[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: GEORGE W. BUSH (2001, Book I)]
[April 11, 2001]
[Pages 384-390]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at Concord Middle School in Concord, North Carolina
April 11, 2001

    Thank you all very much. Okay. ``Dr. O,'' thank you for your hospitality. It's an honor to be 
here. I want to thank you all for coming.
    Before I talk about a subject dear to my heart, which is education, 
and before I recognize all the distinguished guests, I do want to say 
that right after my visit here, I am going to meet with the family of 
Petty Officer Third Class Steven Blocher. As 
you know, Steven is one of our 24 service men 
and women in China.

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I'm really looking forward to letting Steven's family know that we're in 
the process of bringing their son home. Steven grew up in Charlotte, and 
I know this entire Charlotte area and I know this entire community joins 
in looking forward to welcoming him home.
    I'm grateful for the opportunity to tell the Blochers how much 
America appreciates their son's patriotism and service to his country 
and how much we appreciate the service of our men and women in uniform 
throughout the world. Situations such as this remind us how much our 
military personnel and their families sacrifice for our freedom. It also 
reminds me, it's such an honor to be the Commander in Chief of such 
wonderful people.
    It's also an honor to be here in the great State of North Carolina. 
I've got a lot of friends here, and I'm grateful. It's also good to get 
out of Washington, DC, on a regular basis. It kind of reminds us that 
there is--it helps us stay in touch with reality. It's important to 
listen to people who are on the frontlines of making their communities a 
much better place. And there's no better place to listen and to say 
thanks than our schools all across America, where people are working 
their heart out to make a difference in the lives of our children. So 
first, I want to thank all the teachers who are here.
    I don't know if you know this--and I'm sorry the First Lady is not with us. She's heading down to Texas for the 
Easter break. I'm following shortly thereafter, I want you to know. 
[Laughter] One of her missions, besides making sure every child can 
read, is to remind folks about how important it is and what an important 
profession teaching is, that teaching is a noble profession, and that 
for the youngsters who are looking for something to do after college: 
Become a teacher. Or for those who have just gotten out of the military: 
Become a teacher.
    We need good teachers in America. We need people to understand what 
an important job it is. So for those of you who are thinking about 
something to do when you get out of junior high, then high school, then 
college, give teaching a shot. It will not only change some child's 
life; it will change your life for the better, as well.
    It's good to see Phil Kirk. Phil, 
thank you very much. I was honored to be escorted around the school by a 
man I proudly called ``Mr. President,'' Graham Boone. I appreciate Senator Edwards 
being here. Senator, it's good to see you, sir. I appreciate Congressman 
Hayes. I can assure you, on the ride in from the 
airport, he gave me a full briefing--[laughter]--about every single 
aspect of this community. He pointed out every NASCAR garage and every 
four-lane highway that needed to be expanded. [Laughter]
    Congressmen Coble, Ballenger, and Taylor are also here. 
I want to thank you all for coming, and I appreciate your loyal support. 
I guess when the President shows up, all kinds of elected officials 
come, and I appreciate your coming. The mayors, the mayor of 
Charlotte and the mayor of Concord, I want to thank you both for being here, as well.
    It's good to see Mike Ward again. I saw 
Mike just the other day. Thank you, Mike. And it's good to have members 
of the statehouse, the speaker and the 
leader of the Senate, on both sides of the 
aisle. It reminds me, seeing both Republicans and Democrats from the 
statehouse here, that when it comes to education, there really isn't--
there isn't a need for partisan bickering. When it comes to the 
education of the children, it is right for people of both parties to 
come together and figure out how to get the job done. And that's what's 
happened here.
    I know that's what's happened here in North Carolina. It also 
happened in the State of Texas when I was the Governor--that we said 
we'll have our time for political bickering, but when it comes to 
important issues like education, we'll set aside political

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bickering and focus on the children. And as a result of people from both 
parties being able to work together in our respective States, North 
Carolina and Texas have made great progress.
    I know that some other States don't like to hear this, but at one 
point in time, the National Education Goals Panel analyzed which of the 
States in the United States were making the greatest gains on student 
achievement. And it turned out our States were, North Carolina and 
Texas. And I attribute that to the fact that people from both political 
parties were willing to work together--something Washington, DC, needs 
more of, by the way. We need less name-calling and finger-pointing and 
more focus on what's right for America. And a good place to start is 
when it comes to the education of our children.
    Now, there's another reason why our States did well. It's because we 
adopted a philosophy that makes sense. It starts with setting high 
expectations for every child. Ours are States that have said, every 
child can learn. We're not one of these States that said, some of the 
children can learn, or maybe a handful of the children can learn. We 
started with the philosophy that every child can learn--and that's the 
right attitude to take--and also a philosophy that said, we're going to 
set high standards for every child. Not high standards for suburbia or 
high standards for inner city--high standards for every child is part of 
our political philosophy.
    Oh, I know there are difficult circumstances. But that is not an 
excuse to lower standards. You see, if you lower standards, you get 
lower results. If you set the bar low, you're going to get results that 
are not satisfactory for having a tomorrow that we want for every child. 
So the first part of our common philosophy says, we're going to set high 
standards and high expectations and believe that every child can learn.
    Secondly, our States believe in local control of schools. That's 
something the Federal Government needs to learn. It needs to learn to 
trust the people of North Carolina when it comes to running the schools 
of North Carolina. This idea of Washington making decisions on behalf of 
the people of North Carolina has got to end, in order to make sure that 
every child gets educated in America.
    One of the things I look forward to working with the Congress on is 
to explain to those who don't quite understand that all knowledge 
doesn't exist in Washington; that in order to have excellence in our 
schools, we've got to trust local people. And I mean we need to pass 
power out of Washington, DC, to empower the Governors and local school 
boards to make the right decisions for the children in their respective 
States, because one size does not fit all when it comes to the education 
of the American children.
    And finally, the cornerstone of reform for North Carolina and for 
Texas and for other States is the willingness of our States to measure, 
is to say accountability is an incredibly important part of educational 
excellence. Now, in your State of North Carolina, you measure three 
through eight. In my State of Texas, we do the same thing. And that's 
exactly the cornerstone of reform necessary. Do you know why? Because if 
you do not measure, you do not know whether or not children are 
learning. And if you don't know, it's likely certain children will be 
moved just right through the system.
    It's so easy to quit on certain children. It's so easy to quit on 
children whose parents may not speak English as a first language. It's 
so easy to quit on a child; you take a look and say, ``This child is too 
hard to educate, so we'll just move him or her through.'' That is 
unacceptable to me. I know it's unacceptable to you, and it needs to be 
unacceptable to all Americans. Every child matters; every child can be 
educated; and we must quit this business of just simply giving up on 
children early, before it's too late.

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    And the structural reform necessary to make sure that doesn't happen 
is to measure, is to say--ask ourselves: Can a child read at grade 
level, say, by the third grade? And if we find out the answer is no, 
then do something about it early, before it's too late. I strongly 
believe in accountability.
    In the budget I submitted to the Congress, one which one body of the 
House listened to pretty carefully, and--one body of the Congress 
listened to carefully, and the other decided, well, they're going to 
listen to some of it, but they decided to increase the size and scope of 
the Federal Government--we put a lot of money in for public education. 
The biggest increase of any Department was for public education.
    We increased the size of the reading initiative by threefold. 
Because I understand that reading is the gateway to knowledge--and 
that's nothing new; all Members of Congress understand that--I did want 
there to be a priority in the budget for reading. They said, ``If the 
States wants to access Federal money, you should be able to do so, but 
make sure you have K-through-2 diagnostic tools available so that we can 
have meaningful early childhood reading initiatives; make sure you 
understand that if the curriculum doesn't work, that you're bold enough 
to change it, and therefore, access some of the money to train teachers 
on curriculum that do work; make sure that you have intensive reading 
academies so that no child gets left behind when it comes to reading.''
    We've tripled the amount of money for States, if they so choose to 
use that, because--I know this is obvious, unfortunately sometimes--but 
it reflects reality, and it reflects some of the problems we have that 
if you can't read, you can't learn other subjects. And unfortunately, 
too many of our children can't read. I'm a first-things-first person. 
Let's get the reading right, and I'm confident the math and science will 
follow thereafter. I do know if they can't read, it's going to be hard 
to master science. So there's the focus on reading. And I know your 
State will take advantage of the Federal monies if I can get it passed 
out of the Congress--I think we're going to, by the way--to make sure 
every child learns to read in your great State.
    Secondly, it's one thing to teach a child to read and write, but in 
order to make sure education is full and complete, we also must teach 
our children right from wrong. We triple the amount of money in the 
budget for character education programs. We should not be afraid to 
teach children what's right and what's wrong. And we should not be 
afraid in our society to teach children the values which have stood the 
test of time: Don't lie, cheat, and steal; honor thy parents; show 
respect; be responsible for the decisions you make in life. And I also 
believe that, along those lines, we ought not to be afraid to teach 
abstinence to our children. So I've increased abstinence funding in the 
budget, as well.
    Now, we increase spending. Now, there's some hollering we didn't 
increase it enough and some saying too much, and of course, imagine the 
President thinks it's just right. But it's one thing to spend money, but 
it's another thing to make sure the systems work, too.
    As you know, particularly in your State, there's more than just 
spending money to education. It is important to get it right. And that's 
why I urge the Congress to hear the message of accountability and local 
control.
    Part of the reform package that is being debated in the Senate and 
the House is to pass power out of Washington, is the best way to put it; 
is to make sure the Federal money that is spent is not so tied up that 
local folks can't use it to meet their own specific needs; is to trust 
the local people. It's an inherent principle of good public policy in 
Washington: Always remember to trust the local people. Why? Because 
government closer to the people

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is that which is most responsive. The government which get far away from 
the people sometimes doesn't hear the real voice, doesn't respond, may 
get caught up in special interests or the folks that surround the 
Nation's Capital.
    And so we've got to trust people. And so inherent in the plan is to 
say to the Congress, ``Work with us to pass power out of Washington. And 
let's not be afraid to do so.'' And I think we're making good progress 
on that. I think many of the Members of the Congress and the Senate 
understand that principle.
    And I'm asking Congress to say, ``If you receive Federal money, you 
must develop an accountability system like North Carolina has done.'' In 
return for taxpayers' money, to me it makes sense to ask the question, 
what are the results? If you receive Title I money in the State around 
the country--in one of our States in our country, you've got to measure. 
You've got to show us. I don't believe there ought to be a national 
test. I strongly resist a national test. A national test would undermine 
the development of local curriculum, for example. A national test could 
really mean the National Government ends up running--begins to dictate 
policies for our schools, and that's not right.
    But I think it's responsible and wise and appropriate to say that if 
you receive help from the Federal Government, you develop an 
accountability system, and you measure. And you disaggregate results; 
you don't lump people into groups so we don't know. Each child matters.
    You see, it is incredibly important for this country to change our 
mentality about education. Instead of asking the question, ``How old are 
you,'' we need to start asking the question, ``What do you know?'' 
Instead of saying, ``Oh, you're 10, and you go here; and you're 12, you 
go here; or you're 16, we'll just put you here''--it's time for this 
country, all across the land, to start asking the question, ``What do 
you know?'' And if you don't know what you're supposed to know, we'll 
make sure you do early, before it's too late.
    That's what accountability will do for our country. It begins to 
change the mentality. It recognizes you can't correct problems unless 
you know there is a problem. And so I hope the Members of the House and 
the Members of the Senate do not blink when it comes to insisting that 
local jurisdictions develop strong accountability systems. It's so 
important. It's so important if we want to make sure that no child gets 
left behind.
    And by the way, in order for there to be accountability that works, 
there must be a consequence for success and a consequence for failure. 
There is no such thing as an accountability system unless something 
happens with success and failure. I believe we ought to reward success, 
and I believe, after a reasonable period of time, if a school will not 
teach and it will not change, something else must happen. And we're 
having a big debate on what the something else is in the Nation's 
Capital. There's a big debate on that.
    But one thing is for certain: I will not accept a plan that accepts 
failure, because our children are too important. One thing is for 
certain: People must be given different options if their children are in 
schools that simply won't adjust. It's time for us to have strong 
accountability measures and local control in our schools.
    People talk about parental involvement. All of us are for parental 
involvement, of course. It will make the teachers' job so much easier 
when parents get involved. But there's nothing like parental involvement 
when we start posting scores on the Internet. There's nothing like 
parental involvement when we break down accountability on a child-per-
child basis. There's nothing like getting a mother fired up when she 
sees the fact that her school may not be performing quite like she 
thought it was going to be. Accountability is not only good for the 
children; it's good for parents, as well.

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    And it turns out it's good for schools. It's good for schools. It's 
good to know. It's good to know whether a curriculum is working or not. 
It's good to know whether the methodology that's being used within the 
classrooms makes sense. It's good to know.
    And when we start to measure, we're going to start saying for 
certain, every child matters in America. And when we start to correct--
when we start to correct, we're going to make certain that every child 
is educated, and our country is going to be better off for it.
    There's a lot of things I want to do in Washington. As you know, I'm 
committed to making sure that once we meet our priorities, that our 
Government always remembers who funds the Government; that it's not the 
Federal Government's money; it's the people's money.
    We're making progress. Oh, some folks are kicking and screaming, but 
we're making some progress toward remembering whose money it is. But 
we're making good progress on education, as well, and I'm grateful. I'm 
grateful when a President Bush can sit down with a Senator Kennedy and 
have a meaningful, real dialog on what's right for the country. I'm 
grateful for that.
    One of my missions was to try to change the tone of Washington. You 
see, Washington is zero-sum game up there. There are people up there 
that say, ``We can't support this because it means somebody wins and, 
therefore, somebody loses.'' It means that we're not focused on the 
right reason, the reason we're there as people. And we may have a 
disagreement, but we've got to get rid of the zero-sum politics that 
dominates the discourse in our Nation's Capital. We're there to serve.
    And the best way to convince people to serve is to change the tone 
from one of suspicion to respect. And as you can imagine, Senator 
Kennedy and I don't get along on a lot of 
issues, but we get along--I respect him as a person. I respect his 
professionalism. And I respect the fact that he's willing to sit down 
and see if my office and me, we can't work out differences that may 
exist when it comes to educating children. It's a good step in the right 
direction.
    I think the tone in Washington is beginning to change for the 
better. I know we're beginning to have a new culture of accomplishment 
take hold, that instead of everybody focusing on process and who's 
saying what about who, that we're beginning to focus on results.
    I want this country to be a results-oriented country, starting at 
the national level. We ought to be focusing on results--particularly 
when it comes to education of children. And if they're good, let's 
praise everybody. And if they're bad, let's praise them, but let's fix 
it. So we're making progress in the Nation's Capital.
    And finally, I think I'm making pretty good progress--I hope I am--
on convincing people that it's not only important to educate our 
children; it's important to welcome faith-based and community-based 
programs and to stay-after-school programs, so that children understand 
that somebody loves them and somebody cares. That is so important.
    I think we're making pretty good progress on the so-called Faith-
Based Initiative, that makes it clear that government is limited. I 
mean, government can't make people love one another. If it could, I'm 
sure that Senator Edwards would sponsor it, and 
I would sign it if we could figure out how to do that.
    But the role of government is limited. Oh sure, we can fund and we 
can tax and maybe not tax so much. And of course, we can keep the peace. 
But what government cannot do is cause people to love one another. What 
government cannot do is to understand the great power of faith and 
concern and love. We can rally faith and concern and love. We can 
encourage programs based upon faith, concern, and

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love, and we must. But we can't make people love one another. That comes 
from institutions that rely upon a greater power; that comes from 
churches and synagogues and mosques. It comes from mentoring programs 
based upon the idea of some soul, some good, decent American saying, 
``What can I do to help make my society a better place?''
    I love coming outside the Nation's Capital, because it gives me a 
chance to see Americans line the road, saluting the institution of the 
Presidency as I drive by. And it reminds me every time, every trip, that 
the strength of this country lies not in the halls of our Government; 
the strength of this country lies in the hearts and souls of the 
citizens of the greatest land on the face of the Earth.
    I think we're making progress. We understand where the power of this 
country lays. It lays in the hearts and souls of Americans. It must lay 
in our pocketbooks. It lays in the willingness for people to work hard. 
But as importantly, it lays in the fact that we've got citizens from all 
walks of life, all political parties, that are willing to say, ``I want 
to love my neighbor. I want to make somebody's life just a little bit 
better.'' And for those of you who are doing that, I thank you from the 
bottom of my heart.
     And thank you for your warm welcome, and God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 11:55 a.m. in the gymnasium. In his 
remarks, he referred to Austin Obasohan, principal, and Graham Boone, 
student council president, Concord Middle School; Phillip J. Kirk, Jr., 
chairman, North Carolina State Board of Education; Mayor Patrick McCrory 
of Charlotte, NC; Mayor George W. Liles of Concord; Michael E. Ward, 
superintendent, North Carolina Public Schools; and Speaker of the House 
James B. Black and Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight, North 
Carolina State Assembly. The President also referred to Title I of the 
Improving America's Schools Act of 1994 (Public Law No. 103-382), which 
amended Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 
(Public Law No. 89-10).