    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [October 15, 1997]
    [Pages 1372-1373]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1372]]

    Remarks at the Vila Olimpica da Mangueira School in Rio de Janeiro,
    Brazil
    October 15, 1997

        Hello! Governor Alencar, Mayor Conde, Mr. Dos Santos, teachers and
    students of Vila Olimpica, family and friends of Mangueira. It is a
    special pleasure for me to be once again with Pele--or should I say
    Minister Pele. After he turned Brazil into a soccer superpower, he
    attracted millions to soccer in the United States and around the world.
    But his most important work is now being done as he shows that sport can
    serve our children for a lifetime. Thank you for your passion and your
    dedication and especially for your work here. Thank you, Pele.
        Thank you, Flavia, for your words of welcome. Didn't she do a good
    job? [Applause] As the first student from Vila Olimpica to attend
    university, you bring pride to your family, your school, the entire
    community of Mangueira. You're an inspiration to young people everywhere
    who are striving to make the most of their God-given potential.
        The students may wonder what we are doing here today. We are here
    because children are the future of the partnership between Brazil and
    the United States. Children are the future of our world. And I did not
    come alone; my wife and I brought with us the American Secretary of
    State, the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Commerce, the
    Ambassador to the United Nations, our envoy to Latin America, the head
    of our program to keep our children away from drugs, five Members of the
    United States Congress, the United States Ambassador to Brazil, and the
    Brazilian Ambassador to the United States. They all came. I'd like to
    ask our American delegation, the people from the White House, stand up
    and let the children see that we care about their future. [Applause]
        On this Brazilian teachers day, I congratulate Director Francisco
    Carvalho, the teachers, and staff of Vila Olimpica for all you have
    accomplished. And I thank Xerox of Brazil for the vital support they,
    along with other companies, give to Camp Mangueira. Xerox is a good
    citizen of Brazil and of the United States. Today Xerox Business
    Services back home has been awarded the prestigious U.S. Department of
    Commerce Malcolm Baldrige Award for good citizenship. Thank you for what
    you do here, and thank you for what you do back in America.
        I know it is not easy for young people like you to sit in the hot
    sun and listen to an older person like me give a speech. I will try to
    be brief. But I want you to know why it's important for me to be here
    and important for you to be here. We should not stop until every child
    in Brazil and throughout the Americas has the opportunity you have here
    at Mangueira. For here, school attendance is nearly perfect. Dropout and
    juvenile crime rates have plummeted. The Camp Mangueira work-study
    program helps young people find apprenticeships, putting them on a fast
    track to good jobs and good incomes. And you're preparing high school
    students of the Ciep High School to work in Brazil's high-tech economy.
    Very simply, you are giving Mangueira's children a future. Every day you
    prove that if we in positions of responsibility do our job, then all the
    children of this neighborhood and every other one like it throughout the
    Americas will be able to build a better life for themselves and for
    their children.
        This morning in Sao Paulo I spoke to business leaders about the
    remarkable possibilities of the new economy and about the practical and
    moral obligation we have to give everyone who will work for it a chance
    to be a part of the future we are building, beginning with excellent
    education for all our children. Only then can they compete and succeed
    in the new economy, keep our companies on the cutting edge of the
    world's marketplace, and build here and elsewhere a great middle class
    to strengthen democracy and stabilize society.
        It is wrong for only a few to reap the benefits of the wonderful
    changes going on while the many remain mired in poverty. That is a
    betrayal of our values of individual integrity and equal opportunity,
    and in the end, it will erode faith in democracy and free markets. Those
    who have will do better by giving a hand up to those who deserve their
    chance too. In the information age, after all, the true wealth of
    nations lies in the minds and the hearts of our people, especially our
    children.

    [[Page 1373]]

        Brazil and the United States have made education a top priority. And
    I salute President Cardoso, himself a teacher, the husband of a teacher,
    the father of a teacher, for his determination to improve primary and
    secondary schools so all Brazilians can make the most of their lives.
    President Cardoso has targeted some of the profits from your farsighted
    privatization program to education. It's the only example of the money
    not going to reduce Brazil's debt. In so doing, he has made it clear
    that he believes Brazil's most important debt is to its children.
    Educating all of them is the best investment Brazil can make.
        We are also committed in Brazil and the United States to making
    technology available to all of our students. A few moments ago, I met
    with four students from here--Jamilla DeAbril Belasa and three young
    men, Daniel, Antonio, and Marcos Frederick--and we were on the Internet
    talking back and forth to students in other schools. Jamilla and I used
    a Vila Olimpica computer to exchange messages over the Internet with
    students in Woodbridge, Virginia, including a young exchange student
    from Brazil.
        Proper technology and instruction, new methods of distance learning,
    place a universe of knowledge at the hands of all of our students.
    Windows replace walls and open new horizons for children here in
    Mangueira and everywhere. We can light the fire of the imagination and
    put the dreams of all children within their reach. We are going to work
    with Brazil to give all students access to this kind of technology, to
    set standards to measure progress, to improve teacher training, to
    increase more exchange of students between our nations, and to help more
    families in communities and businesses get involved in the education of
    our children.
        I want to especially thank the International Data Group of Brazil
    for coordinating the formation of the Tech Corps of Brazil, helped by
    Gary Beach, who founded the United States Tech Corps. These volunteers
    will assist schools with planning and support and training as they bring
    the kind of new technologies into their classrooms that I saw here
    today.
        We must do more. And we must be honest with our children. We know
    that education and technology alone will not abolish poverty and
    inequality, but they do give people what they need to lift themselves
    up, to join the emerging global society, and to make the most of their
    own lives.
        We have to understand what is at stake here. World-class education
    for all children is necessary for the economic well-being of our
    nations, vital for maintaining the fairness that holds societies
    together, and essential for fulfilling the most basic needs of the human
    spirit. In one sentence, we do not have a single child to waste.
        Every child enters this world with a great gift from God, the power
    to dream. But that gift can be lost through poverty, relentless
    deprivation, the daily defeat of hope. We have no greater responsibility
    than to nourish that power to dream with education for the children of
    Mangueira, Brazil, the United States, all the Americas. For it is the
    dreams of our children that will shape our lives in a new century, in a
    new millennium.
        Thank you, Mangueira, for making those dreams come alive. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:10 p.m. on the soccer field. In his
    remarks, he referred to Gov. Marcellor Alencar of the state of Rio de
    Janeiro; Mayor Luiz Conde of Rio de Janeiro; Elmo Jose Dos Santos,
    president, Mangueira Community Association; former professional soccer
    player Pele, Minister of Extraordinary Sports of Brazil; Flavia Pecanha,
    who introduced the President; and Francisco Carvalho, director, Vila
    Olimpica da Mangueira.