    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [March 22, 1991]
    [Pages 299-302]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Swearing-In Ceremony for Lamar Alexander as Secretary of
    Education
    March 22, 1991

        The President. Thank you all. Thank you, Bill Carl. It's a pleasure
    to be here to witness the swearing-in of our new Secretary of Education,
    Governor Lamar Alexander. To the members of the Cabinet--and I see so
    many here; distinguished Members of the United States Congress--and I
    see many here; to former Secretaries--I'm told--don't spot them right
    now--that Bill Brock and Mel Laird were here.
        Let me just welcome all of you--those from the White House. I'd like
    to, at the outset of this, pay my respects to the man who is going to do
    the honors, Judge John Minor Wisdom, one of the most distinguished
    jurists in the United States, who is with us here today.
        For a challenge of this magnitude, it is my very good fortune to be
    able to call on a man with Lamar Alexander's considerable experience. He
    comes to this task the son of teachers. He's served as a very valued
    member of our Education Policy Advisory Committee, and most recently
    he's served the students of his home State as president of the
    University of Tennessee. Five years ago, as chairman of the National
    Governors' Association, he piloted the 50-State education survey, ``Time
    for Results,'' a report that put us on the path to the six national
    education goals that guide our efforts from now to the year 2000.
        As a public servant, educator, and author, Lamar Alexander is a true
    renaissance man--a man with great common sense, who knows what works.
    And he's also one of Tennessee's leading philosophers. He's got a saying
    you've probably already heard: ``Today a rooster. Tomorrow a feather
    duster.'' [Laughter]
        Our setting today in this great Air and Space Museum is a fitting
    site for this ceremony. It reminds us of another time when this nation
    set for itself a national goal, that of landing a man on the moon. And
    we did it.
        Lamar Alexander understands that real reform, real restructuring of
    American education can only take place at the State and local level. And
    that's one of the key reasons that I've asked him to become Secretary
    Alexander. He knows the key to success is to make certain education
    reform is national, not Federal. Nationally, we have established goals.
    We're setting standards, establishing priorities, and in the process,
    we're raising expectations. We must bring all levels of government and
    all Americans together--parents, teachers, students, civic and business
    leaders, and all interested citizens--to achieve our goals.
        On the Federal level, we can serve as a catalyst for change. We can
    point the way forward, contribute ideas, and help States and schools
    meet higher, better standards.
        The Department of Education, through research and development, can
    help identify practical ways to improve teaching and learning for all
    students. We also can create incentives for change, and we can start
    with freedom of choice.
        I know this idea has generated its share of controversy. But it
    isn't radical; it's common sense. It rests on a principle central to
    democratic society: the idea that individuals are capable of making wise
    decisions for themselves. In education, the concept of choice recognizes
    that parents are the real

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    experts on what's best for their kids.
        Often, parents with means--families in the mid-to-upper income
    brackets--already have choice. They can send their children to private
    schools or move to districts with the strongest public schools. Poor
    parents don't have these choices. So, let's be clear about who can
    benefit the most from greater freedom of choice. It's poor families who
    will benefit most from a healthy competition in our schools.
        With Lamar as the sparkplug, we're going to move forward towards our
    national goals on many fronts and reiterate our commitment to
    educational excellence. We're going to make our schools better and more
    accountable, and we're going to reward excellence in our teachers. And
    we're going to challenge our children to learn. And we're going to
    encourage all American adults to recognize that learning is a lifelong
    process.
        After all, learning doesn't happen only in school. Lamar likes to
    talk about something he calls the 91-percent factor: the fact that by
    the time the average American youth reaches the age of 18, he's spent 9
    percent of his time in the classroom and 91 percent outside of it. We
    must work as a society to support the kind of values, culture--the vital
    sense of community and, yes, citizenship--that gives real meaning to all
    that our children learn.
        I know some people question whether we can meet the ambitious goals
    we've set for ourselves, whether we can lower the drop-out rate or rise
    to first rank worldwide in math and science. Well, I'm convinced that we
    can. Think about this: the graduating class of the year 2000 is a third-
    grader today. Think about what it means to be an 8-year-old, about the
    world of learning that lies ahead. Let's help those kids learn all they
    can on the journey from 8 to 18, and then let's see where they take us
    in the next century.
        Mr. Secretary, first let me say that this, as far as I'm concerned,
    is going to be a team effort for all of our Cabinet Departments. I think
    every Cabinet Secretary has some role to play in helping you meet these
    educational goals. And with that in mind, I would like to ask the
    members of our Cabinet that are here to stand up--and the former members
    I do see now, Mel and Bill Brock and Bill Coleman over here--but please
    stand up, we're going to make you committed to this goal we're
    undertaking right now. [Laughter]
        Let me also say to you and to all the dedicated people at this
    Department, Mr. Secretary: There is no single issue that determines more
    about America, about our dreams and our destiny, than education.
    America's future walks through the doors of our schools every single
    day. For the sake of that future, America can settle for nothing short
    of excellence in our schools. Because of our commitment to education,
    we're creating a great team at the Education Department. Just this
    morning I announced my intention to nominate David Kearns, chairman of
    Xerox, to become the Deputy Secretary of Education. David, would you
    please stand up?
        He may be coming out of the loftiest echelons of the business world,
    but no American business leader has more outstanding credentials or a
    deeper commitment to improve education for all our children. And then,
    I've asked Ted Sanders, the former president of the country's chief
    State school officers and who has served so ably as Acting Secretary, a
    man to whom I will always be grateful, to take on the new dual
    responsibility of Chief Financial Officer, Deputy Under Secretary for
    Planning, Budget and Evaluation, a key post. Ted, we're delighted. Would
    you please stand for us?
        And with the help and support of the dedicated professionals at the
    Department, and there are so many--many with us here today. And I want
    to thank each and every one of you. I am confident now that this is a
    team equal to the task before us.
        Lamar and David were over yesterday and they presented me a
    fantastic proposal--how we can go about meeting these national education
    goals. I'm excited about it. And I told them that which I want to say
    once again but this time to all the employees, those who are working at
    the Department of Education: This is priority. And I am committed as
    President to working with you and to supporting you in achieving these
    national goals.

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        I thank you all for being here for this wonderful ceremony. And now
    it is with great pleasure that I witness the swearing-in of Secretary
    Lamar Alexander. Thank you all very much.

    [At this point, Secretary Alexander was sworn in.]

        Secretary Alexander. Mr. President and Barbara, distinguished
    Members of the Congress, it's very difficult to put anyone else ahead of
    Judge Wisdom, as you can tell. I want to thank President Bush for giving
    me one of the most exciting opportunities in America: helping him be the
    Education President.
        And I want to thank Barbara Bush for keeping up front the importance
    of literacy for every American. And I want to thank Judge Wisdom who,
    for the last 40 years or so, has been one of the most vigorous members
    of the Federal judiciary and one of the most adventuresome. On one
    evening, he brought the entire Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals down to
    Your Father's Mustache to hear our washboard band play when I was his
    law clerk.
        I want to thank the President's own Marine Band. I've never heard
    the Marine Band play ``Rocky Top'' before, and I'm glad--[laughter]--to
    hear that. And the children from Amidon and the young men and women from
    Cardozo, thank you for being here today.
        And Honey and Drew and Leslee and Kathryn and Will, thank you for
    putting up with a notorious father and one who has required you to move
    three times in the last 9 months. For our friends, who have come on
    short notice from a lot of different places, thank you. To members of
    the Cabinet, I'm the junior member of the team and looking forward to
    being a part of it. To Members of the United States Senate for taking
    such an interest in me and then after a while--[laughter]--confirming me
    unanimously, I thank you for that. And for the members of the Tennessee
    delegation and other Members of the Congress who are here.
        And, Mr. President, you're a terrific recruiter. To have a chance to
    work with David Kearns and Ted Sanders as a part of the President's
    education team is something I'm very much looking forward to.
        I also want to thank my sister Jane and her husband, Bill Carl, for
    coming from Dallas. Their sons, Jeremy and David, our nephews, sent me
    this message: ``Tell Uncle Lamar congratulations, and we hope this
    doesn't mean more homework.'' [Laughter] That made me think of how Jane
    and I grew up in Maryville, Tennessee, with our sister Ann. We were
    ready to learn because our mother took care of herself when she was
    pregnant. She read to us--she and our father read ``Winnie the Pooh''
    and ``The Little Engine that Could'' and ``The Adventures of Tom
    Sawyer'' even before we went to school.
        We had more preschool education than anybody in this room because
    our mother had the town's only preschool education program in a
    converted garage in her backyard, and she had nowhere else to put us,
    and so we went there. We knew what we were expected to learn in school
    and we learned it because our teachers expected us to. And they helped
    us, as did our parents.
        The most dangerous thing going in Maryville when we were growing up
    was football, and drugs were something you took when you were sick.
    There was always some adult hovering around to make sure we got a pat on
    the back when we did something right, and that we didn't get away with
    much. When we got in trouble at school, we got in trouble at home. That
    was the way we grew up.
        Jeremy and David, my nephews, and our children are coming along in a
    very different world. All over America people are trying to adjust to
    that world. That adjustment is what we call our education. And because
    it is not easy, it is at the top of our concerns.
        On March 6th, President Bush talked to Congress and the American
    people about reaching our potential, that we should make this country
    all that it should be. I like to look at things that way, too--not as
    one big problem but as one big opportunity. I want to help President
    Bush be the Education President, to help America do as well at home as
    it has done overseas. Almost everything we do at home has education at
    the bottom of it.

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        My nephews, David and Jeremy, may not think this is such good news
    because it may mean for them higher standards, tougher tests, and
    probably more homework. They may find themselves and certainly their
    children going to schools that are radically different learning systems
    than what we see today, as different from what they know today as this
    lunar module is from the propeller airplane.
        This is the most visited museum in the world. And it is that because
    it stands as a symbol of what can happen when we unleash America's
    creative genius. We need to unleash that creative genius to create the
    best schools in the world.
        Jeremy and David's parents, Jane and Bill, will be doing what the
    President just said. They'll be going back to school, too, because
    whatever they learned growing up isn't enough to live and work in the
    world the way it is today. And in downtown Dallas and in Maryville and
    everywhere, communities will be finding that the school can't do it all,
    or even most--help a child grow up the way we had the chance to grow up.
        Doing well at home is as important as doing well overseas and will
    be infinitely more complex because the army the President has to
    mobilize is every American.
        An enterprising reporter found our mother right after I was
    nominated. And she told him, ``When Lamar grew up, I was teaching and
    Andy was on the school board. And at the dinner table we talked about
    better schools.'' We need that kind of talk going on at every dinner
    table in America.
        Our Education President can mobilize that army, can get that kind of
    talk going and I hope I can be a sparkplug for change to help him do
    that.
        Thank you.

                        Note: The President spoke at 9:40 a.m. at the
                            National Air and Space Museum. In the ceremony,
                            the following persons were referred to: William
                            J. Carl III, pastor of the First Presbyterian
                            Church in Dallas, TX, who gave the invocation
                            and introduced the President; Mr. Carl's wife,
                            Jane, sister of Secretary Alexander, and their
                            sons, Jeremy and David; former Secretary of
                            Labor William E. Brock III; former Secretary of
                            Defense Melvin R. Laird; John Minor Wisdom,
                            senior circuit judge of the U.S. Court of
                            Appeals for the Fifth Circuit; former Secretary
                            of Transportation William T. Coleman, Jr.; David
                            T. Kearns, nominee for Deputy Secretary of
                            Education; Ted Sanders, Under Secretary of
                            Education; Secretary Alexander's wife, Honey,
                            and children, Andrew, Leslee, Kathryn, and
                            William; and the Secretary's parents, Flo and
                            Andrew Alexander.