    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [October 10, 1995]
    [Pages 1555-1556]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Announcing the Technology Learning Challenge Grants
    October 10, 1995

        Thank you, Mr. Vice President, for your outstanding work on this
    issue. And thank you, Secretary Riley and Secretary Brown, for your work
    as well.
        I want to say a few more things about the people behind me and those
    in front of me, but if I might, in the beginning, I think it would be
    appropriate for me to make a few comments about what has happened to the
    Amtrak train in Arizona.
        We believe it was a case of sabotage. And I am profoundly outraged
    by it. I want to make it clear that we will do everything we can with
    the Federal Government to catch whoever is responsible. I am determined
    that we will make sure that in the United States we will have the tools,
    the means we need to keep the American people safe. We will get to the
    bottom of this. We will punish those who are responsible. We will not
    tolerate acts of cowardice like this in the United States, regardless of
    the motive. And when I know more about it, I'll be glad to comment more
    about it.
        I have just finished a meeting, along with the Vice President and
    other members of our administration, with leaders who are here behind
    me, leaders of many of the American companies on the cutting edge of the
    information age. They are helping to lead our Nation into the world of
    the 21st century as the strongest economic power in the world.
        Two and a half weeks ago in California, I met with some other
    business leaders, and I called on the representatives of business,
    government, teachers, schools, parents, students to become involved in a
    high-tech venture with a guaranteed return. I asked for a national
    public-private partnership to connect every classroom in America to the
    information superhighway by the year 2000.
        This today, this meeting, is the next step. Today these business and
    education leaders have joined with me to launch a partnership that will
    ensure that every child in America is technologically literate for the
    dawn of the 21st century and that every child in America has the
    resources, the means, by which to become technologically literate by the
    dawn of the 21st century.
        The idea that every child deserves the opportunity to build a bright
    future has been at the heart of America's education system and America's
    entire value system. Education is the way we keep the promise of the
    American dream to all of our children without regard to their
    circumstances.
        Today that means computers, knowing how to make the most of them,
    having teachers who can work with students to make the most of them, and
    having the right software to make the computers make sense.
    Technological literacy must become the standard in our country.
    Preparing children for a lifetime of computer use is just as essential
    today as teaching them the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic.
        This isn't just computers for computers' sake. We're going to work
    together to help our schools use technology to revolutionize American
    education so that all children will be able to learn better and teachers
    will be able to be more effective.
        In the next few months, the leaders here behind me will be working
    with us to produce a plan based on the four pillars I outlined in
    California: modern computers in every classroom, accessible to every
    student from kindergarten through the 12th grade; connections from every
    classroom to the incredible educational resources flowing throughout the
    world; teachers in every classroom who are trained to make the most of
    new technology to educate every student--and I want to emphasize, one of
    the most important aspects of the technological revolution is the
    opportunities being opened to children so many Americans had given up on
    and schools that too many Americans had given

    [[Page 1556]]

    up on--and finally, a rich array of educational software and information
    resources.
        Today I'm announcing three steps forward that show we are turning
    these principles into reality. First, we're awarding Technology Learning
    Challenge Grants to 19 communities. In each community there's a
    partnership of educators, businesses, libraries, museums, and community
    groups that have come together to retool their schools for the 21st
    century. They are matching these grants. They are committing hardware
    and software, hard work, and know-how. For example, in Dover, Delaware,
    Bell Atlantic, Lightspan Partnership, and the State education department
    are linking homes and schools through family TV sets to improve reading
    and arithmetic in the early grades. This is how these partnerships will
    work.
        Let me say that it costs a very modest amount of money. This is one
    of the discussions we have to have in the weeks ahead as we continue our
    progress toward a balanced budget. We can balance the budget without
    cutting back on our commitment to our educational future. For a very
    small amount of national money, we are leveraging much larger amounts of
    local resources. And I would say again, this is the kind of thing that
    the Nation ought to be doing now in the area of education and the sort
    of thing I will be trying to preserve as we negotiate the shoals of the
    budget discussions.
        The second thing I want to announce is a private sector effort
    making a difference in one State is now going nationwide. We must rely
    on the expertise of millions of Americans working in the high-tech
    professions. The Technology Corps brings private sector volunteers into
    our schools so that they can bring technology into our classrooms. It's
    already working in Massachusetts where it was started by Gary Beach, who
    is here with us today, to connect Massachusetts schools. And now we want
    to do this around the country.
        Finally, we're launching the American Technology Honor Society to
    harness the high-tech skills of exceptional students so they can help to
    expand their own school's use of technology. We have to remember that
    people born in the information age are more comfortable with it than
    people like me, who weren't. [Laughter]
        The American Technology Honor Society will be rooted in the National
    Honor Society, and it will be run by the National Association of
    Secondary School Principals. Communities, businesses, and governments;
    parents, teachers, and students--this could be the largest merger in
    history, with no questions from the Justice Department. [Laughter]
    Certainly it will be the most important partnership for the future in
    the United States today, working together to put a computer in every
    classroom and a computer whiz at every desk.
        Every child in America deserves the chance to get the high-tech
    know-how to unlock the promises of the 21st century--every child in
    America. And thanks to the statesmanship and vision of the people who
    are here with me today and many like them all around America, we are
    going to forge a partnership to do just that.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:28 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House.