Remarks to the community in Carbondale

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Sept 18, 1995

September 11, 1995

Thank you, Jason. Thank you, Ted Sanders. I want to thank Senator Paul Simon and Senator Carol Moseley-Braun for being here and Representatives Jerry Costello, Glenn Poshard, and Dick Durbin, the SIU Carbondale President John Guyon, and I want to welcome all of the colleges and universities that are connected to us by satellite all around the country. Mayor Dillard, I thank you for being here, and I want to compliment the Saluki Marching Band and the pep band. Thank you for your music. Great job. I know that we have a lot of schoolchildren here, but I've got an especially large number of invitations from one middle school that marched here as a group, the Lincoln Middle School. There they are over there. Thank you very much. [Applause] I also want to thank all the national service AmeriCorps members who are here and who are working in southern Illinois.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am glad to be back here at SIU, a place which has a very warm place in my heart. I spoke here in 1991 just before I declared as a candidate for President of the United States. It was a memorable evening. I've been back here since then. This is the first time I've been as President, and I am very, very glad to be back here. I've had a wonderful day, and I thank you for making me feel so welcome.

I came here today to talk to you about the future of education in America, the role of the student aid programs in that future, and the decisions that will be made about the national budget in the next 60 to 90 days that will-affect your future and the future of all Americans.

One hundred and thirty-seven years ago this week in Jonesboro, just down the road here about 20 miles, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held one of their famous debates According to a newspaper report at the time, interest in the event was not what it should have been. When the candidates arrived in town, they were met, and I quote, by "two yoke of steers and a Stephen Douglas banner hanging bottom-upwards." [Laughter] Well, I didn't see any cattle on my way in, and all of the banners I've seen today are rightside-up, and there seems to be a good deal of interest. So I thank you for that, and I'm glad to see you.

It's appropriate that we're here talking about the student loan issue because, as I'm sure all of you know, about halfway between here and Jonesboro is Senator Paul Simon's hometown of Makanda. Senator Simon is retiring from the Senate this year, but I want everybody in this audience to know that more than anyone else in the United States Congress, he was instrumental in supporting our efforts to pass the direct loan program in 1993, and no one has done more to make the dream of a college education a reality for all American students than Paul Simon of Illinois.

The Lincoln-Douglas debates were historic because they occurred at an historic time over an historic issue. The issue then was slavery and whether our country would remain united or be divided, and everyone knew the whole future of the country depended on how it was resolved.

Today at the dawn of a new century, we are in the midst of another period of historic change. The issue today is the end of the cold war and traditional industrial society and the growth of the global economy, the information and technology age and whether we can preserve the American dream for all Americans in this new world. And the whole future of the country depends upon how we answer that great issue, just as it did in 1858.

How do we keep the American dream alive in a world where jobs and capital, technology and ideas can travel across borders as fast as the satellite signal that right now is beaming this speech to colleges and universities all around this country? How do we make sure in this age of information where what you can learn depends on what you can earn--determines what you can earn? How can we make sure that there's really opportunity for all people in this country without regard to where they live or what their racial or economic background is?

How can we make sure that your country gives you the chance to make the most of your own life, a gift that was given to me and most other people my age that helped us to make the most of our own lives?

This is a period of intense change, with a lot of wonderful things going on. I honestly believe that the young people in this audience will grow up into an America that will have its best days. I think the future is still going to be better than the past but if, only if we meet the challenges of this time.

Let's face it, folks, these changes that are going on are awfully good for people who have an education, people who can be in the forefront of the change. They're pretty tough on millions and millions and millions of hardworking families that are being discarded by big companies as they downsize, forgotten by economic units for which they worked for 10, 20, sometimes 30 years; people who don't have a very good education and can no longer get the kind of jobs they used to or if they get a job never, ever, ever seem to get a raise; not so good for the million Americans who are working every year who lose their health insurance. Why? Because all these changes are uprooting people, uprooting companies, uprooting ties that used to bind. We know--we know--that unless we can better educate our people, too many of them will be left behind in the global economy of the 21st century. We know, today, that for 20 years most Americans earning hourly wages have been working harder and harder for the same or lower wages--for 20 years. And we know that if we want to preserve the American dream for all of you, we have got to turn that around. And we know how to do it.