    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [June 15, 2000]
    [Pages 1151-1153]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to United States Dream Academy Participants
    June 15, 2000

        The President.  Thank you. Well, good afternoon.
        Audience members.  Good afternoon.
        The President.  First, I want to say, Principal Jones, thank you for having us here. My great friend
    Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton--
    there is not a better Member of Congress than Eleanor Holmes Norton; you
    should be very proud of her. I thank all the representatives of the DC
    government that are here.
        Can you hear me? Is this on?
        Audience members.  Yes.
        The President.  No, it's not on, but you can hear me anyway?
    [Laughter] Whoever controls this, turn it up! [Laughter] Turn the sound
    up. That's a little better.
        Let me say a special word of appreciation to my long-time friend
    Wintley Phipps. You heard the story of how I
    met him. I'm glad his family is here today. And I guess you're all his
    family, in a way. But when I met him in Alabama a long time ago, he may
    not have known who I was, but once I heard him sing and I saw the
    expression on his face, I knew I'd never forget him again for the rest
    of my life.
        I want to thank the U.S. Dream Academy and all of you who are its
    partners; a special word of appreciation to the staff, the students, the
    teachers at the Ferebee Hope Community Services Center and Elementary
    School. I thank you all for helping these children through this
    wonderful program to realize their dreams and their God-given potential.
        Eleanor Roosevelt once said this: ``The future belongs to those who
    believe in the beauty of their dreams.'' We are here today because
    Wintley Phipps believed in the beauty of his
    dream, believed that all children, given the right support, could
    realize their dream. That's why he founded the Dream Academy, to give
    children who have fallen behind a chance to catch up and soar ahead and
    to pay special attention to children whose parents were incarcerated.
        You know, I used to tell people all the time, when they said to me
    when I was a Governor, ``Why are you for all these education programs in
    the prisons and all these training programs and all these treatment
    programs?'' And I said, ``Well, first of all, 90 percent of those folks
    are going to get out some day, and we want them to be good citizens. And
    secondly, if they'd had these things in the first place, a lot of them
    wouldn't be in there.''
        And so I want to thank the people associated with this Academy for
    helping give nearly three-quarters of the students at Ferebee a chance
    to live their dreams. I want to thank the parents who are involved. I
    want to thank everybody who give these children the learning
    environment, the personal attention, the academic tools they need. I
    want to thank you for teaching

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    not only academic subjects but character building and the importance of
    maintaining good health.
        I worry about how many kids in our schools in disadvantaged
    neighborhoods never get a chance just to learn about the basics of good
    health. I've seen all these physical education programs and music
    programs and art programs cut out of our schools over the last decade
    because of financial problems they've seen, and I thank you for giving
    these kids a whole education and a chance to be whole people.
        And of course, I want to say a special word of thanks for having an
    Internet-based curriculum. These children need to be part of the
    information society. I have seen the power of the Internet in the
    poorest villages of Africa and India and Latin America. I have talked to
    children all over the world on the Internet, and no child in America
    should be without its blessing.
        You know, the entire Encyclopedia Britannica is now on the Internet.
    In schools in the poorest parts of this country, schools where they have
    no building as nice as this one, if they have an Internet connection and
    a printer, they can have textbooks as good as anyone else, thanks to the
    miracles of modern technology. These children deserve it, and all of the
    children of America deserve it. And so I thank you.
        Now, what I would like to say, especially for the benefit of the
    members of the press who are here covering this, is that this is not
    just a feel-good program. It works. In the last year, math and reading
    scores are up sharply. Suspensions are down. Class attendance is up,
    which shows that more and more of these young people understand the
    importance of going to school, staying in school, and doing well in
    school. This works.
         I thank Wintley for pointing out that
    this program receives funding from the Department of Labor. And I'm
    happy to report that another $200,000 will be granted over the next 2
    years because of what you're doing. I know you've gotten money from
    energy companies, from the NFL, from other places, and I want to thank
    all the people who have given you private money, as well.
        I think we ought to be thinking about how we can make sure these
    kinds of opportunities are available to all of our children. I think
    that means that, as Wintley goes national,
    the National Government ought to go with him and help him all across the
    country. But it also means that we have to continue our efforts for
    smaller classes, for better school buildings, to make sure all our
    classrooms are hooked up to the Internet, to make sure every child who
    needs it has access to an after-school or a summer school program, to
    make sure that all kids have access to preschool programs, to make sure
    every low-performing school has the resources it needs to turn around.
    Because I believe that intelligence is evenly distributed throughout the
    human race, opportunity is not, and we need to give them a chance to do
    it.
        I believe every child from a disadvantaged neighborhood should have
    access to a mentor who can say to that child, ``Look, if you take these
    courses and do this well, you can go to college. Here's the proof of it.
    Here's the money. Here's the scholarships. Here's the loan. Here's the
    aid.'' We need to make sure that all kids can do it, and then when
    they're of age, we need to make sure the doors of college are open to
    all of our people. Money should never keep anybody from going to school.
        One of the things that I'm proudest of is that since I've been
    President, we've had the biggest expansion of college aid since the GI
    bill 50 years ago. And if we get the provision passed that I've asked
    this Congress to adopt, we'll allow every family to deduct up to $10,000
    of college tuition from their income tax every year, and that will be
    good.
        One other thing I'd like to say: I'm sure you never have it here,
    but I've noticed in my own home that the children sometimes know more
    than the adults, even the teachers, about the technology. I'm sure
    you've never seen that here. [Laughter] But we just have provided over
    $120 million to make sure that nearly 600,000 teachers are properly
    trained to make the most of this Internet technology, because I think
    that's important.
        What I came here today to say is this: Number one, I am grateful to
    God that somehow 10 years ago I ran into Wintley Phipps, who didn't know who I was, but I determined I'd never
    forget who he was. Number two, I am grateful to him and to all of you
    who have done the U.S. Dream Academy. Number three, I want to support
    you, but I believe what you do for these children, somebody should do
    for every child in the United States.
        And finally, again, I want to say to the American people through our
    friends in the press,

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    this is not just a feel-good program; this works. Every person who ever
    amounted to anything in life did so with a dream. We need to make all of
    our kids believe they can dream and that their dreams are just as worthy
    as anybody else's dreams and that, if they're willing to work at it,
    their dreams are just as possible as anyone else's dreams.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

     Note:  The President spoke at 6:15 p.m. in Mitchell Hall Auditorium at
    Ferebee Hope Elementary School. In his remarks, he referred to Lester
    Jones, principal, Ferebee Hope Elementary School; and gospel singer
    Wintley Phipps, founder and director, United States Dream Academy, a
    pilot program designed to help children of imprisoned parents acquire
    basic learning skills, incorporating mentoring and on-line academic
    support. The President also referred to NFL, the National Football
    League.