Remarks to the National Education Association in San Francisco, California - Pres William J. Clinton - July 5, 1993 - Transcript

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, July 12, 1993 by Bill Clinton

Along with Europe and the Western Hemisphere, Asia is where we must find much of our growth in the next few years. In recent years, when we looked across the Pacific, we focused on our trade difficulties with Japan. Well, the trade deficit with Japan is real, unacceptable, and we're working very hard to take some steps with Japan to deal with that. But our relationships with the Pacific for the most part are good for us, and we will benefit from them.

We must never forget how much we've already benefited from all the immigrants who have come to this Nation, many of them to this State, from all the nations of Asia. We can build on that for a brighter future.

I want to lay out ways in which we can make our relationship with Japan, with Korea, and with these other nations stronger. I hope we will have a new global agreement on more open trade before the end of the year. I hope we can coordinate our efforts with these countries because when we do that, it really affects jobs in your community.

These kinds of policies are important, but they're not sufficient, and that's where you come in. Our policies can open the door to new opportunities for the American people, but whether they can walk through the door depends on whether they are educated and trained for the new global economy. Without the knowledge, without the skills, without the temperament, without the drive to capitalize on opportunities, America will still not be what it ought to be.

One hundred years ago our Nation's wealth was based on raw materials. Fifty years ago it was based on the huge capacity we had for mass production. Today it's based on what our people know and what they can learn. That's why the very best investment we can make is in the one resource that remains firmly rooted within our borders, the people who live in the United States of America.

When I was a boy, education was touted, as it always has been, as America's great equalizer. It is still that. But today, it is America's great energizer as well, the best change agent we can possibly have. It binds us together, it draws our youngsters in, it moves them ahead, it builds their self-worth, it in-stills a sense of pride and civic responsibility. America's public schools have been the cornerstones of progress for over two centuries, from the little red schoolhouses, to land grant colleges, to hundreds of community colleges that gave the children of working parents a chance to make something of themselves. We have seen what education can do.

Now there are school-to-work programs launched in cities and suburbs and rural districts around the country that are giving people the real chance to compete for a lifetime. And now I go into educational settings, and I see people in their twenties, their thirties, their forties, their fiffies, their sixties, sometimes their seventies, leaming anew for the challenges and opportunities they face.

You know better than anyone else the immense challenges that you face in our schools because they have such ambitious goals and such difficult and challenging obstacles. No other nations as I said before, tries to teach so many students from so many backgrounds and cultures and languages. You shoulder our country's hardest and most important work. That's why we need to make sure that you and your schools are ready for the 21st century. That's what the national education goals are all about, to ensure that every child enters school ready to learn, to get rid of drugs and violence and make our schools safe. Several weeks ago, our administration's "Safe Schools Act" was introduced into the House and the Senate. It is a good beginning. We cannot expect the students of this country to reach high achievement when their very safety or the safety of their teachers is in danger.