    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [October 21, 1997]
    [Pages 1401-1403]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the America Reads Initiative
    October 21, 1997

        Thank you very much. Secretary Riley, Dr. Corrigan, Senator Kennedy,
    Senator Specter, Congressmen Etheridge and Miller and Hoyer. And I thank
    the Members of Congress not here in both parties who support this
    program.
        Thank you, Eric Castillo, for what you do and for representing a new
    generation of American college students, I believe among the most
    idealistic and community service-oriented young people we have ever had
    in the colleges and universities of this country, and a rebuke to the
    superficial and downright wrong characterizations of generation X as not
    caring about the future of this country. And I thank you for that.
        And thank you, Victoria, for reading the book with me and making me
    look good. [Laughter] You did an excellent job. Her mother is here. I'd
    like to ask her mother to stand. Thank you very much for coming.
    [Applause] And they did a great job. Thank you. I thank all the other
    young students and all the other college students who are here, and a
    special word of thanks to all the college and university presidents who
    have joined us today.
        We have just seen a concrete and, I thought, very moving example of
    the difference reading can make in the lives of our children. We also
    ought to remember the difference that this can make in the future of our
    country as we move into a new century and a very different time.
        In the last 5 years, together we have done a lot to prepare our
    country for the 21st century: a new economic policy that works, a new
    crime policy that works, a new welfare reform policy that works,
    expanding health care coverage to our children, improving the
    environment, now opening the doors of college to all who are willing to
    work for it. But to fundamentally succeed in having an America where
    opportunity is open to everyone who will work for it and where everyone
    can be a part of a thriving American community, we must give all our
    children the world's best education.
        By the year 2000, we should succeed in seeing that every 8-year-old
    can read independently, that every 12-year-old can log on to the
    Internet, that every 18-year-old can go on to college, and that every
    adult in our country can continue to learn for a lifetime.
        We have made historic progress toward these goals. Last summer's
    balanced budget contained the biggest increased investment in education
    since 1965, the biggest increase in access to higher education since the
    GI bill 50 years ago. It will go a long way toward funding our mission
    to connect every classroom and library to the Internet by the year 2000.
    But all of this progress will be limited if our children do not first
    master the basics. The next major step is

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    to make sure every 8-year-old can do what Secretary Riley's grandchild
    and Victoria can do--they can say, ``I can read this book all by
    myself.''
        We know that children who don't read well by the end of the third
    grade are more likely to drop out of school and far less likely to
    realize their full potential. We know that children who receive the help
    they need are much more likely to succeed in school and in life.
        Today, 40 percent of our Nation's 8-year-olds are not reading as
    well as they should. There are many reasons for this. We come from many
    different places, and we have more and more young children whose first
    language is not even English. But none of these reasons is an excuse for
    our inaction, particularly when we see that action can produce the kind
    of results that Victoria showed us today.
        That is one of the reasons that I have supported high national
    standards for reading and national examinations to make sure our
    children are reaching those standards. And that is the main reason we
    have launched America Reads. Over a year ago, it began with a simple
    idea, that a well-trained, coordinated army of a million volunteers
    could be rallied to teach our children. I called on every sector of
    society to help us mobilize this citizen army, specifically challenging
    colleges and universities to use their new work-study slots to train
    tutors. There are 300,000 of those new slots that have been approved by
    our Congress in the last 2 years. And to help them do it, we waived the
    requirement that colleges pay 25 percent of work-study wages.
        Our college and university presidents and our college students have
    more than risen to meet this challenge. Last December, 21 college
    presidents, led by President Corrigan, pledged to start these programs
    for their students and urge others to do the same. You heard President
    Corrigan say that now almost 800 colleges and universities have joined
    America Reads. These voluntary commitments will reach hundreds of
    thousands of children and help them to reach their dreams. And I might
    say that a lot of the colleges and universities are finding that they
    have more people who want to participate than they have work-study
    slots. They even have people who want to participate who aren't eligible
    for work-study and just want to do it because they think it's the right
    thing to do.
        At Yale, 300 students applied for 60 work-study slots. At the
    University of Michigan, 400 applied for 84 slots. At Miami Dade
    Community College, our Nation's largest community college, more than 150
    tutors have been trained and already are helping students throughout
    your hometown. In Boston, an energetic group appropriately called Jump
    Start teamed up with several local colleges to connect work-study
    students to children who need help. These are just a few examples.
        I want to join Secretary Riley and thank my longtime friend Carol
    Rasco for the outstanding leadership she has given this program. I thank
    the Department of Education. But most of all, I thank the young people
    of this country who are responding to the challenge.
        And I might say also, as we all know, the challenge is not wholly
    confined to our colleges and universities. I just received the quarterly
    report of the church that Hillary and I attend here in Washington. They
    have 45 members of the church involved in America Reads. This idea is
    catching fire in America. The interest is there, the concern is there,
    the commitment is there to meet our goal.
        That's why it is so important for Congress to fund America Reads, as
    President Corrigan said. It was agreed as part of our balanced budget
    agreement. The proposal will pay for 25,000 reading specialists and
    coordinators to coordinate the tutor training and support we need to
    enlist, train, and put into action the entire army of America Reads
    volunteers to serve every child in America, like Victoria and the others
    who are here, who are out there waiting to meet a volunteer.
        Also, because parents are our children's first and most important
    teachers, the proposal includes challenge grants to help parents do more
    to teach their children to read. I think that is critically important,
    and that is a part of the program that is in the budget. These
    approaches are the best things we know to do to teach our kids to read.
    They're already working in places like Simpson County, Kentucky, where
    AmeriCorps members help students jump an average of 3 grade levels in 8
    months; working in Reading, Ohio, where trained parent volunteers are
    helping their kindergarten-aged children make 3 times the progress of
    children who don't get the extra help; working in my home State of
    Arkansas, where the Home Institution Program for Preschool Youngsters,
    HIPPYS,

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    brings parents into their children's learning process with stunning
    results; working here in the District of Columbia, where this February
    we launched DC Reads to bring together literacy programs and local
    volunteer reading tutors. With America Reads, it can work all over the
    country for every child who needs it.
        This reflects the commitment, I might add, that thousands of
    Americans made at the Presidents' Summit on Service in Philadelphia a
    few months ago, to marshal the resources of every part of our society to
    help our children get a good education, get basic health care, do it in
    a safe environment with adult mentors, and with a chance for all
    children themselves to serve.
        We've made a lot of progress since the summit on all fronts.
    Especially, I want to note that we've increased the number of AmeriCorps
    scholarships, recognized high school service, encouraged private
    businesses to help parents move from welfare to work. But we have to
    give all children the chance to learn and all Americans the chance to
    serve. The great thing about America Reads is it serves two of the goals
    of the summit: It gives children a good education, and it gives young
    people the chance to serve.
        It would be a shame, with all the children out there who still need
    help learning to read and who want to get it, with all the parents who
    are yearning to do the best job they can as parents raising their
    children, with all the idealistic students and other American citizens
    who want to be a part of this program--it would be a shame if we did not
    reach the full goal of America Reads. We have to have a bipartisan
    commitment to education that transcends politics. We have to have a
    follow-through on the bipartisan commitment to fund America Reads to its
    full potential.
        The renowned African-American educator Mary McLeod Bethune once
    said, ``The whole world opened up to me when I learned to read.'' We
    read ``The Carrot Seed'' today. Instead of the carrot, think about
    Victoria. Think about a million Victorias. Think about millions and
    millions more. We are the planters of the seed. We have to first plant
    the seed, and then we have to tell the doubters it will grow.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:43 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Robert A. Corrigan, president, San
    Francisco State University; Eric Castillo, tutor, America Reads
    Foundation; Victoria Adeniji, second-grade student tutored in the
    America Reads program, and her mother, Felicia; and Carol H. Rasco,
    Director, America Reads Foundation.