Remarks at the Earle High School Dedication Ceremony in Earle, Arkansas

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Dec 20, 1999

The idea is that you've got to train the teachers, because it is going to be more and more possible every day for every school in America to offer lessons like these, things that would have been undreamed just a couple years ago simply because of technology, if all the teachers can access it and make the most of it and get the students involved in it. The second thing I want to say is we're going to hold two conferences to help rural communities gain access to all the Federal programs that exist today but that are too hard for many small rural towns with part-time mayors and small staffs to keep up with.

On March 9, next year, in Jonesboro, the Department of Education--thank you, Secretary Riley--will host a conference to help law enforcement officers and rural educators learn how to apply for school safety and drug prevention grants to develop safer schools. Then the Department will host a conference in Helena to help rural colleges obtain grants and assistance from Federal agencies so that nobody will ever be denied access to college or a good college education because of where they live or what their income is. These things are very, very important.

Now, let me just say this in closing. We can do all this, but the students have to do the most. You've got to believe that just because you live in a part of the country that had a tough time in the last 15 years when the whole economy changed and the world dumped upside down, you've still got to believe that you're just as smart as anybody anywhere. I believe that, and you've got to believe that.

But you also have to believe what that great genius Sigmund Freud said. He said, "Genius is 90 percent effort." Or, you know, I can't remember which great athlete said, "You know, a lot of athletics is luck, and it's amazing; the harder I practice, the luckier I get."

So the students here have to be committed to this. We can give you the tools of the 21st century; we can give you a chance to dramatically leapfrog the economic as well as the educational prospects that might have otherwise been here for you; but you've still got to show up for work every day. You've got to suit up as students the way you suit up in athletics or in band or anything else. You've got to suit up.

Now, it's more fun with the computers; it's more exciting with these modem programs. But I'm telling you, the future of this country, not just the future of this community and this county and this part of our State, the future of this country is riding on whether all of our children, without regard to their race or their background, can make the most of their God-given abilities. And to do it, you've got to be willing to work; and to be willing to work, you've got to believe. Nobody will pay a price for a goal that he or she believes cannot be obtained anyway.

And the thing that I liked the best about this whole day was Jimmi saying when she got to introduce me and shake hands with me and she thought about me meeting President Kennedy, she realized she could do anything. That's true for the rest of you, so go out and do it.