[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 15 (Monday, April 16, 2001)]
[Pages 594-596]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in a Discussion on Character-Building Programs in Education

April 10, 2001

    The President. Thank you all. Mr. Secretary, thank you very much. 
Mr. Mayor, thank you very much for being here. I'm glad to see you. And 
I'm glad to see the superintendent. I appreciate you all being here. 
This is not the first time I've been with the Mayor, nor with the 
superintendent, both of whom are doing a fine job for Washington, DC. 
I'm proud to call this place home, and I'm proud to have you all leading 
the city and the school district.
    I want to thank the members of the Young Gentlemen's Club for being 
here, and I'm looking forward to shaking your hand after the discussion. 
And thank you all for making the right choices in life. I want to thank 
our panelists. I look forward to hearing from our panelists.
    I want to start the discussion by quoting Martin Luther King, Jr., 
who said this: ``Intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus 
character, that is the goal of true education.'' So we're here today to 
herald character-building programs. We're here today to recommend that 
throughout America we teach values to our children, that we not only 
teach our children how to read and write but that we be bold enough to 
teach them the difference between right and wrong, as well. And we've 
picked a pretty darn good school as an example.
    By the way, I found this, that one of the keys to success in our 
public education is to have good, strong principals. So Annie, thank you 
for being here. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. One of the keys 
to success is to have role models not only live a quality life but be 
willing to take time out of their lives to share their experiences. So 
I'm pleased to have a star basketball player with us here.
    One of the keys to success is to find people who are willing to use 
their intelligence to rally people of compassion to serve as mentors and 
role models for children--young ladies, in this case. And so I'm so 
pleased that Elayne Bennett is here. One of the keys to success is being 
a good mom. And so I'm so thankful you're here, Nicole. One of the keys 
to success is to be willing to listen to what the adults say. And so, 
Isaiah, thank you for being here, as well.
    And finally, it is an honor that Mr. Bob Howard is with us, a person 
who has taken time out of his life to make sure that the Young 
Gentlemen's Club flourishes.
    Parents have a tough battle in America today. Their children 
sometimes receive conflicting messages, and what public education ought 
to do is stand on the side of parents and be willing to reinforce the 
values that

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parents teach their children. And the Young Gentlemen's Club does just 
that. And so I'm looking forward to hearing the stories. I'm looking 
forward to hearing how best I can help.
    One way we can help, by the way, is to have our budgets reflect our 
priorities. And the budget I submitted to the Congress triples the 
amount of character-education money available for public education. The 
budget I submitted to the Congress increases the amount of money 
available for abstinence-education programs. And the money and program 
I've submitted to the Congress encourages after-school programs to be 
run by faith-based and community-based programs that exist because 
they've heard the universal call to love a neighbor just like they'd 
like to be loved themselves.
    We can make a huge difference in the lives of America's children. It 
starts recognizing that society's changed one child at a time; one 
heart, one soul, one conscience at a time. And this program, the Young 
Gentlemen's Club, does precisely that.
    So thank you, Mr. Secretary, it's an honor. And thank you all for 
coming.

[The discussion began.]

    The President. Let me say one thing, Mr. Secretary. To prove the 
principal's point, they use a Stanford 9 here in the District of 
Columbia. Many of you know that I'm a strong advocate for 
accountability. If you don't measure, you don't know. And so under the 
leadership of the superintendent, there's a lot of measuring that goes 
on. It's really important to measure, by the way, and I hope the 
Congress gets the message how important it is that in return for more 
money, we need to have strong accountability systems developed at the 
local level.
    Cleveland Elementary School, on the Stanford 9, is on par with 
affluent local suburban districts. In other words, it's not just talking 
the talk; the results have improved significantly as a result of 
character programs and focus on each child.
    And I want to thank you for your hard work, Madam Principal, and the 
results bear out what you just said. There is a connection between good 
character and good education. And we've got to remember that in this 
country. That's why it's important to spread character-education 
programs throughout America.

[The discussion continued.]

    The President. I think we've got a perfect gentleman here. Tell us 
about your program, Isaiah, can you?
    Third grader Isaiah Greene. Yes. The program teaches us how to be--
how to respect women and how to control our attitude.
    The President. And when do you meet? How often do you meet?
    Isaiah Greene. When I was there we used to meet in the afternoons.
    The President. Oh, good. And so who is--teaches you how to respect 
women? Is that what you just said? And is it working?
    Isaiah Greene. Yes. [Laughter]
    The President. How about mom?
    Isaiah Greene. Yes.
    The President. You listen to your mom?
    Isaiah Greene. Yes.
    The President. I listen to mine. [Laughter] How about you, mom?

[The discussion continued.]

    The President. Is he studying?
    Nicole Keller. He's studying hard. He's very----
    The President. That's great.
    Ms. Keller. ----excited about his schoolwork, and all that he does.
    The President. He's going to college, isn't he?
    Ms. Keller. That's right. Yes, he is.
    The President. Have you got anything to add to that, Isaiah? 
[Laughter]

[The discussion continued.]

    The President. Well, I want to thank our panelists. I believe 
America can conquer any problem we're faced with. I truly believe that, 
because this is a loving country. There's a lot of people who really 
care about members of the Young Gentlemen's Club, whether it be at 
Cleveland Elementary or any other elementary. There are a lot of people 
who really care about their neighbor in this country.
    All of us have got to do our part. The Federal Government can put 
money up, but we can't make people love one another. And that's 
something we've just got to understand

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in our country. That we can fund programs--and we will--there will be a 
lot of discussions about what gets funded and what doesn't get funded, 
and this, that, and the other. But the truth of the matter is, the issue 
is bigger than budgets. The issue is about whether or not loving people 
in America want to help somebody in need.
    And I think so. And to the extent that you all are helping, I want 
to thank you from the bottom of my heart. One of my missions is to 
encourage mentoring programs all across the country. One of our missions 
is to make sure that boys and girls whose mother or dad may be in prison 
finds a mentor, somebody to love them. One of our missions is to teach--
is to help teach children right from wrong so that they can enjoy the 
great fruits of the greatest country on the face of the Earth. And to 
the extent you're helping, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
    Thank you all for coming. I look forward to getting to shake hands 
with the members of the Young Gentlemen's Club, if that's okay with you.
    God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 3:12 p.m. in the State Dining Room at the 
White House. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Anthony A. Williams of 
Washington, DC; Paul L. Vance, superintendent, District of Columbia 
Public Schools; Annie R. Mair, principal, Cleveland Elementary School; 
NBA Washington Wizards player Jahidi White; Nicole Keller, mother of 
Isaiah Greene; Elayne Bennett, founder, Best Friends Program; and Robert 
Howard, founder, Young Gentlemen's Club.