Remarks at Four Seasons Elementary School in Gambrills, Maryland

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Sept 15, 1997

This should be something that has nothing to do with party politics. I think every American, Republicans, Democrats, independents, should favor high standards. I think people from all backgrounds should want all of our children to learn at a high level. And believe it or not, even though there are a lot of good things going on in America, and even though English and reading is the same in Maryland as it is in Montana, and mathematics is the same in California as it is in Maine, there is still no national standard to say whether every child has learned to read well enough. So that's what we're trying to do.

We are trying to establish a fourth-grade standard of reading and an eighth-grade standard of math by 1999 that will tell us all whether our children are learning what they need to know and, most important, will give you the assurance you need that your future is going to be bright if you work hard and learn what you need to know.

I want to thank Governor Glendening. He was the first Governor in the country to support the movement toward national education standards. And I thank Maryland's commissioner of education and all the others who have supported this effort here in Maryland.

I also want to say this - I said this before - there are a lot of children in America whose parents weren't born here, a lot of children in America who themselves weren't born here, but there is no child in America who can't meet these standards. I believe all children can learn, don't you? Don't you believe all your classmates can learn?

Students. Yes!

The President. Don't you believe, if you get the help you need and if you work at it, you can learn what you need to know to make a success of your life?

Students. Yes!

The President. And don't you think you have a right to get the kind of education that will let you go as far as your dreams want?

Students. Yes!

The President. I do, too. And that's what this is about.

So I want to make sure all of our children are treated fairly. I want to make sure that all of them have the tools they need to achieve what they need to achieve. But I have found what I see here: When you expect high achievement from students, they always give it to you. And when you have low expectations of people, that's a mistake.

So I believe in you, and I believe in your future. These tests that we propose to give are voluntary. No school or school district will be forced to use them if they don't want to. But they will give us a sense of a national level of achievement in reading for fourth graders, in math for eighth graders. They'll be developed by an independent, bipartisan board. There's no politics in this, only our children.

But let me say this in closing, I'm not afraid of what America's children can do. I believe in what America's children can do. I'm not disturbed by the fact that we're becoming a more diverse country. I'm excited by it. After all, we're going to be living in a global society where we'll be tied to other nations by economic and cultural ties. And the fact that America is a great democracy that has people from everyplace else living here, as citizens, making their own way, is a good thing.