wouldn’t sleep well at night. Isn’t thing we can to help our classroom teachers that right? be the best they can be. For years, educators So you do not have to accept the feeling worked to establish nationally accepted cre- that you know this wonderful principal, and dentials for excellence in teaching through if only everybody else could be that way. That the National Board for Professional Teaching is simply not true. Leadership can be taught, Standards, which is headquartered here in leadership can be trained, and 90 percent of Detroit, Michigan. the children in this country plus—99 percent Now, Michigan has the third highest num- of them—can learn what they need to know ber of board-certified master teachers in the to succeed and triumph in the modern world. country, and that’s a good thing. But there They can do it, and we have to do it. [Ap- are still only a few hundred who have been plause] board-certified. My new budget will enable Now that you’ve clapped, I will say they 100,000 teachers all across America to seek are capable of it, but they don’t know it today. certification as master teachers. And our goal Let’s face the fact. The truth is that 40 per- should be to have one certified master teach- cent of the fourth graders in this country still er in every single school in America. That cannot read a book on their own. In Germany will make more master teachers we need for or Singapore, students learn 15 to 20 math those schools, and I hope we can do it. subjects in depth every year. Typically in the As has already been said today, I do be- United States, we run over 30 or 35 every lieve that we need a strong system of public year in a superficial way. Then we have these education that gives parents and commu- comparative tests. They normally win, espe- nities more freedom and flexibility. I think cially since they stay in school longer than we should work together to give parents we do, day-in and day-out, year-in and year- more choices for what public schools their out. Administration of William J. Clinton, 1997 / Mar. 6 295

But without these skills, children will not school districts north of Chicago, and they be able to develop the capacity to think and finished tied for first in science and tied for to reason and to analyze complex problems. second in math, I think. Very impressive. All these skills will be essential to succeeding Unfortunately, these tests also don’t pro- in the world of the 21st century in jobs that vide scores for individuals, they simply meas- have not been invented or even imagined yet. ure how an entire area or group of people Now, what do we have to have? We have are doing. What we need are exams that will got to have high standards, high expectations, literally measure the performance of each and high levels of accountability. That is why and every student in each and every school. I have challenged our Nation to meet these That way, parents and teachers will know national standards in the basics, not Federal how every child is doing compared to other Government standards but national stand- students in other schools, other States, and ards, representing what every child, wher- other countries. And most important of all, ever he or she lives, however poor, rich, or they will know how the child is doing com- middle class he or she is, must know to do pared to what you need to know to go for- well in the world of the 21st century. And ward. I think we should begin by having every State And I want to make it clear what the dif- test every fourth grader in reading and every ference is. It doesn’t matter if your child eighth grader in math by 1999 to make sure makes the highest grade in the class if no- these basic standards are met. body gets over the standards bar. Conversely, We already have widely accepted rigorous in this sense it doesn’t matter if your child standards in both reading and math and makes the lowest grade in the class if every- widely used tests that are based on these body gets over the standards bar. That’s the standards. They’re just not given to everyone difference. We have a lot of these standard- or designed to be given to everyone. Michi- ized tests. We need tests that test to the gan and more than 40 other States have par- standards, that say whether you have crossed ticipated in a test called the National Assess- the threshold of what you must know to do ment of Education Progress. The education well in the world of tomorrow. committee members in the audience call it That’s why I’m presenting a plan to help the NAEP test. It measures a State’s overall the States meet and measure these standards. performance against a high national standard Over the next 2 years, the Department of of excellence. Education will support the development of Just last week we released the annual as- new tests for the fourth grade reading and sessment of math performance and it shows, the eighth grade math, to show how every across the country, that our 4th-, 8th-, and student measures up to high and widely ac- 12th-graders are doing better. And as the cepted standards. They’ll be developed by Governor said, Michigan’s score is among the independent experts in consultation with most improved in the Nation. leading math and reading teachers. The Fed- Tens of thousands of students across the eral Government will not require them, but country have also taken the Third Inter- these tests will be made available to every national Math and Science Survey, a test that State that chooses to administer them. That reflects world-class standards our children is the significance of the announcement that must meet in math and science. The head- the Governor made. I want to create a cli- quarters for that test is just down the road mate in which no one can say no, in which at Michigan State. And I want to thank Dr. it’s voluntary but you are ashamed if you William Schmidt at Michigan State for his don’t give your kids the chance to do this. leadership of this important study. I think Together, we are saying this. This is not he’s here with us today. Where are you, Dr. a partisan issue. There is no Democratic or Schmidt? He’s here somewhere. Thank you Republican way to teach. There is no Mary- very much, sir. land or Michigan way to learn. Reading is If you saw the State of the Union Address, reading; math is math. No school board or you know there are a group of children in State legislature can rewrite the rules of alge- northern Illinois that took this test in 20 bra in Alaska to make them different than 296 Mar. 6 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1997 they are in Arkansas. It cannot be done. to help, and I might say in the last budget Every State must put politics aside, work in we added 200,000 more work-study slots, and a bipartisan fashion, test our children in the there’s another 100,000 in this budget, so same rigorous way. Politics should stop at the we’ll go to a million kids on work-study, and schoolhouse door. I want 100,000 of that extra 300,000 to help This will not be easy. Some of our children teach our children to read. And I’m pleased won’t do very well at first. We don’t need that 16 Michigan college presidents have al- to make them feel like failures; we need to ready pledged to provide their fair share of make them understand we’re doing this so those students. we can know how to measure their success. I don’t know if you remember what we If they don’t do very well at first, it’s probably did that hot August day, but Elizabeth and more our fault than theirs. And a lot of it, Justin read ‘‘The Little Engine That Could’’ I will say again, is because when we see peo- to me, and I said I want every child to be ple in difficult circumstances, sometimes out able to do this and say, ‘‘Here’s this book, of the goodness of our heart, we exercise our and I can read this all by myself.’’ compassion by expecting less of them. And Today Elizabeth and Justin are here with we are selling their future right down the us, and I would like to ask them to stand drain every time we do it. up. Where are they? They’re out there. I can tell you, over the last several years— There they are. Thank you. I will do what you know, I was a Governor a long time— I can to help your young people be ready I served with Governor Engler; I served with to be tested. I am asking the Department Governor Blanchard; I served with Governor of Education and the National Science Foun- Milliken. I have been all over this country dation to identify and coordinate resources to schools. I have seen schools in areas with throughout the Federal Government and high murder rates, where it was unsafe to through the nonprofit sector that can be used get in the school, where there were no guns, to help students to meet the math standards. no knives, no dope, no dropout, and test I want to help young people learn more scores were above the State average. I could science as well and to make the Government go through example after example after ex- a resource. ample. And every time I see one, I get more The Federal Government has some of the hopeful and more angry, because if you can world’s most esteemed laboratories and re- have one good school where the kids are search institutions. We ought to make sure learning against all the odds and all the obsta- every high school math and science teacher cles, then you know when you leave that has easy access to the work of these labora- school there is no excuse for that not happen- tories and the experts there through the ing everywhere. This will help that happen Internet, and we’re going to do our best to everywhere. This will help that happen ev- set up that kind of system and make it avail- erywhere. able to all of your teachers so they can in Let me make a comment now about one turn make it available to your students. We other part of this education program that I can do this. We can do this. think is very important, and that’s our Amer- We can also meet the challenge of welfare ica Reads program. We announced it here reform, and I can’t leave here without talking in Michigan last August in Wyandotte, when to you about it for a couple of minutes, be- I was there on my train trip. And I did it cause I want to make it clear where we are with the help of two elementary school stu- now, and this is something else we’ve got to dents, Justin Whitney and Elizabeth do together. In the last 4 years, the welfare Schweyen. We announced the America rolls went down by 21⁄2 million people, the Reads challenge. We set a goal mobilizing largest drop in the history of the country. a million volunteer tutors to help every 8- Now, how did that happen? And Michigan year-old learn to read independently. We’re had a reduction of 30 percent, above the na- going to use 11,000 of our AmeriCorps vol- tional average. How did that happen? unteers to mobilize and train the army, we’re We know that about half the drop was the going to get at least 100,000 college students result of the economy producing 111⁄2 million Administration of William J. Clinton, 1997 / Mar. 6 297 jobs. We know about 30 percent to a third And how many jobs would that mean we’d of it was the result of the fact that 43 of our have to do by county, and how are we going States had vigorous welfare reform experi- to do this. ments, and the ones that were statewide, like Basically, if you look at the law’s require- yours, had better results. We know that there ments and the fact that it’s phased in, the were some result from the fact that we in- requirement for States to put a certain num- creased child support collections, working to- ber of people at work, you will have to— gether to get really tough within the States as a nation, we will have to create about an- and across State lines. Child support collec- other million, a little bit less, maybe 900,000 tions went up by 50 percent in the last 4 jobs for welfare recipients only, and move years, and we know that helped some people approximately another 21⁄2 million people off to get off welfare. welfare in the next 4 years to meet the re- Now we have a new law, and the new law quirements of the law. says there should be time limits for how long Now, in the last 4 years, we did it with a person could be on welfare; there should 43 of the 50 States having welfare reform be time limits for how long a person could experiments but only some of them were be on welfare consecutively—2 years before statewide. But we also had 111⁄2 million jobs. getting a job. There are tough work require- We never had that many before. Maybe we’ll ments. We leave the medical aid and food do it again. I’d like that a lot, and I’ll work aid to poor children and their families in on it hard. But no one can predict with any place. We increased the aid going in child certainty what will happen. care at the Federal level, and then we give So you must imagine, how will we make the States the flexibility to decide how to de- it more attractive—and we don’t have the sign the program to move people from wel- money to have big public service employ- fare to work and support them at an appro- ment. I do have some money in my budget priate level in the meantime. to give to the urban areas especially and to Now, that’s what it does. I signed the bill, isolated rural areas with high impact unem- and I thought it was the right thing to do. ployment to help them do work that needs But I also want you to know that we have to be done anyway in their cities. But that to do now something else; we have to make won’t get the job done. Most of this will have it work. That law was not the end of welfare to be done by private employers. reform; it was the beginning. It gave this Our plan will give tax credits of up to 50 problem to you. You remember what that old percent of the salary up to $10,000 a year country musician Chet Atkins said: ‘‘You got for people that hire people right off the wel- to be careful what you ask for in this old fare roll and do not replace someone else, life, you might get it.’’ And so now you have they hire them for a real new job. It will it. give other incentives for businesses to hire Now, we have been telling poor people people off welfare, and incentives for job they have to be more responsible. ‘‘If you placement firms and for States to create can work, you have to work. You’ve got to more jobs for welfare recipients. You’ll get succeed at home as parents and in the work more money if you create more jobs for force.’’ Now we have a responsibility. You’re them. And if your past is any indication, you’ll telling people they’ve got to go to work; we’ve be one of those that will be claiming the in- got to make sure there’s a job there for them centives, and that’s a good thing. And it does if they go to work. provide more money for training and for Let me say precisely what this means, be- child care and in our budget for the new cause I want to be precise. I think it’s very transportation bill, more money for transpor- important that since the States have respon- tation, because that’s a big issue in a lot of sibility here, every State needs to know ex- places for moving people from welfare to actly how many jobs have we got to create work. in Michigan only for people to move from But you are going to have to get help. And welfare to work, how many jobs in Arkansas, the private employer community and the how many jobs in Arizona, how many jobs. community nonprofits community and the 298 Mar. 6 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1997 religious community, they’re all going to have say—they have to promise that they won’t to help. You also have the option to do some- try to get on welfare, and they won’t take thing else: You can, totally at your own dis- any public money. That is true. But it’s also cretion, let people take some or all of the true it takes 5 years to become a citizen; welfare check and you can give it to the em- meanwhile you work and you pay taxes. And ployer as an employment and training sub- in a country like ours that lets in a significant sidy. And some States are going to have to number of immigrants—in your largest coun- do that because their training dollars are in- ty now, you have people from over 140 dif- adequate so they’re going to have to depend ferent racial and ethnic groups—bad things on on-the-job training. Missouri is doing this are going to happen to good people just when now in the Kansas City area; Florida has they show up every day. There will be car adopted a version of it; a number of other wrecks; there will be serious illnesses; there States have. I urge you to look at that. I think will be crime victims; and I personally think it’s a legitimate thing to give a private em- it’s wrong to either dump that problem on ployer, for a limited period of time, a subsidy the door of the State legislature or, in the for training and for hiring people who are alternative, just tell them to do without. And otherwise very hard to hire. this is a great nation of immigrants. I think That’s another point I want to make. Keep this is unworthy of us, and I’m going to try in mind, about half the welfare caseload gets to change it, and I hope that you will support off on their own. It’s the other half that we that. It would be good for you if you do. have to liberate from permanent depend- Thank you for making me feel so welcome ency, and it’s harder for them to get into the today. Let me say again, you ought to go back work force and harder for them to stay and and get the local paper and read the article harder for them to learn the basic things. And about Teddy Roosevelt. You ought to think so we’re going to have to go out to our em- about what happened in the intervening 90 ployers and say, ‘‘Hey, we want to help you.’’ years. You ought to realize that we have an Or in the case of the churches and the non- even greater opportunity now, and with it a profits, the tax credit is not worth anything greater responsibility to forge a new partner- to them because they don’t pay taxes anyway. ship to deal with the new possibilities of this But the wage subsidy would be worth some- bright new era. And if we seize this respon- thing to them to get them to enlist. sibility of ours, there is no telling what can So, you know, I have really collected—how happen—good and wonderful and positive many employers are there in America with for America. more than 100 employees? How many non- So it is our duty, but it is our good fortune. profits are there? How many religious institu- You ought to go home tonight and thank God tions are there with more than 100 members that you got a chance to serve the public at in the congregation or more than 200 mem- this moment in time. It is a rare time. And bers? Every State needs this information. you ought to wake up tomorrow determined Every community needs this information, to do it with greater energy and enthusiasm and those folks need to be hit up to do their and dedication than ever before. part, especially if you ever heard anybody in Thank you, and God bless you. your local neighborhood cussing the welfare system who works people. Go back and say, NOTE: The President spoke at 11:36 a.m. in the ‘‘Okay, we got rid of it. Now what are you House of Representatives Chamber at the State going to do? What are you going to do? We Capitol. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. John need your help.’’ Engler, Lt. Gov. , Attorney Gen- The last thing I wanted to say is—and this eral Frank J. Kelley, and former Gov. William may be a moderate problem in Michigan, will Milliken of Michigan; Curtis Hertel, Speaker of the House; Mayor Dick Hollister of Lansing; be a huge problem in some States—I signed House Majority Leader ; Senate Mi- the welfare reform bill, but I said when I nority Leader John Cherry; Senate Majority Lead- signed it I thought we made a mistake to er ; Rev. Wendell Anthony, Fel- eliminate all aid to legal immigrants. Now, lowship Chapel, Detroit, MI, who gave the invoca- when an immigrant comes to America, they tion; William Schmidt, professor, Michigan State Administration of William J. Clinton, 1997 / Mar. 6 299

University; and James J. Blanchard, Ambassador is below average in math and just above aver- to Canada and former . age in science. That isn’t acceptable; in this technology-rich information era, our students Statement by the President on the need to perform much better in both sub- Death of President Cheddi Jagan of jects, but especially in math, if they are to excel at higher-level math and science Guyana courses that are critical to college admission March 6, 1997 and success and to citizenship, productive employment, and lifelong learning. It was with deep regret that I learned of The first step in raising achievement is lift- the death early today of President Cheddi ing expectations and setting high standards Jagan of the Co-operative Republic of Guy- for what students should know and be able ana. President Jagan was a respected states- to do. Our National Assessment of Edu- man in our hemisphere of democracies. He cational Progress, TIMSS, and the standards was one of the founders of the People’s Pro- developed by the National Council of Teach- gressive Party and for over 45 years played ers of Mathematics give us a solid framework an active role in his country’s political life. to build on. Last month, to help parents and I remember warmly our meeting at the teachers learn who needs help, what changes Miami Summit of the Americas in December in teaching to make, and which schools need 1994. President Jagan was a champion of the to improve, I asked the Secretary of Edu- poor who devoted himself to alleviating pov- cation to develop a voluntary national test for erty in his country and throughout the Carib- individual eighth-grade students based on bean. widely accepted, challenging national stand- On behalf of the American people, I ex- ards in mathematics. The national test will tend my deepest sympathies to the Jagan be available to States and local school dis- family and the people of Guyana. tricts to give to their students in the spring of 1999, and will measure whether students Memorandum on Educational have reached a high level of mathematics Excellence in Math and Science proficiency. The primary responsibility for achieving March 6, 1997 high standards rests with students, teachers, Memorandum for the Secretary of Education, parents, and schools in local communities the Director of the National Science across America. However, it is imperative Foundation that we work to ensure that Federal re- sources support student success as well. We Subject: Preparing Students to Meet must ensure that Federal programs, re- National Standards of Excellence in Eighth search, and human resources are used as ef- Grade Math and Improving Math and fectively as possible to help improve teaching Science Education and learning. Since the early 1980s, U.S. elementary and Therefore, I direct the Secretary of Edu- secondary school students have begun taking cation and the Director of the National tougher courses, and we are starting to see Science Foundation to form an interagency the results. National Assessment of Edu- working group and to develop an action strat- cational Progress scores have improved in egy for using Federal resources to assist math and science, with gains in mathematics States and local school systems to prepare equal to at least one grade level. On the students to meet challenging math standards Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), average in eighth grade, and for involving the mathe- math scores are at their highest in 25 years, matics, scientific, and technical communities even as the number and diversity of test-tak- in support of these efforts. ers have increased. However, the eighth- The action strategy should include rec- grade results of the 41-Nation Third Inter- ommendations for the use of Federal re- national Math and Science Study (TIMSS), sources to help States, local school districts, released last fall, show that the United States and schools to improve teaching, upgrade