    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
    [May 23, 1999]
    [Pages 836-841]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 836]]

    Commencement Address at Grambling State University in Grambling,
    Louisiana
    May 23, 1999

        The President. Thank you. Good morning.
        Audience members. Good morning.
        The President. I thank you for the wonderful, wonderful welcome.
    President Favors, thank you for the degree.
    I'm beginning to feel smarter already. [Laughter] My good friend
    Reverend Jones, thank you for your wonderful
    invocation and reminding us why we are here on this Lord's day. Mayor
    Williams, thank you for making me feel
    welcome, and I thank the other mayors and councilmembers who met me. Dr.
    Jindal, thank you for your remarks.
        I must say, I was especially impressed by the remarks of your
    student government president, Tony Eason, and
    Miss Grambling, Martha Fondel. After they
    spoke, I wasn't quite sure I wanted to give my speech. [Laughter]
        Let me also say that I am delighted to be joined today by your
    distinguished Senator, Mary Landrieu, and
    Congressman William Jefferson from New
    Orleans, by our Secretary of Transportation
    and, like me, a neighbor of yours to the north, from Arkansas, Secretary
    Rodney Slater; I thank him.
        You know, when I heard that I might be able to come to Grambling,
    there was very little discussion about this in the White House. Now,
    usually when the President has a chance to go someplace, there's always
    an argument about it because they think you should be somewhere else--
    somebody who works for you thinks you should be somewhere else. But I
    told my staff that I wanted to take a day away from Washington, DC. Now,
    Washington is a town where everybody thinks they're somebody--
    [laughter]--and I wanted to come to the place ``where everybody is
    somebody.'' I also was not about to miss a chance to hear the best band
    in the land. And I thank you for the musical tribute. And I'm glad at
    least the tuba players were standing up and dancing. I would have missed
    that, too.
        I also----
        Audience member. I need a job!
        The President. [Laughter]--Hey, I'm just getting warmed up, you
    know? Come on. [Laughter]
        To the last Grambling class of the 20th century, this is an
    important day in your lives. In so many ways----
        Audience member. I need a job!
        The President. Well, you'll be able to get one now. [Laughter]
        In so many ways, the story of this institution embodies the whole
    20th century experience of African-Americans. In 1901 not a single
    public school in this part of Louisiana would welcome an African-
    American into its classes. But the visionary farmers of this community,
    the children and grandchildren of slaves, were determined to give their
    children the education and pride and power to rise above bigotry and
    injustice. And so, even though they didn't have much, they scrounged
    around and raised some money and wrote a letter to Booker T. Washington,
    asking him to send a teacher to help build a school in the piney woods.
        Out of that determination, Grambling has truly grown into a
    university for the 21st century. You have nurtured some of our Nation's
    best educators and lawyers, pastors and public servants, nurses and
    business leaders. Of course, the NFL recruits here, thanks to Eddie
    Robinson and his successor, Super Bowl MVP
    Doug Williams. Of course, you're known for
    your band and your other athletic teams.
        But America's top technology firms recruit here, too, because
    Grambling confers more computer and information science degrees to
    African-Americans than any other university in the Nation.
        So you join a proud tradition today, and I congratulate you all. You
    have gained knowledge that will enrich you for the rest of your lives,
    and I can just see by looking at you, you've made friends who will stay
    with you for the rest of your lives. Through long hours in the class and
    late nights in the library, through moments of both self-doubt and
    triumph, you have today gained the prize: an education that will help
    you succeed in one of the most exciting eras in all of human history.
        I'd also like to congratulate and honor today your parents, your
    grandparents, your aunts and uncles, all those who had a hand in raising
    you.

    [[Page 837]]

    They should be proud of you, but they should also be proud of
    themselves. To raise a child from infancy to college graduate is no
    small feat--you hear the ``amens'' from the audience on that one.
    [Laughter]
        One of the most beloved presidents of Grambling, Ralph Waldo Emerson
    Jones, I understand often said to his students, ``When you go home, be
    sure to kiss everybody--including the mule''--[laughter]--``because the
    mule is the one who pulls the plow and keeps the family going.'' Well,
    I'm not going to ask the graduates to kiss any mules today, but I do ask
    each of you before this day is over to say a special thank-you to the
    people who kept your families going.
        I asked for some research on some of the families. I'd just like to
    mention two. People like Joyce Gaines of
    Vallejo, California--listen to this: Even through the pain of five
    ruptured disks in her back, she worked three jobs and commuted 200 miles
    a day to put her daughter, Tieaesha, through
    Grambling. Where are you? Stand up there. [Applause] Today she's
    graduating with a degree in sociology, and she plans to open a home for
    abused children. She is a tribute to her mother's love and sacrifice.
    And we thank you.
        People like James and Lilly
    Bedford of Shreveport: James is a plumber;
    Lilly is a cook. Both took on extra work at night and on weekends to
    help their youngest son, Terrence, pay for
    college. She was a student at Grambling back in the fifties, but Lilly
    had to leave before graduating. Now Terrence is the second of the seven
    Bedford children to earn a Grambling degree, and he's the senior class
    president. Congratulations to the Bedfords. Where are you? Thank you.
    [Applause]
        Stories like this remind of us what people can achieve when they set
    their minds to it, but they also remind us of how hard it can be to
    raise a child right, especially today in our very busy society with its
    very demanding economy. Now, this is the serious part of the talk. I
    want you to have a good time today, but I want you to listen to this.
        This spring I'm going to speak to seniors about how this new economy
    is transforming every aspect of our lives. Next month, at the University
    of Chicago, I'll talk about how we must put a human face on the dynamic
    but often disruptive international marketplace. But today I want to talk
    to you about what we as a Nation must do to help families like those I
    just mentioned--and those will be your families--master the challenges
    of the new economy.
        I've been thinking a lot about family lately, and I expect a lot of
    you have. In the aftermath of the terrible tragedy at Littleton and the
    other school shootings we've had in our country, they've forced us to
    confront the need not only to make guns less available to criminals and
    children, not only to make our culture less violent and our schools
    safer but also to make the bonds that tie parents to children stronger.
        The spate of hate crimes that we have seen, taking the lives of
    James Byrd, Jr., in Texas, Matthew Shepard in Wyoming, and others, force
    us to confront the need to raise our children to respect others who are
    different from themselves and to recognize that all hard-working, law-
    abiding people are part of our national family. The horrible ethnic
    cleansing of this decade in Bosnia, then Rwanda, now Kosovo, demonstrate
    in stark terms what can happen when a people raise their children
    without the fundamental premise embodied in our Declaration of
    Independence, that we are all created equal, equally endowed by God with
    the right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
        It all begins with family, with parents who love their children more
    than life and raise them to live their dreams. Most of you today are
    probably thinking more about the adventures of the work that awaits you
    at this marvelous time in your lives. And well you should be. But most
    of you also will become parents. When that happens, it will be the most
    important work you'll ever do. You will have the awesome responsibility
    of your children's physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual
    development, while at the same time pursuing your own lives in a society
    that will reward your knowledge and skills, empower and entertain you
    with its explosions of technology and mobility, and keep you very, very
    busy.
        For those without your level of education in your time, just earning
    enough to pay the bills may be a chore, especially if there are children
    to be raised.
        Now, the class of 1999 is entering an era of unparalleled
    opportunity and possibility with, for example, the lowest African-
    American unemployment and poverty rates ever recorded and the highest
    African-American homeownership in history. To give more people like you
    a chance to participate fully in this economy, we've

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    opened the doors of college to more and more Americans, with the HOPE
    scholarship tax credit, larger Pell grants, lower-cost student loans,
    tools many of you have used to finance your education.
        Now, with your diplomas in hand, you will have the chance to reap
    the benefits and shape the future of this new era--your time; to lead
    lives of greater accomplishment and affluence than most of your parents
    even dreamed of. But as you form your own families, you will no doubt
    feel the pressure of trying to balance the demands of work and family
    and doing a good job at both in a world that moves faster and faster and
    often leaves parents less and less time and energy for their children.
        Today's working parents too often feel enormous stress and bring the
    stress home with them. This is a problem not confined--I want to
    emphasize this to you--it is not confined just to people who work for
    low and modest incomes. Most of the parents I know have had problems
    balancing work and family. And as you move through your careers, unless
    we act now, this problem will get worse. Therefore, I believe it is
    imperative that your country give you the tools to succeed not only in
    the workplace but also at home. If you or any American has to choose
    between being a good parent and successful in your careers, you have
    paid a terrible price. And so has your country.
        I asked the President's Council of Economic Advisers to study the
    sweeping changes the modern economy has brought to our families. Now, no
    offense to anybody on the faculty here, but you know, it's been said
    that if every economist on Earth were laid end to end, they still would
    not reach a conclusion. [Laughter]
        But on this question, these economists did reach a conclusion, one
    that conforms to common sense and common experience. They found that
    because more and more parents were working outside the home, they have
    less and less time for their children. The percentage of married mothers
    in the work force has nearly doubled in a generation, from 38 percent in
    1969 to 68 percent in 1996. Because more mothers are working outside the
    home and because the number of single parent families has grown--listen
    to this, because this will be your life--parents in the average family
    now have 22 fewer hours each week to spend at home. That's nearly one
    full day less time per week for parents to devote to their children.
    That means by the time a child reaches the age of 18 in today's world,
    those 22 hours a week amount to over 2 years more the parents are away
    from home.
        We as a nation must find a way to give your generation of parents
    some of that time back even as you've gotten an education to succeed in
    the work force.
        Most of today's parents, the vast majority, are doing everything
    they can to do right by their kids. But they still worry that no matter
    how hard they try, it won't be enough. They worry that waking up early
    and staying up late to make time for their children may not be enough
    when a child still has to come home to an empty house after school.
        They worry that all those Sunday morning sermons about a world of
    love might not be enough when TV and movies their children watch, the
    music they listen to, the video games they play show too much hate and
    violence. They worry that all those nights working overtime to buy a
    computer so that a child can visit some of the world's finest libraries
    on the Internet might not be enough, when the same Internet can also
    lead them to recipes for pipe bombs and explosives, or to website
    discussions of dark visions of life and society so very different from
    the ones the parents have tried to impart.
        Last week Hillary and I took a sad journey to Colorado to visit with
    the students and the families of Columbine High School. I came away from
    that experience more certain than ever that as we work to strengthen our
    gun laws, we also have to work to strengthen our families.
        Now, it seems to me that the modern economy you're going to be a
    part of poses four great challenges for you as parents. The greatest and
    most obvious, as I've said, is time. In our around-the-world, around-
    the-clock economy, there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day
    for parents to do everything they need to do. I'm proud that the first
    bill I signed as President was the Family and Medical Leave Act, and
    since 1993, millions of Americans have used it to take up to 12 weeks of
    unpaid leave to care for a newborn or a sick relative without losing
    their jobs. It has been a great thing.
        But to be truthful, the current law just meets a fraction of the
    need. Too many people, too many family obligations aren't covered at
    all. Too many families can't take advantage of the law because they
    can't afford to take the time

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    off because they can't live without their paychecks. For all of this
    Nation's pro-family rhetoric, the hard truth is that other countries
    with advanced economies do a lot more to support working parents than we
    do. We must think bigger and do better.
        On the eve of the 21st century, we ought to set a goal that all
    working Americans can take time when they need it to care for their
    families without losing the income they need to support their families.
    Achieving that goal cannot come overnight and will require a significant
    shift in how our Nation helps families to succeed at home and work. But
    it can make all the difference in your lives. It will demand thought and
    creativity, a willingness to experiment. It has to be done in a way that
    gives families flexibility and doesn't undermine our dynamic and growing
    economy.
        Today, using my executive authority as President, we're going to
    take an important stop toward that goal. I am directing the Office of
    Personnel Management, whose director, Janice Lachance, came down here with me today, to allow all Federal workers
    to use the sick leave they've earned to take time off to care for other
    sick family members.
        Now, what this means is, on sick leave you get paid. Currently, the
    most sick leave a worker can use in these kinds of cases is 13 days a
    year. With the new policy I propose today, Federal employees will be
    able to take up to 12 weeks paid sick leave to nurse an ailing child or
    parent back to health. If every company in America that offers sick
    leave to its workers adopted the same policy we're adopting today, half
    of all the American work force would have this important benefit for
    their families.
        We have to find other creative ways to help Americans use benefits
    they've worked for to finance the time off they need for their families.
    Let me give you another example. A few States have asked the Federal
    Government if it would be possible to try a bold idea: allow workers who
    have earned unemployment insurance coverage to collect unemployment
    payments while they're on leave caring for a newborn or a newly adopted
    child. This is a very promising idea.
        Today I'm directing the Secretary of Labor to issue a rule to allow
    States to offer paid leave to new mothers and fathers. We can do this in
    a way that preserves the soundness of the unemployment insurance system
    and continues to promote economic growth. As the First Lady said in her
    book, ``It Takes a Village,'' those first weeks of life are critical to
    the bonding of parents and children, and they can have long-term
    positive developments for the children. No parent should have to miss
    them.
        I also am challenging Congress to help. I have proposed expanding
    unpaid family leave to cover more workers and more parental
    responsibilities, and Congress ought to respond positively. Parents
    should not have to fear a boss' wrath because they left work to take a
    child to the doctor. They shouldn't have to call in sick to attend a
    parent/teacher conference at the school.
        The second challenge parents face is finding affordable high-quality
    child care, and a lot of you will face that. Low income families spend
    up to a quarter of their income on child care. Studies show that only
    one in seven child care centers meets all the standards of good quality.
    Now, I'm supporting subsidies for child care and tax credits, better
    training for caregivers, stronger enforcement of safety standards. And I
    want business to do more by helping their own workers find and afford
    quality child care.
        In addition to that, you know, today millions of working parents--
    and a lot of them right here in north Louisiana--start looking at the
    clock every day about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, wondering if their
    kids have come home from school, wondering how they'll fare at home
    alone. The hours after the school bell rings and before parents come
    home are a perilous time for children, the time they're most tempted to
    try drugs and alcohol, most likely to become victims of a crime. That's
    why I have asked Congress to triple our investment in quality after-
    school programs. I challenge school districts all across this country:
    Unlock those empty classrooms in the late afternoon; fill them with the
    sounds of children playing and learning.
        The third challenge parents face, since they're more and more at
    work, is that they're literally physically apart from their children
    more. Now, because of some modern developments in the work force, we can
    actually close that distance by bringing back a very old idea: letting
    children who can be, be with their parents more at work.
        When I was a young child, I often went to work with my grandfather,
    who worked as a night watchman in a sawmill outside Hope, Arkansas. And
    I often went to the little grocery store he ran. And I tried not to be
    in the way too much or to eat too many cookies that I didn't pay for.
    [Laughter] But I learned lessons

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    there that have stayed with me for the rest of my life.
        As I became President, I realized that as a father, with a daughter
    who was then still in junior high school, I had the privilege of, in
    effect, living above the store. The place where I worked was only a 2-
    or 3-minute walk to have dinner every night with my family. When I was
    Governor--I still remember when I was Governor--I had a little desk over
    in the corner of my office for my daughter. And I still have vivid
    memories: I would be at my desk; she would be at hers with her crayons
    drawing me little pictures.
        Now, because of changes in the work force, we can't do this for
    everybody, but we can do it for more. More of America's employers can
    use technology to bring workers and children closer together by allowing
    more employees to telecommute at work; that is, work at home with a
    modem where it's feasible. More employers can open more onsite child
    care centers, and I have seen them working very well in this country. I
    support tax breaks to help them afford to do that.
        More employers can team up with school districts to build public
    schools at worksites if they're large enough. Dozens of companies have
    already built innovative public schools. That's what you've done here at
    Grambling; that's what the lab school is, isn't it? It's a school at a
    work site, especially friendly to education. These are good things to
    do. And I challenge the employers of this country to look at them
    closely.
        Finally, the last great challenge parents face in the modern economy
    is cultural. The new economy has enriched our lives with lower-priced
    electronic gear and a growing variety of media entertainment, and it
    sure is interesting. But too often, TV, radio, the Internet bombard our
    children with images and ideas that no parent would ever want them to
    see.
        We need tools to protect free speech and give parents more control
    over what their young children see, hear, and read. Under the leadership
    of Vice President Gore, those tools are now
    being crafted. Soon, half of all the TV sets sold in our country will
    come with V-chips, so parents can basically make the most of the new TV
    ratings system. These devices enable parents to screen out violence,
    sex, or any program they don't want their children to see. Soon, with
    just a click of a mouse, parents who have the courage to learn how to
    use a computer will be able to take offensive websites off their
    children's screens.
        The entertainment industry must also do its part. They should stop
    showing guns and violence in ads children can see, when they can't see
    the movies in the first place. They should enforce the movie rating
    system more strictly, and they ought to reexamine that rating system to
    see whether it's too loose when it comes to giving a PG-13 rating to
    films full of gratuitous violence. These are tools that can help working
    parents succeed at the most important job you'll ever have, raising
    children. But Government's responsibility is to make tools available;
    your responsibility is to use them.
        Dr. King once wrote, ``It is quite easy for me to think of a God of
    love, mainly because I grew up in a family where love was central and
    loving relationships were ever present.'' I hope and pray that the class
    of 1999 will have the chance to build those ever-present loving
    relationships with your children. To raise your children well, you will
    have to make many sacrifices. But then, as we learned again today and as
    you showed by your applause for them, your parents made many for you.
        I ask you to think one more time about how you got here today, to be
    sitting in the hot sun. [Laughter] I'm sort of sorry I'm in the shade; I
    ought to be in the sun, and you ought to be in the shade, since I'm
    talking.
        But think about this. How many of you would be here today if it
    weren't for one or more people in your families who were reading to you,
    or telling you stories when you were little; who were helping with your
    homework; who were attending your school events, even if they were dog-
    tired after work; imparting wisdom over dinner; working with you to give
    you chances they didn't have; giving you that unconditional love,
    support, and faith that says, you are the most important person in the
    world to me? Your parents have worked and sacrificed. If you ask them
    today, was it worth it, you know what they would say.
        But until you watch your own children grow up, you can't really know
    how proud your parents are of you today and how sure they are that all
    the sacrifices were more than worth it. No matter what else you
    accomplish in life, and many of you will accomplish a very great deal,
    your children will still matter most. We have to make sure that you and
    they get all the benefits of this fabulous modern world and

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    still keep the enduring gift of your devotion and love.
        As you journey into the new millennium, I wish you success and
    fulfillment at work and with your children.
        Congratulations, good luck, and God bless you.

    [At this point, Dr. Steve A. Favors,
    president, Grambling State University, jokingly offered the President a
    faculty position.]

        The President. Let me say--I must say, when I was invited to come
    back and teach and I was told all about the food and all the perks of
    the job and then the president said he wasn't serious, I was getting
    into this. [Laughter] I've got a good pension; I can work pretty cheap.
    [Laughter]
        Let me say one thing seriously--I very much hate that I have to go
    back now but I have--as you know, we have got a lot going on overseas,
    and it's 6 hours ahead there, and I have to make a lot of phone calls
    today and do a lot of work. Otherwise I wouldn't leave. I would like to
    stay here until midnight--not talk until midnight, just stay here until
    midnight. [Laughter]
        This has been a wonderful thing for me. I have had a lot more fun
    than you have so far at this. I cannot thank you. I'm so proud of you.
    And I like looking out there and seeing your faces and your eyes and
    your self-confidence. And I want you to go out and do a great job with
    your lives.
        Thank you. God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:47 a.m. in Eddie Robinson Stadium, after
    receiving an honorary doctor of laws degree. In his remarks, he referred
    to Rev. E. Edward Jones of the National Baptist Convention of America,
    who gave the invocation; Mayor John Williams of Grambling; Bobby J.
    Jindal, president, University of Louisiana System; and Eddie Robinson,
    former head football coach, and former NFL Washington Redskins
    quarterback Doug Williams, current head football coach, Grambling State
    University. A portion of these remarks could not be verified because the
    tape was incomplete.