Remarks to the community at Jackson Mann Elementary School in Allston, Massachusetts

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Feb 8, 1999

February 2, 1999

Thank you so much. First, I would like to thank all those who have joined us today. Governor, thank you for your remarks and your commitment. To Senator Kennedy and Senator Kerry, to Congressman Moakley and Congressman McGovern, and the other members of the Massachusetts delegation, I couldn't ask for stronger supporters and leaders for the cause of education.

Mayor, thank you for setting an example which I hope will be followed by every mayor in the country in terms of your commitment to education. I want to congratulate Boston on stealing your superintendent, Tom Payzant, from the Department of Education and my administration. [Laughter] I forgive you for that. [Laughter] You have given a lot more to me than you have taken, and it is a gift to the children of this city.

I'd like to thank Dr. Joanne Collins Russell and Gail Zimmerman and the faculty and the students, the chorus here at Jackson Mann, all of you, for making us feel so at home. Thank you so much. I want to thank the legislators and the local officials, the others who are here.

I'm glad to be here. I heard a lot about this school. Tom Menino told me the last time he was here that you gave him pasta. [Laughter] So I didn't eat lunch at the last event - [laughter] - just waiting. That's not true, but it's a good story. He liked the pasta. [Laughter] It is true that he got pasta; it's not true I didn't eat lunch. [Laughter]

But I also want to say to all of you, I was terribly impressed by what everyone said but most impressed by what your principal and what your teacher said, because it convinced me that this is a school which is going to be able to do right by the children of 21st century America. And every now and then, while I'm going through this talk and tell you what I'm going to propose to Congress, just look up there - there they are; that's America's future. That looks pretty good to me, but it is very different than our past.

When I spoke at the State of the Union last month - to tell the American people that the state of our Union is strong, that our economy is perhaps the strongest it has ever been - I asked the American people to reflect upon what our obligations are in the midst of this economic success, with the social successes we've had, the welfare rolls cut almost in half, the lowest crime rate in a generation. What are we going to do with this?

And I asked the American people to join together to meet the great challenges of a new century - things like the aging of America, helping families balance work and child rearing, helping communities and States and our entire country balance the need to grow the economy with the need to preserve the quality of life and the quality of our environment - big challenges.

There is no challenge larger than giving every child in this country a world-class education, for every child will be not only a citizen of the United States but a citizen of the world. If you look at these children up here, you won't be surprised to know that all over America we not only have the largest group of schoolchildren in history, it is the most racially, ethnically, religiously, culturally diverse group in history.

Now, as the world grows smaller and our contacts with people all over the world on every continent become more frequent and more profound, there is no country in the world better positioned to preserve liberty and prosperity and to be a beacon of hope than the United States. Because as we look more like the world, we will have more advantages to have a positive influence in the world - if, but only if, we prove that we really can build a successful multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural democracy where we say we cherish, we enjoy, we celebrate our diversity, but what we have in common is more important.

And the challenge of this and every school is to make sure that all of our children understand and are proud of what is different about them but also understand and are proud of what they have in common. And understand that all children can learn and all children must learn, and that it will be more important to their generation than to any previous generation of Americans.

The results you're getting here on your test scores, and just the feeling that one gets here in listening to what your principal and your teacher said, make me know that you are on the right track. I was so impressed with Ms. Zimmerman, when she got through, I said, "You did a good job. You ought to run for public office." [Laughter] And she said, "Well, I might." [Laughter] I hope she'll teach a few more classes of kids with that kind of skill and understanding, first.

There are lots of schools - over the last 20 years, Secretary Riley and I used to be Governors together, and I've spent a lot of time in public schools over the last 20 years - a lot of time, a lot of time as President. And this is actually unusual for me, just to come to the meeting like this. Normally when I come to a school, I also visit a class and talk to the teachers and talk to the students and listen and observe.