[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 41 (Monday, October 16, 1995)]
[Pages 1794-1796]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Announcing the Technology Learning Challenge Grants

October 10, 1995

    Thank you, Mr. Vice President, for your outstanding work on this 
issue. And thank you, Secretary Riley and Secretary Brown, for your work 
as well.
    I want to say a few more things about the people behind me and those 
in front of me, but if I might, in the beginning, I think it would be 
appropriate for me to make a few comments about what has happened to the 
Amtrak train in Arizona.
    We believe it was a case of sabotage. And I am profoundly outraged 
by it. I want to make it clear that we will do everything we can with 
the Federal Government to catch whoever is responsible. I am determined 
that we will make sure that in the United States we will have the tools, 
the means we need to keep the American people safe. We will get to the 
bottom of this. We will punish those who are responsible. We will not 
tolerate acts of cowardice like this in the United States, regardless of 
the motive. And when I know more about it, I'll be glad to comment more 
about it.
    I have just finished a meeting, along with the Vice President and 
other members of our administration, with leaders who are here behind 
me, leaders of many of the American companies on the cutting edge of the 
information age. They are helping to lead our Na- 

[[Page 1795]]

tion into the world of the 21st century as the strongest economic power 
in the world.
    Two and a half weeks ago in California, I met with some other 
business leaders, and I called on the representatives of business, 
government, teachers, schools, parents, students to become involved in a 
high-tech venture with a guaranteed return. I asked for a national 
public-private partnership to connect every classroom in America to the 
information superhighway by the year 2000.
    This today, this meeting, is the next step. Today these business and 
education leaders have joined with me to launch a partnership that will 
ensure that every child in America is technologically literate for the 
dawn of the 21st century and that every child in America has the 
resources, the means, by which to become technologically literate by the 
dawn of the 21st century.
    The idea that every child deserves the opportunity to build a bright 
future has been at the heart of America's education system and America's 
entire value system. Education is the way we keep the promise of the 
American dream to all of our children without regard to their 
circumstances.
    Today, that means computers, knowing how to make the most of them, 
having teachers who can work with students to make the most of them, and 
having the right software to make the computers make sense. 
Technological literacy must become the standard in our country. 
Preparing children for a lifetime of computer use is just as essential 
today as teaching them the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic.
    This isn't just computers for computers' sake. We're going to work 
together to help our schools use technology to revolutionize American 
education so that all children will be able to learn better and teachers 
will be able to be more effective.
    In the next few months, the leaders here behind me will be working 
with us to produce a plan based on the four pillars I outlined in 
California: modern computers in every classroom, accessible to every 
student from kindergarten through the 12th grade; connections from every 
classroom to the incredible educational resources flowing throughout the 
world; teachers in every classroom who are trained to make the most of 
new technology to educate every student--and I want to emphasize, one of 
the most important aspects of the technological revolution is the 
opportunities being opened to children so many Americans had given up on 
and schools that too many Americans had given up on--and finally, a rich 
array of educational software and information resources.
    Today I'm announcing three steps forward that show we are turning 
these principles into reality. First, we're awarding Technology Learning 
Challenge Grants to 19 communities. In each community there's a 
partnership of educators, businesses, libraries, museums, and community 
groups that have come together to retool their schools for the 21st 
century. They are matching these grants. They are committing hardware 
and software, hard work, and know-how. For example, in Dover, Delaware, 
Bell Atlantic, Lightspan Partnership, and the State education department 
are linking homes and schools through family TV sets to improve reading 
and arithmetic in the early grades. This is how these partnerships will 
work.
    Let me say that it costs a very modest amount of money. This is one 
of the discussions we have to have in the weeks ahead as we continue our 
progress toward a balanced budget. We can balance the budget without 
cutting back on our commitment to our educational future. For a very 
small amount of national money, we are leveraging much larger amounts of 
local resources. And I would say again, this is the kind of thing that 
the Nation ought to be doing now in the area of education and the sort 
of thing I will be trying to preserve as we negotiate the shoals of the 
budget discussions.
    The second thing I want to announce is a private sector effort 
making a difference in one State is now going nationwide. We must rely 
on the expertise of millions of Americans working in the high-tech 
professions. The Technology Corps brings private sector volunteers into 
our schools so that they can bring technology into our classrooms. It's 
already working in Massachusetts where it was started by Gary Beach, who 
is here with us today, to connect Massachusetts schools. And now we want 
to do this around the country.

[[Page 1796]]

    Finally, we're launching the American Technology Honor Society to 
harness the high-tech skills of exceptional students so they can help to 
expand their own school's use of technology. We have to remember that 
people born in the information age are more comfortable with it than 
people like me, who weren't. [Laughter]
    The American Technology Honor Society will be rooted in the National 
Honor Society, and it will be run by the National Association of 
Secondary School Principals. Communities, businesses, and governments; 
parents, teachers, and students--this could be the largest merger in 
history, with no questions from the Justice Department. [Laughter] 
Certainly it will be the most important partnership for the future in 
the United States today, working together to put a computer in every 
classroom and a computer whiz at every desk.
    Every child in America deserves the chance to get the high-tech 
know-how to unlock the promises of the 21st century--every child in 
America. And thanks to the statesmanship and vision of the people who 
are here with me today and many like them all around America, we are 
going to forge a partnership to do just that.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 9:28 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the 
White House.