[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
[May 22, 1991]
[Pages 534-535]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session With Students at the Saturn 
School of Tomorrow in St. Paul, Minnesota
May 22, 1991

    The President. Is it scary to have the President coming? You see, 
I'll tell you something--the reason I ask the question is you guys may 
not know this, but I learn from this. Mr. Alexander is our Secretary of 
Education--where is he? Over here. And he's designed the program that's 
now our administration program, and one of the things in it is that 
adults, not just children but adults, should learn. And so he and I 
talked about--and the thing that I'm trying to learn is the computer. 
So, what you think is maybe elementary, but for me it's rather advanced. 
So, it's helpful to learn it on that basis, and then it sets a good 
example for other kids around the country because they'll see what you 
can do. You talk about programming this thing--a lot of kids are going 
to say, hey, maybe we can do more. Do you know what I mean?
    That's good. Any questions? Have you got all the answers or--don't 
ask me about computers, okay?
    Q. This is a question she wanted to say, but I guess she couldn't 
get it out. She wanted to know: Did any of your grandchildren work with 
Legos?
    The President. Work Legos? Yes. Yes, but not in--you mean in a 
computer sense or just playing with them?
    Q. Yes, in a computer sense.
    The President. I don't know the answer to that question. I would 
doubt it because I don't think this is widespread. And our grandkids are 
in Texas, Florida, Colorado, Virginia, and Maryland--and I don't know if 
at this level--and we have some granchildren--that they have this kind 
of programming.
    Q. It's available through the schools. It's probably not available 
commercially.
    The President. Yes, but I'm wondering in the schools. He meant in 
school, didn't he? I don't know; I'm embarrassed to say I don't know 
what the programs are they're into. But I sure love to see them learn 
stuff. They all fool around with computers. I guess everybody does that 
around here.

[[Page 535]]

    Q. It's easy to learn once you get the hang of it.
    The President. No.
    Q. One question about education, sir.
    The President. For this guy? For her?
    Q. No, for you, Mr. President.
    The President. If it's a hard one I'm going to ask the Secretary to 
answer it, because I don't want to answer a question when I don't know 
the answer.
    Q. Most school systems cannot afford this kind of sophisticated 
state-of-the-art technology. Your program seems to be geared to 
innovation. What about all of the other school systems that don't have 
the funds--what can be done for them in Education 2000?
    The President. Well, I think inherent in our program--there is 
funding inherent in it. And one of the things that I think will happen 
is when you have the revolutionary new schools, others will take the 
resources that they are using. They will reduce the kind of bureaucratic 
overhead, and they'll bring it to bear on innovative programs. And 
that's a part of our philosophy. And, yes, there will be new Federal 
funding.
    We're sending up a piece of legislation that will request funding 
for or need action on 13 different aspects. But I think people learn by 
innovation. I don't imagine when this started it had fantastic amounts 
of money to begin with. So, what will happen is we will inspire, as it's 
always happened in this country--good example will inspire others. And, 
yes, there will be some funding involved, but we've got to start. We've 
got to begin to think anew on education. And that's what these kids are 
helping me understand even more.
    This is new and not like what it used to be like in education. This 
isn't cost-intensive. I expect that they're pretty efficient. I saw one 
teacher in that room with lots of computers that seemed to be handling 
many subjects. So, there's a lot of opportunity here.
    Wouldn't you say, Sarah? [Laughter] I feel that way. How about you--
do you want to add anything to the answer? That's not fair because you 
don't know the program we're talking about--whole program we're talking 
about. But all I'm saying is I bet you've got a lot of neighbors and 
friends that don't have this in their schools yet.
    See, what they're saying is innovation, saying something new here--
some would say radically new here. And they may come along in this 
program and your teachers may say, hey, we've got to change this a 
little bit. But they're on the cutting edge for revolutionizing 
education. And we have got to do that across our entire country. The old 
answers aren't good enough. They simply are not good enough.
    The United States is spending at the Federal level an enormous 
amount on education, and at the State level. And yet, the results are 
not good enough. And you guys are going to make it better. Teachers are 
going to make it better. Superintendents are making it better. And 
that's why we're--one of the reasons I wanted to come out here is you 
set--you don't believe this, but you set an example for a lot of other 
kids just by that good answer you gave. And the same for you, Sarah.
    With those words of wisdom, I've got to go on about my business. But 
I'm glad to see you. I hope you aren't nervous when we've finished.
    Q. No, I'm just excited now.
    The President. Just excited now? I'm pretty excited, too. It was 
wonderful. Good luck. I'd better go on.

                    Note: The President spoke at 12:15 p.m. in the 
                        Integrated Learning Systems Tech Center. Prior 
                        to his remarks, he participated in a computer 
                        programming demonstration.