[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 20 (Wednesday, February 1, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1877-S1879]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


     SECRETARY OF EDUCATION DICK RILEY'S STATE OF EDUCATION ADDRESS

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, earlier today, Secretary of Education 
Dick Riley delivered his State of Education Address. Speaking at Thomas 
Jefferson Middle School in Arlington, VA, he outlined the new and 
promising direction that education reform is now taking, a process that 
is already well under way under the leadership of the Clinton 
administration.
  Secretary Riley pointed out that today, just 8 months after the 
``Goals 2000 Educate America Act'' was signed into law, 44 States are 
designing, from the bottom up, a better education system for the next 
century.
  To succeed as a Nation, we must create a society in which all 
children have a chance to succeed. Education provides that chance. Few 
other investments of taxpayer dollars yield such immense benefits for 
the Nation and its people.
  There is no quick or easy answer to deal with the many challenges 
involved in improving our schools and colleges. Steady progress will 
take time and hard work and the involvement of millions of citizens 
throughout the country. Federal leadership is essential if we are to 
keep moving forward, and President Clinton and Secretary Riley are 
providing it. It is preposterous to suggest that we can do more by 
abolishing or downgrading the Department of Education and cutting the 
budget for education. As Secretary Riley states, the American people do 
not want Congress to cut Federal aid to education that helps Americans 
become more self-reliant.
  I commend Secretary Riley and President Clinton for their vision and 
leadership on education, and for giving it the high priority it 
deserves. We are making wise investments toward meeting our national 
education goals, and we must stay the course, not make a U-turn.
  Mr. President, I believe that Secretary Riley's address will be of 
interest to all of us in the Senate, and I ask unanimous consent that 
it may be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the address was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:
  Turning the Corner: From a Nation at Risk to a Nation With a Future

                         (By Richard W. Riley)


                              INTRODUCTION

       To the students who just sang to us from their hearts--to 
     Sidney and David and Anh and Zelmie--how very proud we are of 
     all of you and your classmates. You are the future of our 
     country; you give us hope and strength.
       I am grateful to Terrel Bell for his very kind 
     introduction. American education owes a debt of gratitude to 
     Terrel Bell for his foresight and leadership. We are on a new 
     course toward excellence and high standards in American 
     education in large part because of Terrel Bell's good deeds a 
     dozen years ago.
       Today, I am honored to make my second annual State of 
     American Education Address here at Thomas Jefferson Middle 
     School in Arlington, Virginia * * * to tell you that we are 
     no longer a nation at risk, but a nation on the move * * * a 
     nation turning the corner, raising its standards and reaching 
     for excellence for the 21st century.
       It is so appropriate that we should come together at a 
     school named in honor of Thomas Jefferson--the president who 
     wrote to John Adams that he could ``not live without books,'' 
     and the founder of a great American institution of higher 
     learning, the University of Virginia.
       Were he alive today, I have no doubt that Jefferson, ever 
     the scientist and inventor, would be, at this very moment, in 
     the computer lab uplinking to the Internet's World Wide Web.
       But Jefferson would have to be quick because the classrooms 
     and computers here at Thomas Jefferson are always in use. 
     This school is a community bursting with energy and learning, 
     day and night. Thomas Jefferson is a school that reflects 
     many of the new dynamics shaping the future of American 
     education.
       We are, for example, in the midst of another baby boom. In 
     the next ten years, an additional 7.1 million children are 
     going to get up in the morning and go to school. Another 7.1 
     million children.
       And at the same time that we are helping these brand new 
     students become part of America's strength, we must raise 
     standards and tech Americans of all ages some very new and 
     demanding skills.
       Now, every child still must learn the basics. I am a great 
     believer in the fundamentals. You simply can't get ahead if 
     you cannot read, write and figure out how much change the 
     checkout clerk should give you. But in this day and age, 
     using computers and recognizing the discipline of the arts 
     and the power of science all have to be seen as new 
     fundamentals for all our children.
       This is a critical time for American education * * * a 
     turning point.


                TURNING THE CORNER; A NATION ON THE MOVE

       So what, then, is the state of American education today 
     given these and other new dynamics? I believe that we are, at 
     long last, turning the corner * * * moving from being a 
     nation at risk to a nation with a hopeful future. We are 
     starting to win the battle for excellence and good 
     citizenship in American education.
       Why am I becoming optimistic? Student performance in 
     reading, science and math is on the rise, and we have made up 
     much of the ground we lost in the 1970s. The number of high 
     school students taking the core academic courses is 
     increasing, up 27 percentage points since 1983, and still 
     rising. Many more students, particularly minority students, 
     are participating in the advanced placement process.
       The dropout rate has declined in the last decade, and young 
     people are getting the message that graduation from high 
     school is only the stepping-stone to more learning. There is 
     a new seriousness and appreciation for the value of 
     education. The percentage of students attending college is 
     higher than any other developed country. Community colleges 
     are filling up as never before. And our great institutions of 
     higher learning still produce world-class graduates.
       Now, we still have many problems. Overall achievement is 
     still too low. The dropout rate for our Hispanic youth is too 
     high; the gap in performance of African-American, Hispanic, 
     and poor children is still too large; violence in some 
     schools remains a destructive force; too many college 
     freshmen are still in remedial classes; and I am increasingly 
     concerned about a growing trend to de-emphasize the value of 
     our nation's wonderful system of higher education.
       But all across America there is great energy and commitment 
     to the progress of education. In Colorado, Governor Roy Romer 
     has taken the lead in calling for high standards and
      comprehensive reform. In Massachusetts, Governor Weld is 
     using Goals 2000 money to support the creation of charter 
     schools.
       In Minnesota, thousands of parents are signing compacts to 
     improve their children's learning. And the Parents-as-
     Teachers (PAT) program in Missouri continues to add value to 
     education by having parents help other parents.
       In Columbus, Ohio, Project Discovery is leading a statewide 
     effort to improve math and science instruction. In Illinois, 
     a new technology initiative now links public schools to 
     scientists at Northwestern University.
       Good work is being done in many states to design tougher 
     standards for our young people and establish real 
     accountability. And, two weeks ago, 81 middle school teachers 
     received the first national certificates for meeting the most 
     rigorous of standards.
       Kentucky, a state that has done so much in school reform, 
     is now reporting dramatic improvement in mathematics, 
     reading, science, and social studies based on their new, 
     challenging academic standards.
       We are starting to see a difference. Above all, we are 
     starting to overcome the greatest 
     [[Page S1878]]  barrier to the future of American education: 
     the tyranny of low expectations.
       And the intensity of activity at the state and local levels 
     is being matched by the strong bipartisan commitment of 
     Congress and President Clinton to put excellence back into 
     American education.
       Passage of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act; the 
     creation of a new School-to-Work Opportunity Act; our new 
     direct lending program; our new substantial investment in 
     technology; the refocusing of our research arm; the Safe 
     Schools Act, the creation of AmeriCorps; and the expansion of 
     Headstart are all part of the national effort to move 
     American education forward.


                      the uniqueness of goals 2000

       So I am pleased to report to you today that just eight 
     months after the President signed Goals 2000 into law, 44 
     states are now moving forward in designing--from the bottom 
     up--an education system for the 21st century.
       Goals 2000 is the driving force behind the ongoing effort 
     across this country to raise standards, to get technology 
     into the classroom, and to make sure that we set high 
     expectations for every young person, every teacher and every 
     parent.
       I want to emphasize that Goals 2000 is the very model of 
     how we can help the states and local schools without 
     smothering them with regulations. Our Department of Education 
     has decided to have no regulations governing this $400 
     million program--no regulations--and the state applications 
     form is just four pages long. But accountability is there--by 
     testing to high state standards. About 98 percent of all the 
     funding in Goals 2000 goes directly to the states and in its 
     second year, 90 percent of all funding will flow directly to 
     local school districts.
       I want to take a moment to speak directly to the critics of 
     this most important piece of legislation. I am not an 
     advocate of a ``national exam;'' nor am I an advocate of 
     federal intrusion into state and local decision making. I did 
     not come to Washington to save the job of a bureaucrat or to 
     defend old ways of doing business.
       I am a strong supporter of applying ample doses of American 
     ingenuity and creativity to our educational system. We need 
     to encourage ideas such as charter schools and public school 
     choice; be flexible and recognize that students learn in many 
     different ways; and carefully think through how we use time 
     in the school day.
       But we must always have accountability in public 
     education--for the sake of both the children and the American 
     taxpayer. Accountability is so important. That is one 
     important reason why I do not support the ``silver bullet'' 
     solution of using public tax dollars for private school 
     vouchers.
       Above all, we need to avoid the trap that has so often 
     befallen American education: the inability to maintain a 
     sustained drive for excellence. Too often we get distracted 
     by the fad of the moment. What we need now, more than ever, 
     is some old-fashioned American tenacity to stay on course.
       And, I will tell you this--if we roll back the Goals 2000: 
     Educate America Act * * * if we get off course now * * * just 
     when we are turning the corner and giving states and 
     communities the help they request in the form they need it, 
     well then, where will we be? One place we will be is out of 
     step with the American people.
       The American people believe in education, and they believe 
     it should be made a national priority. They know that 
     education is an act of building--the building of people, the 
     building of our nation, and the building of our future.
       Every poll that I have read drives home this essential 
     point: the American people want to invest in education that 
     works. The results of the November election do not tell me 
     that the American people want to go backwards. There is 
     nothing that tells me that they want cuts in student aid for 
     college, nor that they want Congress to cut education that 
     helps the American people become more self-reliant.
       I pledge my full cooperation to the new Congress. We will 
     make an honest review of what federal education programs are 
     working and which ones have seen their time come and now must 
     go.
       But the need to reduce the federal budget deficit must be 
     balanced against our need to invest in America's future. The 
     reduction of the deficit and investing in education are two 
     of the most important and essential ways we can secure this 
     nation's prosperity. In this new Information Age, education 
     must be seen as a national priority.


               the new excellence: six winning americans

       Nothing so exemplifies the progress this nation has made in 
     the last decade than the six special guests who are here 
     today. In 1994, these six students--all from public schools--
     represented this country as the American team at the 35th 
     International Mathematical Olympiad.
       These young Americans did something quite extraordinary. 
     They defeated the very good teams of 69 other nations--and 
     they won with perfect scores. Their victory is surely a 
     personal achievement--and a victory for their teachers, 
     parents, coaches and for all Americans.
       But it is also a reflection of the serious work that has 
     been done in the last decade to achieve a new standard of 
     excellence in American education. The first professional 
     group to produce new academic standards were America's math 
     teachers. My Department and other federal agencies have kept 
     a sharp focus on advancing math and science education, and it 
     is beginning to pay off.
       So it is my great pleasure to present to you the six 
     winning members of the American math team and their coach, 
     Doctor Walter Mientka of the University of Nebraska.


          increasing and protecting access to higher education

       These young Americans clearly represent our very best. Most 
     of them are already in college, and I have no doubt that each 
     of them will achieve and succeed in life. But they are not 
     alone in wanting to advance themselves. Millions of young 
     Americans know the score already: to get ahead in America, 
     you need to have a first-class education.
       This is why we really do need to reinvent the American high 
     school--to create new, concrete links to the world of work 
     and careers--and why access to higher education has got to 
     remain a national priority.
       We intend to maintain and increase our commitment to the 
     Pell Grant program because it is an essential statement of 
     our commitment to higher education.
       And, we are very proud of our Department's efforts to crate 
     and maintain a new direct lending program for college 
     students. This is a program for the 90s. Recently, an 
     American University student told me that she had received her 
     direct loan in 24 hours and at a lower cost * * * and that 
     last year under the old system, it had taken three weeks.
       College presidents are placing a high value on this program 
     because they know that it is working. This program will save 
     the taxpayers $4.3 billion and save students $2 billion by 
     1998.
       I encourage the Congress not to ``cap'' a program that is 
     making college more affordable and accessible--and saving 
     taxpayers money. Every college should have the choice to 
     provide the benefits of this program to their students.


                      middle class bill of rights

       But we need to do more. For the first time in generations, 
     parents are truly worried that they will not be able to pass 
     on the American Dream to their children. And they are not 
     alone. High school and college students know that they have 
     but two choices: they can work longer hours for less pay, or 
     they can get a meaningful education.
       Our economy has added almost 6 million new jobs in the last 
     two years, and many of these require new thinking skills. The 
     economy of the future will be--and already is for millions of 
     Americans--an economy based on what you know and on the 
     skills you have. And we need everybody to build America's 
     future.
       This is why education is the very centerpiece of the 
     President's proposed Middle Class Bill of Rights. The 
     President's proposals to allow a tax deduction for college 
     tuition, to expand IRA withdrawals for education, to create a 
     $2,600 skills grant that empowers working Americans and a 
     $500 child tax credit--are all part of the same effort to 
     make sure every American has a chance to be part of the 
     American Dream.
       I urge all the parents who are thinking ahead about your 
     children's future, to sit down at the kitchen table, talk 
     this proposal through and understand its details. And when 
     you do, you'll understand that President Clinton's proposal 
     is a good one.


               maintaining excellence in higher education

       Now, a word of caution. I am concerned that in the rush to 
     cut budgets, we can do unintentional but very real damage to 
     the jewel of the American educational system--our system of 
     higher education.
       Increasingly, state leaders seem to see higher education as 
     a budget item to be cut rather than as a long-term investment 
     in the future. The federal government, which for much of the 
     1980s increased its funding for basic research, will be hard 
     pressed to maintain this capacity. And, all of us in 
     Washigton--in both the executive and legislative branches--
     have come close to over-regulating over the years.
       Nothing defines these new pressures more than the current 
     budget-cutting proposal in the Congress to eliminate the 
     ``in-school interest subsidy.'' Now, that's a complicated way 
     of saying that if you lose your subsidized student loan--and 
     there are 4.4 million of you who would--you are going to have 
     to pay about 20 percent more on hour student loan--as much as 
     $5,000 more over the life of the loan if you borrow the 
     maximum that is allowable. That's a lot of money.
       This is the wrong way to go. We're not going to build up 
     the middle class by charging students who are trying to get 
     into or stay in the middle class $2 billion extra a year in 
     interest. If this proposal goes through, it will be the 
     largest reduction of financial aid to working American 
     families in the history of this country.


           violence, drugs and the disconnection of our youth

       As we seek to turn the corner, we need to recognize that 
     many young people remain disconnected--growing up on their 
     own--often alone--and in some cases--truly alienated. Last 
     year at this time, I spoke about my very real concern that 
     this disconnection is becoming so pervasive that we were 
     losing touch with one another.
       Nothing defines this disconnection better than the 
     increasing violence by our children, and the increasing 
     violence toward our children. I try hard to understand the 
     causes, 
     [[Page S1879]]  but this I know for sure: the American people 
     have had enough.
       Now, the great majority of America's schools are safe and 
     drug-free. But we cannot ignore the reality of our times. 
     Guns are being brought to schools as tests of manhood. Drugs 
     are being used with greater frequency and at earlier ages. 
     And a $7 movie ticket is all to often a ticket to see a 
     killer use a gun.
       Strong families and schools with high expectations remain 
     our first lines of defense against the spiritual numbness of 
     violence. When 82 percent of all the people in this nation's 
     prisons and jails are high school dropouts, surely, that fact 
     alone should tell us something about the importance of high-
     quality and safe schools in every neighborhood.
       It is not hopeless. The Robert E. Lee High School in 
     Houston, Texas, and the Joseph Timilty School in Roxbury, 
     Massachusetts, are two schools that have turned themselves 
     around. These schools have set high academic standards; they 
     have attacked the culture of violence head-on; and they have 
     involved parents and the community to get results.
       So we must keep our focus on ending the violence. We passed 
     the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Act last year. And if you 
     bring a gun to school, don't expect much sympathy--because 
     you are not playing by the rules.
       But we need to do more. This is why Attorney General Janet 
     Reno and Doctor Lee Brown, our nation's Drug Czar, will join 
     me in the coming months in visiting different communities to 
     encourage and work with people to end the violence.
       And our message to Hollywood is clear and simple: help us 
     raise our children right by ending this fixation that 
     entertainment must always contain violence. By the time young 
     people reach age 18, they have watched 25,000 murders on 
     television alone. Stop glamorizing assassins and killers. I 
     urge you to see this issue through the eyes of parents 
     instead of scriptwriters . . . through the eyes of teachers 
     instead of advertisers.
       Sit down with community leaders, principals, PTA 
     presidents, and the doctors in the trauma units who are 
     struggling so hard to protect the children and mend their 
     communities, and use your power to reach children in a 
     helpful and supportive way.
       Our young people are searching for clearly marked pathways 
     to adult hood that are appropriate for the '90s. In some 
     troubled neighborhoods, gangs have almost replaced the family 
     in laying out a new path to adulthood. And what a terrible 
     path it is--an act of violence, a first arrest, expulsion 
     from school, a place in juvenile hall, time spent in prison 
     and sometimes death, and all before they are 20 years of age.


                 a social compact for public education

       This is why I continue to place great importance on 
     supporting the American family. Last year on this occasion, I 
     announced a new effort to encourage parent involvement in the 
     education of our children. As I said at that time, ``thirty 
     years of research tells us that parent expectations and 
     parental involvement'' is the starting point for improving 
     American education. Parents matter.
       Today, I can report to you that more than 100 
     organizations, including the national PTA, the U.S. Catholic 
     Education Association, the National Alliance for Business, 
     and the Boys' and Girls' Club of America, are actively 
     participating in our Family Involvement Partnership for 
     Learning. There is great energy in this effort.
       I am pleased by the support we are receiving from the 
     American business community. And I am deeply encouraged by 
     the religious leaders of many faiths who came together last 
     December to release a ``Statement of Common Purpose'' 
     articulating their common desire to find new ways to support 
     family involvement in their children education.
       I believe there is an enormous desire on the part of the 
     American people to have new rules of public engagement when 
     it comes to relating to each other. A young student might 
     willfully disobey a teacher or cheat on an exam and think 
     nothing of it; an ambitious politician can
      distort the truth or defame the character of another and be 
     rewarded with more media exposure.
       Listen, in contrast, to these words from a pledge that 
     young people take every day at school in Independence, 
     Missouri:
       ``I am the one and only person who has the power to decide 
     what I will be and do. I will accept the consequences for my 
     decisions. I am in charge of my learning and behavior. I will 
     respect the rights of others and will be a credit to myself, 
     my family, my school, and my community.''
       I believe this is what the American people want for their 
     children. And I agree with them.
       So what does this mean for those of us who are part of the 
     public dialogue about the future of American education? We 
     need to get beyond the idea that everything in America is 
     part of a political game. We are not educating our children 
     as Republicans, Democrats or Independents, but as Americans, 
     and as the future of our great country.
       We need to lower our voices, to listen to one another and 
     surely to listen to our parents and teachers. there is a 
     difference between constructive criticism and the 
     articulation of deeply held convictions--and the tendency by 
     some to define just about everything in public education as 
     useless and at the extreme, even ``corrupt.''


             turning the corner: looking toward the future

       As we look to the future, let us also recognize that we 
     live in a time of great learning and technological 
     achievement. New discoveries by the Hubble telescope are 
     leading astronomers to rethink the very age of the Universe, 
     even as we marvel at the recent unearthing of 20,000-year-old 
     prehistoric paintings in caves in Southern France.
       Scholars are deciphering the Dead Sea Scrolls and the 
     technology of virtual reality is helping to teach disabled 
     children how to drive wheelchairs. Machines the size of 
     molecules are being created by dedicated scientists to heal 
     the sick, and scientists are announcing that they have 
     isolated the DNA of dinosaurs. It is all rather 
     extraordinary.
       Dr. Pat Graham, the former Education Dean at Harvard, wrote 
     in her book, ``In this nation, we have never had a `golden 
     age of learning.' We have had a golden age for some,'' she 
     said, ``but not one for the nation.''
       If ever there was a time for this great nation of ours to 
     have a ``golden age of learning'' for all of our people, now 
     is the time to have it--to create a new ethic of learning--a 
     new standard of excellence.
       Now all this is going to take some decisionmaking, and 
     here, I want to end by telling you a story about a funeral I 
     attended when I was governor of South Carolina.
       The deceased was an elderly lady named Katie Beasley. Katie 
     Beasely was a sharecropper, the mother of six or seven 
     children, who spent her entire life just getting by. At her 
     funeral, an old friend stood up and said that he had spent a 
     good long while trying to think through what made Katie 
     Beasley so special--how it was that she had so little and yet 
     all of her children got an education, got good jobs and were 
     community leaders themselves.
       And he had decided, after a great deal of thought, that 
     what made her special was that she was a decisionmaker. This 
     is what he said: ``Katie decided that an education for her 
     children was important, and she was determined to see that 
     they were all educated. She never looked back,''
       We are at a time for decisionmaking in this country. If we 
     believe, as Katie Beasley believed, that education is a 
     serious matter, and that all of our children must be 
     educated, we too can be successful. It is a matter of having 
     the human spirit to believe in ourselves as a people--and to 
     make the decision to move forward. Everything is in place to 
     educate America--and I think we will with your help.
     

                          ____________________