    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [January 31, 1995]
    [Pages 131-137]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session With the Mayor's Youth Council
    in Boston, Massachusetts
    January 31, 1995

        The President. Let me just begin by--let me make a couple of
    comments, and then I'll answer your questions. First, I want to
    congratulate all of you and the mayor on this remarkable project. I
    wanted to do this for a couple of reasons, but one is I think this might
    spread across the country as more people, through the news media, hear
    about it. I think this is a wonderful idea that every city in the
    country could profit from copying.
        I also want to say I'm glad to be here with your mayor, with Mrs.
    Menino, but also with Senator Kennedy and Senator Kerry, who flew up
    here with me from Washington. We're going to dinner tonight, but they
    wanted to come over

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    here and see you. And I think that's a great tribute to you and what
    you're doing.
        Let's talk about the dropout rate a little bit and especially as it
    applies to teen parents. This is a big issue. We've just been discussing
    this down in Washington now as a part of what we call the New Covenant.
    You mentioned that. The New Covenant is, for me, the obligation that we
    have to create more opportunity and people and citizens have to exercise
    more responsibility. It means that we in Government have to try to help
    give you the tools you need to make the most of your own lives and then
    all of you have to do the most you can with your lives and help your
    fellow citizens. That's the big reason I wanted to come here today,
    because I think it's so remarkable that you're committed to doing this.
        Now, we know that a lot of people who have children drop out of
    school, and one of the things I said to the Nation and to the Congress
    the other night in my speech is that as we reform the welfare system our
    goal ought to be to prepare people to go to work, to get them in jobs,
    to keep them in jobs, and to do it in a way that helps them be better
    parents. So what I'm trying to do is to work with the States all across
    the country to structure welfare systems where there are always
    incentives for young people to stay in school and, if they have little
    children, that the children should be given appropriate child care and
    other kinds of support.
        And I think one of the things that you can do is to hammer home to
    people that if they can, if they have enough to get by, they ought to
    stay in high school before they leave and go to work, because in the
    world that we're living in, all the people who live in Boston and all
    the people who live in Massachusetts are competing with people all
    around the world for jobs and for income. And there's been a huge
    decline in the earnings of younger workers who are high school dropouts.
    When you make adjustments for inflation and the cost of living going up
    year in and year out, younger workers without a high school education
    are making probably 20 percent less than they were just 10 or 15 years
    ago.
        So you need to go out and tell people, look, I know it's hard right
    now, but you need to be thinking about the long run. One of the things
    we've got to do that you can do for your peers, for other young people,
    that I can't do as well as you can, is say to people, ``Hey, the future
    is not what happens in an hour, it's not what happens tomorrow, it's not
    what happens next week. It's what happens 5 years from now or 10 years
    from now.'' And you'll always have to think about not just now but the
    future. You've got to always be thinking about your future. That's what
    you have to do when you're young. And I know it's hard when you've got a
    lot of responsibilities and a lot of problems, but we have simply got to
    get more of our young people to realize that if they don't stay in
    school, then the future won't be what it otherwise could be.

    [At this point, a participant stated the need for stronger laws to
    punish people who sell guns to children.]

        The President. Well, in the crime bill that we passed last year we
    stiffened penalties under Federal law for all gun-related offenses,
    particularly those that affect young people. And I see it already, we
    get reports, I get reports from the U.S. attorneys around the country
    that they're beginning to bring cases under all these new laws with
    stronger penalties. What I think you need to look at is the fact that
    most laws that deter crime are passed in the State level, by the State
    legislature. And most laws then have to be implemented as a matter of
    policy by local police organizations. So what I think you need to do is
    to have someone who knows more about that than I do give you a report on
    what the laws are in Massachusetts and evaluate whether you think the
    laws are strong enough, then look and see if you think they're being
    properly enforced.
        And let me make one other point, because this goes back to something
    you can do. I've worked in the area of law enforcement longer than most
    of you have been alive. I was elected attorney general in my State in
    1976. I took office in January of 1977. And I have seen the crime wave
    rise and fall and rise and fall in my home area.
        I lived in a neighborhood, a real old neighborhood in Little Rock
    when I was the Governor of my State. And I saw the crime rate rise and
    fall, rise and fall. And the most important thing that drove the crime
    rate down was neighborhood councils like this council. If there were
    citizens groups working the neighborhood, working with the police,
    calling the police when there were strangers in the area, calling police

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    when they said there are people here selling guns to kids, there are
    people here pedaling guns out of the back of their cars, it was amazing
    how much the crime rate could be driven down.
        So I think you should look at the laws at the State level, talk to
    the mayor's people here at the local level about how they're being
    implemented but also see whether or not the young people are willing to
    organize themselves in these neighborhood councils in the high-crime
    areas. I'm telling you, it does more than anything else I've ever seen
    to lower crime.

    [A participant asked how the President could help influence the media to
    present a more positive image of young people.]

        The President. I don't know that I'm the best one to ask about
    negative portrayals. [Laughter] I tell you--well, one thing about being
    here, I think it helps, and I came here because you're doing something
    positive, and it's newsworthy, and it's different. If you want some
    advice about it, I'll tell you--I'll give you my advice. I think you
    have to follow the same advice that Senator Kennedy or Senator Kerry or
    Mayor Menino or the President has to follow. You have to always be
    looking for new ways to manifest the idea that most young people are
    good, most young people are in school, most young people are obeying the
    law, most young people care about their friends and neighbors. And every
    time you do something to manifest that, then that's new. That is--let me
    just give it to you in crass terms, because you can't blame them for
    this. If you start a program and it's a good program and you do it every
    day for 2 years, it's an important thing to do, but it may only be news
    the day you start it and then when you have your anniversary. But every
    time somebody holds up a liquor store or shoots somebody on the street,
    that's a new and different story. See what I mean?
        So you may--you've got a lot more good people, but it might not be a
    new thing. So I think one of the things you ought to do is to think
    about, in this youth council, how many different things are now going on
    in Boston that are good news, that show young people in a positive
    light. And how many of them have been written about in the papers? How
    many of them have been on the local news? What can you do to get the
    positive story out there?
        And you ought to have one person on your council who's job it is to
    always be thinking of some new thing you're doing that hasn't yet been
    portrayed. And what you will find is that over time--you can't turn this
    around overnight--but over time, if you're steady about it, you will
    slowly balance the scales, and people will say, ``Hey, we've got a
    problem, but most of our kids are good kids.''

    [A participant asked if the President would give priority to school-to-
    work programs.]

        The President. The answer is, I will. And you have to ask the
    Congress to do the same. Senator Kennedy and Senator Kerry and I were
    talking on the way up here. We have cut a lot of spending from the
    Federal budget, a lot. But we've tried to spend more money on education
    and on job training programs, starting with Head Start and including
    more affordable college loans and these school-to-work programs, which
    train young people to move into jobs and get education while they're
    doing it. And we're just now--we just started that program last year,
    and we're just now expanding it. And I'm really hoping that the new
    Congress will agree to this approach. Cut the inessential spending, but
    put more money into education, because that's really the key to our
    economic future as a country.

    [A participant stated that many afterschool programs to keep children
    away from drugs and gangs were oriented toward boys rather than girls
    and asked about planned support for such programs.]

        The President. Well, most of those decisions have to be made by the
    local school districts and the local communities. What we do is to try
    to provide the funds, like, for example, in the crime bill, one of the
    more controversial parts of the crime bill were the funds that Congress
    voted for and that I supported to provide cities, for example, monies
    that they could use in afterschool programs and other preventive
    programs, to try to give young people something positive to do.
        The content of those programs, exactly whether there are enough
    programs for girls and they're as good and fair as the ones for boys and
    all that, all those are things that you have to work out here. So my
    answer to you is, that's what this youth council's for. You should--if
    the city controls the programs, talk to the city about it. If there are
    local groups who make

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    the decision, but they don't work for the mayor, call them into your
    council and ask them to come testify. Tell them what you don't like
    about the program.
        In other words, use the power of this council. You're talking about
    making news; you've got a forum now. Next time you call a council
    meeting, these folks will come cover you. I won't have to be here.
    [Laughter] The mayor won't have to be here. And bring them in and say,
    ``Look, these afterschool programs are fine, but they're not good
    enough. There's this preconception that only boys need it, and girls do,
    too, and here's what we need.'' You ought to use the power of this
    council. You ought to think about everything you would change in here,
    in this community, if you could wave a magic wand, and remember that you
    have a public forum to do it. Now, that's what the mayor's giving you.
        Q. Mr. President, I was just wondering if you--I was recently
    accepted at Oxford, and I was just wondering if you could tell me what
    it's like over there. [Laughter]
        Mayor Thomas Menino. Tell him what high school you went to. Tell
    them the background of high school.
        Q. I go to ACC, Another Course to College, which is a high school--
    [inaudible]----
        The President. And you're going to--and you're to start over there
    next year?
        Q. Yes.
        The President. What college will you be in?
        Q. [Inaudible]
        The President. Good for you. I know right where it is. I think
    you'll like it a lot. They're very nice people. The programs generally
    involve more reading and more essay writing and less conventional
    classroom work than the American programs do, so that young people
    coming out of American high schools, even out of very good programs,
    sometimes have to work harder to sort of discipline themselves to do
    more reading alone. So you'll have to find some friends and make sure
    that you do all that, because in general the system requires you to do
    more work on your own. But when you come back you'll be a greater
    writer. You'll be able to write real well.

    [Mayor Menino asked the participant to explain the ACC program.]

        The President. What do you want her to say, Mayor? [Laughter]

    [The mayor indicated that the participant was reluctant to talk about
    her accomplishment.]

        The President. You're being very modest, that's what he's saying.

    [The mayor stated that the young woman had achieved a goal that few
    students attain. Another participant then described the ACC program.]

        The President. So they did prepare you well, didn't they? [Laughter]
        Who's next?

    [A participant stated the need for more police officers trained to deal
    with the various cultures in the cities. The mayor then thanked the
    President and the Massachusetts Senators for obtaining funding for a
    program to put bilingual police officers in Boston.]

        The President. It's a huge challenge, though, because a lot of our
    urban areas now have so many different racial and ethnic groups. Los
    Angeles County, our country's biggest county, in one county alone, have
    people from over 150 different racial and ethnic groups.
        So it's going to be a big challenge for us to make sure we train our
    police officers not just in the language but also in the ways of
    thinking of people, because it's so easy for people who have different
    ways of relating to each other to misunderstand one another. And it's
    very important that our police officers get that kind of training. We're
    going to have to work hard on that.

    [The mayor discussed several city programs teaching English as a second
    language. A participant then conveyed her father's message regarding the
    November 1994 elections, ``This too shall pass.'']

        The President. I'm glad to hear that. Tell your dad he can send me a
    message anytime. [Laughter]

    [The participant asked the President to urge colleges to create
    scholarship programs targeting inner-city youth, as Northeastern
    University had done in Boston. The mayor then described Northeastern's
    participation in and enhancement of a city financial aid program.]

        The President. First of all, let me say I applaud Northeastern for
    doing it, because the cost of a college education has gone up quite a
    lot in the last several years. And I'm doing what I can to make it more
    affordable.

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        Let me tell you the two things that we have done and what we've
    tried to get others to do as well. The first thing we did was to take
    the existing student loan programs and Congress passed a bill that
    enables us to let that student loan program be administered in a
    different way, directly by colleges like Northeastern, so that the
    interest rates would be lower, the costs would be lower, and your
    repayment terms would be better. A lot of young people don't want to
    borrow money to go to college because they think, gee, if I get out and
    I just make a modest wage, I won't even be able to repay the loan. So
    under the new rules, you can borrow money to go to college, and then you
    can limit the amount of your repayment every year to a certain
    percentage of your income. So we've made available more loans.
        In addition to that, through the national service program--you see a
    lot of these young people in the city or around here, some of them are
    affiliated with our national service program, and they're earning almost
    $5,000 a year for every year they work in the service program for their
    college education. Now, what we've done is to try to challenge the
    colleges and universities around the country to match that. And this
    year, I'm trying to pass, and I hope the Congress will pass, a bill that
    provides for the deduction from a person's income taxes for the cost of
    paying tuition to any institution of education after high school, 2-year
    or 4-year.
        So these are the things I'm trying to do to make college more
    affordable. When we do these things, that makes it more possible for
    colleges like Northeastern to go out and take their own initiatives and
    to do more. Like that has to be done basically State by State and
    college by college, because as the President, what I have to do is to
    try to set up a network of things that will work everywhere in the
    country.

    [The mayor indicated that many law firms in Massachusetts had set up
    programs to help young people go to college.]

        The President. It's the best money you'll ever spend.

    [A participant thanked the President for his efforts to help college-
    bound youth obtain financial aid.]

        The President. Well, I thank you. But let me just say one other
    thing about this. You know, I said this before in a different way.
    Having a college education has always been an advantage. When Senator
    Kerry and Senator Kennedy and I went to college, it was an advantage.
    But it's a much bigger advantage today than ever before, because in the
    information age, there are fewer jobs that you can perform with no
    education and just a willingness to work hard.
        It's also true--I want to emphasize this because one of you talked
    about this earlier--even for the young people who don't go to 4-year
    colleges, they need to be in the school-to-work program. There needs to
    be something that gives almost everybody, nearly 100 percent of the
    young people, the incentive to get out of high school and then get 2
    more years of some sort of education and training.
        And meanwhile we'll keep doing everything we can to make college
    more affordable, because I think the great advantage this Nation has,
    and Boston has certainly seen it because you have such a wonderful array
    of institutions of higher education, is that we have a higher percentage
    of our people going to these institutions of higher education than any
    other country in the world. And they're higher quality. And what we've
    got to do is figure out how to make it possible for young people to know
    about it, to believe in themselves, and then to have money necessary to
    go.
        Q. Thank you, Mr. President.
        Mayor Menino. We have--Marcos' birthday is today.
        The President. It's your birthday, right? Your 18th birthday?
        Mayor Menino. You'll register to vote today, too, right? [Laughter]
    We need you next time.
        The President. Good for you. Happy birthday.
        Mayor Menino. This woman here has a question, Mr. President. Ask the
    question.
        Q. You just put me on the spot. Actually, I do have a question. Do
    you actually see letters--well, besides the--[laughter].
        Q. She was worried all this afternoon. [Laughter]
        The President. The answer is, as you might imagine, with a country
    with 250 million people I do not see personally all the letters that
    come in. And we have so many letters coming into the White House that it
    requires literally--we have hundreds of volunteers working at the White
    House who help to sort our mail, who help to read our mail. A lot of
    retired military people come in every day and help us. We have

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    a whole group of people who know my positions on certain issues, who
    help to write our letters when people write us about certain issues.
        But, what happened to your letter is this: I have--I mean, before I
    was coming here, what happened to your letter is I have a--in my
    correspondence operation, every week they pull out a certain number of
    letters that are either especially moving because of the personal
    stories involved or that represent a large number of letters I'm getting
    on a certain subject, so that even though I'm President and I've got,
    you know, millions of people writing to me all the time, I have a good
    feeling for what's going on.
        I also get a summary every week of how many letters came in, what
    the subjects were about, what people said, whether they were pro or con
    a certain issue. But the most--the thing--every week, I love reading the
    mail that I get sent. And I read the letters and sign them and in that
    way try to really stay in touch with what people are thinking.
        Mayor Menino. Why don't we have Kristy read the letter.

    [Kristy Foster then read a letter she had written to the President,
    thanking him for answering her previous letter about violence and for
    showing that he cared. Another participant asked if the President would
    videotape a message for their youth summit in March.]

        The President. Sure.
        Q. If there's any way possible for that.
        The President. Were you trained in Senator Kennedy's office?
    [Laughter] Yes. I'd be happy to. We'll do it while we're here, maybe we
    can do that.
        Mayor Menino. Is there any other--you have the President now.
    [Laughter] How many young people of America have the President in front
    of them? What's the other--any other question you have to ask, really
    would like to ask?
        Q. I have really a general question.
        The President. What's your name?
        Mayor Menino. Catch up with this guy here.
        Q. He wants your job. [Laughter]
        The President. Some days I'd like to give it to you. [Laughter] But
    not most days.
        Q. As President of the United States, most of us know and we've
    heard the story of how you wanted to shake President Kennedy's hand.
    What advice would you offer to other young adults that are aspiring to
    become involved in politics?
        The President. I would recommend that you do three things. You're
    probably doing all three of them already. I would recommend, first of
    all, that you do everything you can to develop your mind, that you learn
    to think, and you learn to learn. That is, some of you may be strong in
    math, maybe you're strong in science, maybe you like English, maybe you
    like history. There's no--contrary to popular belief, in my view, there
    is no particular academic discipline to get, to have to be a successful
    public servant. But it's important that you learn to learn because you
    have to know about a lot of different things that are always changing.
        The second thing I would recommend you do is more what you're doing
    here. I don't think, over the long run, people do very well in public
    service unless they like people and are really interested in them,
    different people, people who are different from you. Find out what you
    have in common, what your differences really are.
        And the third thing I would recommend that you do is look for
    opportunities to be a leader, working in this group, working in your
    school, working for people who are running for office, working in the
    mayor's next campaign.
        These things really matter. That's what I did. I mean, I came from a
    family with no money or political influence, particularly. I had a good
    education. I had a lot of wonderful friends. I was interested in people.
    I had a chance to work in campaigns and to do other things that gave me
    a chance to get started. This is a great country that is really open to
    people of all backgrounds to be successful in public life. But you need
    to learn, you need to care about people, and then you just need the
    experience.

    [At this point, Eugenia Kiu, chair of the council, presented the
    President with a cap and a sweatshirt.]

        The President. Now, let's get everybody up here.
        Q. Oh, I have something to say. I would like for you and Mr. Menino
    to sing me ``Happy Birthday.''
        The President. Let's do it.

    [The group sang ``Happy Birthday.'']

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        The President.  Well, it wasn't the sweetest sound I ever heard.
    [Laughter]

    Note: The President spoke at 4:11 p.m. at Parkman House.