[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 4 (Monday, January 29, 2001)]
[Pages 214-215]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Reading Roundtable

January 22, 2001

    Laura and I have been honored to host a discussion on an incredibly 
important subject, and that's education and reading. I really appreciate 
the Secretary of Education for coming, Dr. Rod Paige; and for educators, 
leaders, from all around the country who've come here to the Roosevelt 
Room.
    Phyllis Hunter coined a phrase that I quote a lot, and that is, 
``Reading is the new civil right.'' It's the cornerstone of hope and 
opportunity in America, and we're going to make sure every child has the 
opportunity to learn to read. That means we're going to have scientific-
based knowledge be the cornerstone of our curriculum. And that's why I 
appreciate Reid Lyon and others, experts in the field of reading, for 
being here to help make sure our curriculum reflect that which works.
    We're going to diagnose children early and correct problems when we 
find them. As importantly, I'm going to ask Congress to spend money on 
teacher training, to make sure that our teachers, the heart and soul of 
the education system, have got the tools necessary to teach children to 
read.
    I'm excited about working with the pros in the field of education. 
This is not a Republican issue; it's not a Democrat issue; it's not an 
independent issue; this is an American issue, and the most fundamental 
of all American issues. If the mission is to make sure the American 
experience touches every willing heart, every person in the country, it 
starts with making sure our children learn to read, and it starts with 
making sure children learn to read early. And one of the key initiatives 
that we have been discussing is, how do we make sure that we get 
science-

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based reading instruction to the youngest of the young? One way is to 
make sure that Head Start has a reading component as a part of its 
overall mission.
    So I want to thank you all for coming. This is a week where I'm 
going to, hopefully, focus the Nation's attention on public schools and 
how the Congress and the executive branch can work together to pass law 
and appropriate money that will enable Dr. Paige and myself to work on 
the noblest of all missions, that every single child be educated in 
America, and not one--I mean not one--be left behind.

Note: The President spoke at 1:49 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the 
White House. In his remarks, he referred to Secretary of Education 
Roderick R. Paige; G. Reid Lyon, chief, Child Development Branch, 
National Institute for Child Health and Human Development; and Phyllis 
Hunter, consultant, Texas Reading Initiative.