    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [March 16, 1998]
    [Pages 380-383]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at Springbrook High School in Silver Spring
    March 16, 1998

        Thank you very much. Mr. Durso, thank
    you for welcoming me here to Springbrook. Secretary Riley, thank you for bringing me along. I want to
    introduce the Secretary of Education, Dick Riley; the Secretary of
    Energy, Federico Pena. I thank Governor
    Glendening and Senator Sarbanes and Congressman Wynn and the Maryland State superintendent, Nancy
    Grasmick; your president of the school
    board, Nancy King, and all the other people
    from Maryland who have made us feel so welcome; the Governor of West
    Virginia, Governor Underwood; and the
    mayor of Los Angeles, Mayor Riordan; and
    other people who were on our panel are over there. I'd like for all the
    people who came from all over America to be with us to stand up--Rudy
    Crew, the superintendent of New York;

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    many other leaders there. Thank you all very much, Bob Moses and the others.
        Those people came from all over America today to your school to
    discuss one very important thing for your future: How can we improve the
    learning of American students in math and science on the edge of a new
    century and a new millennium, where so much of the public welfare and so
    much of people's individual lives will be determined by whether they
    understand and can use and apply math and science? And I think you ought
    to give them a hand for doing that. [Applause]
        Now, you may know all this, but I want to give you a few facts to
    try to demonstrate to you why whether you know anything about math and
    science, no matter what you do with your life, is likely to make a big
    difference. For example, in 1993, when I became President, and all of
    you were in an earlier grade--[laughter]--in 1993, now, just 5 years
    ago, there were only 50--50 sites on the Web, on the World Wide Web--50,
    total. Today, millions of Americans and millions of organizations have
    webpages, up from 50 in 1993. The White House has one. Your school
    newspaper has one. My cat has one! [Laughter] One and a half million new
    pages are created every day; 65,000 every hour.
        Today, every one of you is just a click of a mouse away from some of
    the finest libraries in the world. And someday before long, you'll be
    able to reach every book, every symphony, every painting ever created,
    through the Web.
        I know that Bill Nye talked to you about
    science in ways that were probably infinitely more entertaining than
    anything I could say, but I'd like to say a couple of serious things to
    you. Our scientists are on the verge of making dramatic breakthroughs in
    the treatment of cancer, spinal cord injury, other serious diseases. We
    have just had a rover on Mars. We're about to put an international space
    station in the sky the size of three football fields for, in effect,
    permanent human residence in space.
        In the 1980's, it took 9 years for scientists to identify the gene
    that causes cystic fibrosis. Last year, because of improvements in
    genetic research, it took 9 days to identify the gene that causes
    Parkinson's disease. We're on our way to developing gene chips that will
    help us prevent illnesses in people even before they happen. A lot of
    you young people here today, by the time you have your first child and
    you bring your baby home from the hospital, you will actually be able to
    have a genetic map which will tell you what your child's genetic
    strengths are, and weaknesses, what the likely problems your child could
    have are, what kind of diet your child should follow, what kind of
    regime you should follow to guarantee your child has the healthiest
    possible future.
        Now, I guess what I'm trying to say is something you doubtless
    already know, but science and technology and mathematics are profoundly
    important to the way we live. But they will be even more important to
    the way you live, you work, you relate to other people, you relate to
    people all the way around the world.
        Now, I know here that preparing for that kind of future is a
    priority. You have more computers, more students taking computer science
    than any other school in the county. Congratulations. I hope more
    students around the country will follow your lead. I hope more of you
    will go on to college. And if you haven't thought of it, I hope you will
    decide to do it.
        I have worked very hard to make sure that when we start this new
    century, the first 2 years of college will be as universal as a high
    school education has been in the latter half of the 20th century. Why?
    Because we know from all of our census data that young people who have
    at least 2 years of college education are likely to get a good job with
    a growing income. Young people who don't are likely not to get a good
    job with a growing income. And we know that more and more people have to
    be able not just to know facts but to understand how to use them, how to
    solve problems, how to think creatively.
        That's why we've provided now a HOPE scholarship, a $1,500 tax
    credit, a reduction to help pay for tuition for the first 2 years of
    college, and tax credits for the junior year and senior year and
    graduate school as well. This is important. We've also simplified the
    student loan program; made interest tax deductible on student loans if
    your families or you can save money in an IRA and withdraw it to pay for
    a college education without having to pay any tax on it; we've increased
    the number of Pell grants and the number of work-study slots; and
    provided for more positions in AmeriCorps for people to earn money to go
    to college by doing community service. All of this is designed not only
    to help you individually but to make your country stronger, because we
    will need higher

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    levels of education among all our young people in the new century.
        Every one of you--and I wanted to be able to look at every young
    person in America dead in the eye and say, I don't care what your
    family's income is, I don't care what your racial or ethnic background
    is, I don't care how many struggles you've had to overcome, you will be
    able to afford to go to college because we have created a system which
    makes it possible for you.
        Now, here's the problem that we face today. Here's why all of these
    people came here. Not everybody in America has access to the same level
    of science and math and technology opportunities you do. And not
    everybody in America--and I'll bet you not even everybody in this school
    who should be taking these courses--is taking them. And that has given
    us a huge national headache.
        Earlier this month, we learned that in the Third International Math
    and Science test, which compares performance of American students with
    students around the world, that our seniors ranked near the bottom,
    ahead of only 2 other countries out of 21, in math and science
    performance. Now, by contrast, we ranked right at the top in math and
    science performance at the fourth grade--right at the top. We ranked
    second in math and tied for second in science. By the eighth grade, we
    drop to about the middle of the pack. By the 12th grade, we're ahead of
    only two other countries.
        This country is still the science and mathematics and technology and
    research capital of the world. But how long can we go on doing that when
    we need this knowledge to be more widely shared, and we know that only a
    few people have it? That is the challenge. So I say to you, it's not
    just important for you to know more math and science personally; it's
    important for your country and your future that people like you all over
    this country know more as well.
        So what are we going to do about it? Listen to this: half of all
    college-bound seniors in America--forget about the people not going to
    college--half of all the people that are going to college have not taken
    physics or trigonometry. Three-quarters have not taken calculus.
    Students around the world have to take these courses to get out of high
    school, in country after country after country. So I say to you, whether
    you have to or not, you should take trig; you should take calculus; and
    you should take physics. No matter what you do for the rest of your
    life, it will help you, and you should take them.
        Now, let me also say that we have some things to do. We have to make
    sure that all of our teachers have the chance to be properly trained.
    Let's face it--you know, there are almost 400,000 openings right now in
    America in computer science. The average entry-level salary is $48,000 a
    year. That ought to get you interested in taking them in college.
    [Laughter] The average teacher's salary in America--for all teachers,
    including those that have been teaching 30 years--the average salary is
    well below $48,000 a year, what a 22-year-old or a 23-year-old person
    can earn coming out of college with this kind of background.
        So I want to say something else to you. You've got a good teacher,
    and you know your teacher is doing this. I've just told you that your
    teacher could leave, walk out tomorrow, and go make $50,000 doing
    something else. You ought to thank your teachers for being here and
    educating you and supporting you.
        And I'll tell you what we're going to try to do. We are going to do
    our best to make sure that schools and school districts and States have
    the resources to train teachers properly. We're going to challenge all
    the States to require that the teachers who are teaching courses have
    real adequate academic preparation in the courses they're teaching. I'm
    going to urge more and more States and school districts to require you
    to take more math and science, just to get out of high school in the
    first place.
        But before all that happens--well, you're seniors, it's too late--I
    don't mean we're going to impose something on you. I don't mean you have
    to stay. But you think about this. You think about this: if you have a
    little brother or a little sister in the ninth grade or the eighth grade
    or the seventh grade or the sixth grade, wouldn't you like to know that
    when your brother or sister gets out of high school if they want to go
    to college, they can? And wouldn't you like to know that everybody who
    gets out of high school 6 years from now will be able to compete with
    every body else in the world when they get out of high school 6 years
    from now? Isn't this something we owe each other, to make every
    succeeding year better and better and better?

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        So I say this, even though--if you're a senior and you think, ``Oh,
    my goodness, I'm so glad that Bill Clinton didn't come to my school and
    give this speech 5 years ago--[laughter]--because they might have
    changed the rules and made me take all these courses,'' even if you
    think that, you should want your brothers and sisters coming up behind
    you to take all these courses, because it will be better for our country
    and for your future if we do it.
        I've been told that the motto of this school is, ``We expect; we
    believe; we achieve.'' Well, when I look at you, and I think of where
    we're going in math and science, I expect America to lead the way. I
    believe in you to be on the forefront of that. It's up to you to
    achieve.
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:15 p.m. in the auditorium. In his
    remarks, he referred to Michael A. Durso, principal, Springbrook High
    School; Gov. Parris N. Glendening of Maryland; Nancy S. Grasmick,
    Maryland State superintendent of schools; Nancy J. King, president,
    Montgomery County Board of Education; Gov. Cecil H. Underwood of West
    Virginia; Mayor Richard Riordan of Los Angeles; Rudy Crew, chancellor,
    New York City public schools; Robert Moses, director, the Algebra
    Project; and William S. (Bill) Nye, host of the PBS children's
    television program ``The Science Guy.''