    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [January 4, 1995]
    [Pages 11-15]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Question-and-Answer Session With Students at William Jefferson Clinton
    Elementary Magnet School in Sherwood, Arkansas
    January 4, 1995

        The President. Well, good morning.
        Students. Good morning.
        The President. It's cold out there, isn't it?
        Students. Yes.
        The President. But it's warm in here.
        Students. Yes.
        The President. Do you like your new school?
        Students. Yes.
        The President. I want to congratulate you on being in positions of
    leadership in this school. I want to say how glad I am to be in this
    media center and how pleased I am it's named for my wife, who did a lot
    of work to try to help make sure we created schools like this magnet
    school that children and their parents could choose to come to, and it
    could give you very special learning opportunities. I'm very, very happy
    about that. And I'm glad to see all of you.
        Hillary Clinton. I'd like to ask how many--are there any
    kindergartners here? Good. Now, this is your first year of school, and
    you're already going to be helping to lead the school. That's great.
        How many first-graders do we have? Congratulations, first-graders.
    How about second-graders? That is wonderful. Now, some of you who are in
    first and second grade, you were at different schools last year, right?
    So you're here. That's good. You get to help create the school.
        How about third-graders? Ah, third-graders, that's really important.
    And I see a T-shirt that goes with the school. That's nice.
        The President. Stand up, and let's look at that T-shirt.
        Hillary Clinton. That's really nice. How about fourth-graders? Where
    are the fourth-graders? You have a lot of responsibility, I know. How
    about fifth-graders? Fifth-graders--great. I can see we get more and
    more as we move up the classes. And then, how about sixth-graders?
        Well, thank you. This is really an exciting opportunity to help
    start a school, which is what all of you are doing, and to try to make
    sure it gets on the right track. So I want to thank you for doing that.
    It's a big responsibility.
        I once was in the first class of a new school when I was in high
    school, and you really have a lot of chances to set the standards for
    everybody who comes after you. So thank you for doing that.
        The President. Are you excited about starting a school?
        Students. Yes.

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        The President. Someday all of you will know more about me than I do.
    [Laughter]
        Hillary Clinton. I know. We wanted to be sure if you had any
    questions for us, you'd have a chance to ask, okay? My goodness! We
    won't be able to answer every question. [Laughter]
        The President. Let's take--shall we start in grades, going
    backwards? A sixth-grader. Go ahead.
        Q. How do you deal with criticism?
        The President. How do I deal with criticism? Better on some days
    than others. [Laughter] I think the important thing about criticism is
    to try to take it very seriously; that is, can we learn from criticism?
    Benjamin Franklin, one of our Founding Fathers, said, ``Our critics are
    our friends for they show us our faults.'' And since no one is perfect,
    your critics can help you learn to do better. But it's important not to
    take criticism personally. That is, a lot of times people try to hurt
    you personally, and you can't let that happen.
        So if someone criticizes you, ask yourself, ``Is it true what
    they're saying?'' And if it's true, then say, ``Well, I'm going to try
    to improve. I'm going to try to do better.'' Don't let anybody put you
    down as a person. Too much criticism today is designed to hurt people
    personally and to hurt them in the eyes of other people. That's wrong.
    But criticism itself can be very good.
        Hillary Clinton. That's a good question, because I would bet that as
    all of you who are on the student council and are ambassadors make
    decisions, you will get some criticism. You'll have friends who will
    say, ``Why did you do that?'' or ``I don't like you anymore,'' or ``I
    don't agree with that.'' So that was a very good question to ask.
        Of course, the best way to handle criticism is to remember the
    Golden Rule. You all remember the Golden Rule?
        Students. Yes.
        Hillary Clinton. From church and Sunday school? If you can treat
    other people the way you want to be treated, then you can learn from
    criticism but not get pulled down by it, not be upset by it.
        The President. And you should think about that, too, not only how
    you deal with criticism but if you're going to criticize. If you want to
    be a critic, that is, if you see something in school you don't like or
    you see someone doing something you don't like, think about how you're
    going to say that so they will be able to listen and hear you, but you
    won't be hurting them.
        So you go up and say, ``You're doing something I disagree with. I
    think you're a good person, but I don't agree with what you're doing.
    Here is what I think you should do.'' Do it like that, instead of
    saying, ``I don't like you anymore. You're not a good person. Goodbye.''
    [Laughter] You see what I mean? So you can do it. It's important to
    receive criticism, but it's also important to give it in a good spirit.
        Is there a fifth-grader with a question? Let's see, go ahead.
        Q. Why is it important to swear in when you become President?
        The President. To swear in?
        Q. Yes.
        Hillary Clinton. When you become President.
        The President. That's a very good question. Because when the
    President swears the Oath of Office, when he puts his hand on the Bible
    and swears before God and all the American people to uphold the
    Constitution and laws of the United States, that increases the
    obligation the President feels inside, in his heart, to do the job. All
    the American people see the President making that promise, and they
    then, no matter who they voted for--whom they voted for--come together
    as a people and see that the President is now the President. And that
    seals the decision of the election and makes it more than an election,
    it makes it a matter of law and also makes it a matter of conviction to
    the American people. It's a very important symbolic thing.
        Is there a fourth-grader with a question?
        Q. Why didn't you let your goal down of being President?
        Hillary Clinton. I'm sorry, we couldn't hear you.
        Q. Why didn't you let your goal down of being President?
        The President. I didn't. What do you mean? I don't understand the
    question, I'm sorry. Say it again.
        Q. Why didn't you let your goal down of being President?
        Hillary Clinton. Oh, how did he have the goal of being President all
    the time he was growing up, and why didn't he give up or why didn't he
    quit?
        The President. Oh, why didn't I give up on my goal of being
    President? Is that what you're asking? That's a very good question.
    There are

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    some days when I still ask myself that. [Laughter] That's a very good
    question.
        Well, when I started running for President and I started having the
    elections, you know, to run--because you have to go and run in a lot of
    different States to get the nomination of your party, and then you run
    in the general election--there were a lot of times when I got
    discouraged, and a lot of difficult things happened.
        But I was able to hold on to the goal by always remembering why I
    wanted to be President, that I wanted to help people like you have a
    better future. I wanted to help your parents have more jobs and better
    opportunities. I wanted to help our country solve its problems and take
    advantage of all the wonderful opportunities that are out there for us.
    So whenever I would get really discouraged and really down, I would
    always remember why I was doing the work.
        And you should remember that, because if you set a goal for
    yourself, particularly if it's a high goal and especially if you can't
    do it tomorrow, if it takes next week or next month or next year or
    years ahead, a lot of things will happen in life to discourage you.
    People will criticize you. You will honestly make mistakes. There will
    be times when you wonder whether you're smart enough or strong enough or
    sometimes even whether you're good enough to achieve your goal. And you
    just have to keep remembering in your mind and in your heart a good
    thing you want to do--why do you want to achieve this goal?--and keep
    that deep inside. And if you do that, then you won't be discouraged. You
    can take all the disappointments and just keep right on going.
        Okay? That's a very good question.
        Is there a third-grader with a question? Go ahead.
        Q. What made you want to become the President?
        The President. I wanted to become the President because I thought
    the President has a unique opportunity. There's no job like it in the
    United States. In a way, there's no job like it anywhere in the world.
    And I thought at this time in our history, in the history of the United
    States, the President had a unique opportunity and a unique
    responsibility to try to make our economy strong again, to try to
    improve our education system, to try to make sure our country could lead
    the world to be a more peaceful place, to be a more free place, to be a
    more prosperous place, and to also secure for you the American dream,
    the dream that if you work hard, if you obey the law, if you develop the
    abilities God gave you, you can do anything you want to do, you can be
    anything you want to be.
        And I wanted to make sure that you had that dream. That's the dream
    I had when I was your age, and I wanted to make sure you had it. That's
    why I ran for President.
        Hillary Clinton. And we hope all of you have dreams and goals, too.
        The President. You don't have to have the same dream I did or the
    same dream Hillary did, but you should have your own dream. Always you
    should be thinking about: What do I want to do when I grow up? What do I
    want to do when I'm in high school? What do I want to do in grade school
    here? How do I want to be treated as a person, and how do I want to
    treat other people?
        Think about how you want your life to be, and then go out and do
    what you think about. You can do it. It's not easy, and you'll mess up
    now and again. We all do. Everybody's not perfect; no one is perfect.
    But you have to have your dreams.
        Is there a second-grader with a question? Go ahead.
        Q. Why is the White House in Washington, DC? Why did they build it
    in Washington, DC?
        The President. That is a great question: Why is the White House in
    Washington, DC? Well, when our country got started, there were 13
    States. Now how many are there?
        Students. Fifty.
        The President. Fifty, that's right. There were only 13 when we
    started. And these States were very jealous of one another. That is, the
    main thing they had in common, the 13 States, was that they all wanted
    to be independent of Great Britain. And the Revolutionary War was fought
    to make them free of Great Britain, and they all joined together in this
    fight. But for a long time they couldn't agree on what their
    relationship to each other would be. That is, would all these States be
    more or less independent and just get together every now and then to do
    certain things, or would they join together in one country with one
    government?
        Well, finally they decided they would join together in one country,
    with a National Government, but the States would keep their separate

    [[Page 14]]

     governments, and they would have control over how many cities and
    counties they had in each State. Well, they needed a Capital for the
    National Government, but they didn't want to give the Capital to any
    particular State, see, because they had all been very jealous of each
    other. They all had been independent. And each State, even little
    Delaware or Rhode Island, thought they were as important as big New York
    or Pennsylvania. So no one wanted to give the Capital to any particular
    State.

        So they set aside a piece of land where Washington is now and
    created the District of Columbia as an independent entity, a creation,
    if you will, of the National Government, and put the Capital there. And
    they put the White House there. And those were the first two big
    buildings in Washington, DC, the Capitol of the United States and the
    President's house, where the President lives and works.

        Hillary Clinton. And we hope you can all come visit us.

        The President. Would you like to come see it?

        Students. Yes.

        Hillary Clinton. We'd love to show you.

        The President. Well, I hope you can come someday.

        Is there a first-grader with a question?

        Q. How old are you?

        The President. How old am I? How old do you think I am? [Laughter]
    I'm very old. [Laughter] I'm 48.

        Hillary Clinton. Forty-eight years old.

        The President. And I'll be 49 on August 19th. And Hillary is younger
    than I am. [Laughter] Anybody else have a birthday on August 19th? You
    do?

        Hillary Clinton. In August? Is your birthday August 19th?

        Student. February.

        Hillary Clinton. February? [Laughter] That's when Chelsea's birthday
    is. Chelsea has a birthday in February.

        The President. Is there a first-grader with a question? We did first
    grade. Kindergartner? Go ahead.

        Q. Would you like any visitors?

        The President. Would I like visitors?

        Hillary Clinton. We'd love to have you come visit.

        The President. We love visitors, and we especially love visitors
    from home. We love it when people from Arkansas come up and see us. But
    we have visitors from all the States, and we have visitors from all over
    the world. And in the morning we start tours in the White House, on most
    days. People can come and see the White House where the President lives.
    They just come in and see. Very often I stop and talk to them and see
    people from all over America there.

        Well, should I ask the principal if we can continue? How are we
    doing, Ms. Parker?

        Jackye Parker. Well, I think it's about time for us to have to
    leave.

        The President. Well, I wish I could answer all your questions.

        Hillary Clinton. You have good questions.

        The President. You guys ask great questions. And I want you to have
    a wonderful day. I want you to remember what we said about your dreams.
    Will you do that?

        Students. Yes.

        Hillary Clinton. Oh, we have 4-year-olds here.

        The President. Oh, 4-year-olds. Is there a 4-year-old with a
    question?

        Hillary Clinton. Are you a 4-year-old? Here's a 4-year-old with a
    question.

        The President. What's your question?

        Q. Does your cat, Socks, sleep in the White House?

        Hillary Clinton. Yes, our cat, Socks, does sleep in the White House.
    And if you come to visit, maybe you'll get to see Socks, because when
    he's not in the White House he's outside of the White House. And the
    President's office is called the Oval Office, and Socks hangs out
    outside the Oval Office. [Laughter] And then he travels everywhere; he
    visits everywhere. You know, Socks gets letters. If you want to write to
    Socks, Socks gets letters, and he sends back a picture.

        The President. With a paw print on it.

        Hillary Clinton. Right, that he has signed. [Laughter] So I will
    tell him that you were asking for him, okay?

        The President. Yes, I can see Socks every day. We put him right
    outside my office. I can turn around, look outside the window, and there
    he is.

        Hillary Clinton. Thank you all so much.

        The President. Have a wonderful day.

    [[Page 15]]

        Hillary Clinton. And a wonderful year, too.
        The President. Bye. I'll see you later.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:53 a.m. in the Hillary Rodham Clinton
    Media Center of William Jefferson Clinton Elementary Magnet School.