Remarks at Eden Prairie High School in Eden Prairie

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, March 11, 2002

March 4, 2002

Thank you for that warm welcome. It's nice to be here at the home of the Screaming Eagles. They tell me you've got a good football team and a good high porn squad. But I'm really not interested in talking about athletics. I'm here because of the achievements, the academic achievements of the students, the quality of the teaching, and the involvement of the parents. I'm here because this is one of America's finest public schools.

I believe strongly in the hope and promise of the public school system all across America. And I know how important it is to thank our teachers, to thank those who come to your classrooms every day, to wish them the best, and to herald such a noble and important profession for the future of our country. I'm here to talk about teaching and its responsibilities and how our country can do a better job of supporting America's teachers. I know--look, I am sure a lot of you are out there saying, "The guy is still talking about teaching. I really get tired of seeing my teacher"--[laughter]--"particularly at test time," [Laughter] Trust me, you're going to miss your teachers. They're an important part of your life, and they're an important part of our country's future.

I really want to thank the--[applause]--I just had a meeting with a group of teachers from all over the area, and I want to thank them for being there to share some thoughts about how to make sure the school systems work as good as they possibly can. I want to thank Jeff, your school's principal, for, gosh, opening up this huge facility and inviting so many people here. I want to thank the superintendent of schools, Bill Gaslin. I want to thank my friend Mark Yudof from the University of Minnesota, who understands that--[applause]. About seven people appreciate you, Mark. [Laughter] I want to thank-the reason Mark--I want to herald Mark is that he understands that in order for a teacher to be able to teach, the teacher colleges have got to teach a curriculum that actually works in the classroom. And I appreciate his leadership.

I want to thank members of the U.S. congressional delegation, Gutknecht and Kennedy and Ramstad, for being here as well. Thank you all for coming. I want to thank my friend Norm Coleman, former mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota. Mary Kiffmeyer, the secretary of state, is here as well; thank you, Mary. And Christine Jax, the education commissioner of Minnesota, is here too. Thank you all for coming.

Before I talk about the importance of education and teaching, I do want to talk to the students about my desire to defend freedom, to try to put some context to what's taking place overseas into your life.

You know, I'm sure it must have been troubling for high school seniors to turn on their TV--or high school juniors or sophomores, for that matter--to see America under attack. When we grew up, the baby boomers and everybody else, we never really thought we'd be attacked. I mean, the last thing that I entered my mind when I was getting out of high school in 1964 is that an enemy would attack America. And yet, here you are graduating from high school, the first high school class to ever have seen the 48 contiguous States attacked by an enemy.

And when they attacked us, they thought we were soft and materialistic. They thought our Nation had no fiber and no courage. They fell prey to images of a selfish American--a selfish America. And my, did they make a huge mistake, because this nation will defend ourselves and freedom at any price. It is too precious a gift--it is too precious a gift for future generations to give up to terrorists.

And you're probably wondering, why would somebody hit us? And it's because we love freedom. There are people in the world who cannot stand a free society. There are people who do not believe that you should be able to worship freely. There are people who do not believe you should be able to speak freely. There are people who do not believe that young women should be educated. And when they find a nation that's willing to defend freedom, they try to attack it.

You know, I laid out an initiative that said, you're either with us, or you're against us; either you stand with America to defend freedom, so that you can grow up and your children can grow up in a society, in a civilized world that values individual freedoms. And most nations of the world chose to be with us. And for that, our Nation is grateful.

I also said that if you harbor a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, if you try to encourage a terrorist, you're just as guilty as those who murdered thousands of innocent Americans. And the Taliban has found out exactly what we meant.

I am so proud of our United States military. Many of you who have got relatives in the military, you need to tell them how proud I am of their service and of their sacrifice and of their dedication.

We went into Afghanistan not as conquerors but as liberators. It's hard for you to believe, I'm certain, that Afghanistan, when it was taken over by the Taliban--a government that sponsored terrorism, that allowed Al Qaida killers to hide and train in their country--would not allow young girls to go to school. It's hard for any American to understand how barbaric this regime was. We didn't go in as conquerors. We went in as liberators, and now women and children are free from the clutches of these barbaric people.