[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 4 (Monday, January 26, 2004)]
[Pages 101-107]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in a Discussion at Owens Community College in Perrysburg 
Township, Ohio

January 21, 2004

    The President. Thank you, Dr. Adams. Well done. [Laughter] You read 
it just like I wrote it. [Laughter] I appreciate your invitation. Thank 
you for your leadership. I want to thank you all for coming. I 
particularly want to thank the panelists who are here. We're about to 
have a discussion about how a community college can change people's 
lives in a positive way, how we can use our community college system to 
help people who want to work gain the skills necessary to find jobs in 
what is a changing economy.
    Before we get there, I do want to say a few comments, now that 
you're stuck here. [Laughter] First, it's great to be in Toledo, the 
home of the Mud Hens. I've always been

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intrigued by the nickname, the ``Mud Hens.'' [Laughter]
    I'm glad to be in the presence of two Members of the United States 
Senate who actually hitched a ride on Air Force One. They endured a 
rather long speech last night, then got on the airplane and endured 
another speech. [Laughter] And that would be Senator George Voinovich 
and Senator Mike DeWine. I want to thank you for coming. There they are, 
yes.
    I was telling--talking to George about what we were going to do here 
today. He said, ``You know, when I was a Governor, I recognized the role 
of community colleges in job training.'' And I want to give George 
credit where credit is due. He was a pioneer in making sure that the 
curriculum of the community college system in Ohio was relevant to the 
needs of employers and potential employees. What we're really here to 
talk about is something that George Voinovich started, and I'm grateful.
    That tradition is being carried on by your current Governor, 
Governor Bob Taft. I'm honored you're here, Governor. Thank you for 
coming. I appreciate Paul Gillmor; Congressman Gillmor is with us today. 
Congressman, thank you for coming. He was quick to point out that Owens 
is in his district. [Laughter] I'm quick to point out, you better take 
care of Owens. It's doing a fine job, Congressman. I appreciate you. And 
you are--and you are.
    We've got a lot of local officials here, mayors, and--I appreciate 
you coming. We've got members of the school board who are here, trustees 
of this important college, and I want to thank you all for being here.
    Last night I had the opportunity to address the Nation. I talked 
about a lot of subjects that were on my mind. One of them, of course, is 
that we still fight the war on terror. I just want to assure you that I 
understand, my most important obligation as your President is to keep 
this country secure and strong. And there are a lot of really good 
people working on your behalf, whether it be people in the Homeland 
Security Department--and thank you for training people for the Homeland 
Security Department--local police, local firefighters, or the brave men 
and women who wear our uniform, all of whom understand the solemn 
obligation to protect the people. We will never forget the lessons of 
September the 11th. We will stay on the offensive. We will win the war 
on terror and make sure that America is secure and free.
    I see local officers here. It is very important that we provide law 
enforcement with the tools necessary to fight and win this war. I called 
for the renewal of the Patriot Act. I want to tell you why. It is 
important that we be able to share information at the Federal level. 
It's important we have the authority to be able to seize assets. These 
tools in the Patriot Act, most of the tools, we have been using for 
years against embezzlers or criminals. We're at war. It seems like to me 
it is logical that we apply tools that we've used to catch embezzlers to 
be able to catch terrorists. The Congress needs to renew the Patriot Act 
so we can win the war on terror and secure the homeland.
    I also reminded the people that we've been through a lot in this 
country, particularly when it comes to the economy. Just a brief recap: 
We've been through a recession. That means three quarters of negative 
growth, which means people get laid off their jobs. We had a terrorist 
attack which affected the psychology of the country. It really did. It 
changed foreign policy, by the way. When you see a gathering threat, we 
can no longer ignore it and hope it goes away. It also said to America 
that we are--we can be hurt by an enemy that hates us. And it affected 
us. It really did.
    We had corporate scandals. I oftentimes talk about the need to usher 
in a period of personal responsibility. If you're a CEO in corporate 
America, you're responsible for telling the truth to your shareholders 
and your employees. And we passed laws to make that abundantly clear.
    And then, we marched to war. We took gathering threats seriously, 
and we dealt with them. The world is better off without Saddam Hussein 
and the Taliban. But all that--the march to war affected our psychology 
and confidence. It is hard to be optimistic about the future when you 
turn on your TV screens and say, ``America is marching to war.'' War is 
not positive. War is--it sends the signal that there will be 
uncertainty. We're not

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marching to peace. But we overcome a lot, and it's important for our 
citizens to remember that.
    We overcame it, in my judgment, because we properly stimulated the 
economy by letting people keep their money. And now we're growing. 
Nationwide, this economy is strong: Housing up; inflation's low; 
interest rates are low. We had good exports the last quarter. New jobs 
are being created--I mean, last month on the exports. Things are 
happening.
    I fully recognize, in Ohio there are still troubled times. The 
manufacturing here is sluggish at best, and therefore, people are 
looking for work. People who could rely upon a steady job in the 
manufacturing sector are hoping to be able to realize their hopes by 
finding work elsewhere.
    There are some things we can do to make sure the Ohio manufacturing 
sector is strong. One is to make sure our trading partners understand, 
we expect there to be free, but level--the playing field needs to be 
level, that we expect countries like China to understand that trade 
imbalances doesn't mean--that says that the trade is not balanced and 
fair, that they've got to deal with their currency.
    We also need an energy policy, by the way. If you rely upon 
manufacturing to have a vibrant job base, you've got to have an energy 
policy. Manufacturers need to have a reliable source of energy. We're 
too dependent on foreign sources of energy. We got public policy that 
is--that makes it difficult for Ohio's manufacturers to say, ``We got a 
reliable source of energy.'' We've run up the demand for natural gas. We 
haven't had a corresponding increase in natural gas. It's hard to keep 
people working when your energy bills are going out of sight. We need an 
energy policy. I called on Congress to pass one, and they need to get 
one to my desk.
    One other issue that makes it hard for people to stay working in 
certain industries is that we got a problem with medical liability. 
There are junk and frivolous lawsuits which are running good docs out of 
business. Now, look, any doctor who is a bad doc deserves to be held to 
task. But you can't have a system where people just file lawsuit after 
lawsuit after lawsuit, fishing for a rich settlement, because what 
that's going to do is, it's going to run up the cost of health care and 
drive good docs out of business. And that affects the ability for 
employers to keep people working. Congress needs to pass medical 
liability reform now.
    These are some of the ways to make sure the manufacturing activity 
of this State remains strong. But the truth of the matter is, there is 
job growth in other sectors, and therefore, we'd better have a system 
which is able to be flexible enough to help people who want to work find 
a job, to match willing worker with willing employer. And that's what 
we're here to talk about.
    Very quickly, the first stage to make sure workers are trained is to 
make sure our public education system does its job. The No Child Left 
Behind Act is challenging what I call the soft bigotry of low 
expectations. We're raising standards. We're trusting local people to 
make the right decisions. But we expect every child--every child--not 
just a few but every child to learn the basics of reading and math. Like 
I said last night, I'm going to repeat here, the days of just quitting 
on kids early and shuffling them through our public schools is over.
    The ability for these community colleges to do their job means we 
better have people coming out of high school who can read and write and 
add and subtract. The best place to start is early. And we're starting 
early now in America. We're testing to make sure we figure out who needs 
extra help. And the Federal Government is increasing Federal spending, 
particularly on Title I students, in dramatic fashion. I also think we 
need to spend additional money for kids in high school. See, there's a 
learning gap where the accountability systems are late in arriving in 
certain places, and therefore, some kids have been shuffled through.
    Last night I didn't specify what I meant, but I'll tell you right 
now what I meant. I think we need to spend an additional $100 million 
for high school and intermediate reading programs. We want these kids at 
least reading when they're coming out of high school, and you've got to 
be honest about it. And these presidents of these community colleges 
will tell you, sometimes they're getting kids out of high school that 
can't read. And that's a shame. And that's

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not right, and we can focus extra resources there.
    We need people who are more steeped in math and sciences. And 
therefore, it's important for us to encourage scientists and 
mathematicians to teach part-time and to make sure our teachers are 
properly trained in the math and sciences so they can impart knowledge 
that is necessary for kids to have a bright future. We got extra teacher 
training money, about $120 million a year.
    I think we need to have more advanced placement programs in low-
income schools to encourage rigorous curriculum for all students. See, 
if you're challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations, you believe 
every child can learn. And therefore, we ought to be raising that bar 
for all students. And so we've got money in the budget, $28 million to 
encourage advanced placement programs to go into neighborhoods that have 
not had the benefit of an advanced placement program. And then, to 
coincide that, I think we ought to have increased Pell Grants for 
students who qualify and take rigorous curriculum, and that would be 
Pell Grants of up to $1,000 additional money.
    I'm telling you--what I'm telling you is we're focusing on people 
who can achieve the great promise of our country. We're not going to 
quit on anybody, and we're going to make sure the community college 
system does its job. As you know full well, particularly if you're a 
trustee of the community college, that most of the money is local money, 
but the Federal Government can help, particularly when it comes to job 
training.
    The president talked about the job training initiative I talked 
about last night. It's $250 million of direct money to help on these 
programs which match workers with employers. There's no better place to 
do that than the community college system. The community college system 
is flexible. The community college system is local. The community 
college system accepts input.
    And that's what we're here to talk about. It's very important for 
people who are listening to this conversation that if you're running a 
community college, I want you to pay attention to what Owens has done. 
And as importantly, if you're somebody out there who doesn't see a 
bright tomorrow, listen to the two students. They may look old to be 
students--[laughter]--but nobody's too old to be a student.
    Let me--why don't we--you heard from Dr. Adams. I don't know if you 
want to elaborate beyond this, Dr. Adams. I thought your explanation 
about what your community college is doing was great. It should be clear 
to people when you hear the number of students being trained for work--
18,000, I think you said--is the reason I'm here. You've got 18,000 
people coming through here who are better skilled to meet the jobs being 
generated in this part of the world. And if you want to elaborate on 
that, you can. She also told me a lot about nursing, by the way. We've 
got a nursing--[applause]--yes, there you are. It's a nursing shortage?
    Participant. Yes.
    The President. Forty thousand students? Well, anyway.

[At this point, the discussion continued.]

    The President. Yes, I appreciate the guy who is responsible for 
making sure the curriculum actually adjusts and doesn't stay stuck. What 
you've got to worry about, if you're in the local community, you've got 
to ask this question to a provost, ``Are you flexible?'' [Laughter] In 
other words, if somebody shows up and says, ``We've got a demand for 
jobs,'' will the community college adjust?
    It used to be, in the old days when they held Governors to account 
as to whether or not we were meeting workforce requirements, it didn't 
matter what job you trained somebody for. All that mattered is, you 
train them. So--I'm sure this didn't happen with Voinovich; it might 
have happened with me--you go out and train 1,000 hairdressers for 50 
jobs. But everybody said, ``You're doing a fine job. You're training a 
lot of people.''
    The key is to train people for the work which actually exists. No 
better place to do that than in a community college; that's why we're 
spending $250 million to encourage that.
    Paul Unger is with us. He's the provost--fancy word for the guy 
responsible for making sure it works. [Laughter] And he is.

[Paul Unger, provost, Owens Community College, made brief remarks.]

[[Page 105]]

    The President. Yes, see, I hope everybody listened to what he just 
said. He said, ``We take input.'' Sometimes institutions of higher 
education don't take input and miss opportunity. Owens takes input 
because they're willing to listen to the people on the frontlines of 
hiring, making the hiring decisions, for which I'm grateful.
    Jim Gilmore is the coordinator here of the Skilled Trades Technology 
and Integrated Systems Technology Programs. Why don't you tell us what 
that means, what a coordinator does, and--just tell me what you do.
    Mr. Gilmore. Coordinator is a fancy word for the guy who does a lot 
and----
    The President. And gets no credit.
    Mr. Gilmore. And gets no credit. [Laughter]

[The discussion continued.]

    Mr. Gilmore. The other part of my position is to work with local 
area business and industry and find out what those needs are, what are 
they looking for, and if they have an opening, to put those students 
with those companies and match them up.
    The President. How do you do that? In other words, if some person 
out there says, ``I need to hire five new people,'' how does that person 
get in touch with you? How does----
    Mr. Gilmore. What are you looking for, Mr. President? [Laughter]
    The President. I'm trying to think of a cute answer. [Laughter]
    Mr. Gilmore. The quiet ones are dangerous. [Laughter]
    The President. That's right. I don't need a new wife, fortunately. 
[Laughter] I married really well. [Laughter]
    Mr. Gilmore. In my position, companies will usually seek us out and 
ask us specifically, ``We are looking for people with these skills.'' 
For example, a company might say, ``We're looking for maintenance 
people, and we need our maintenance people to have skills in hydraulics, 
pneumatics, electronics, PLCs.'' And they might come to me and say, ``Do 
you have somebody in mind or can you put me in touch with a placement 
service, with anybody that would have an idea of what Owens and Owens 
students have to offer?'' And most typically, we'll put them in touch 
with our placement service, the Wood County's placement service, or 
Lucas County or whatever county that that company happens to reside in. 
And we match those people up to find them the right job. So it's a two-
way street.
    The President. Good job. Here's the thing, that--he talks about one-
stop; let me tell you what that means. That means there's one place at 
the local level where a--somebody who is looking for work can go to try 
to find a job. That's what that means. And there's a lot of 
opportunities around the country at one-stops. It's one of the 
interesting innovations which Government put in place in the past decade 
to make sure that people are able to find a job. They can find help 
there. They can find counseling services.
    Better to explain the one-stop than me is Ruth Larabee. She is the 
director of the Wood County Department of Jobs and Family Services. 
Would you please tell everybody what a one-stop does, what your day is 
like, what--here in the community, are people looking for workers? What 
do you see and what do you hear?

[Ruth Larabee, director, Wood County Department of Jobs and Family 
Services, made brief remarks.]

    The President. Thanks, I appreciate you sharing that with us. You 
heard me talk about statistics, and they're good. There's no doubt 
things are getting better, and that's positive. There's no doubt the 
economy is changing because of technology, and that's interesting. It 
makes for great, interesting opportunities.
    But one of the things we've got to recognize in our society, as 
technology races through the economy, some people could conceivably be--
are being left behind because of the skill sets, and that we welcome 
innovation, productivity increases. These are all positive for labor 
stability, higher wages, better opportunity. But this country of ours 
must also recognize that the workforce needs to be constantly trained to 
stay up with the technological advances.
    And two people to best talk about that are with us today--students, 
people who are not satisfied with falling behind, people who have

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found that there's opportunity and are willing to seize it.
    I was teasing Becky, publicly, of course, here. [Laughter] But I did 
so with pride in my voice, I want you to know, because she is--has 
struggled. And here she sits with a bright future. And so I want you to 
share your story with us, Becky. She's a good soul who has got--and I 
told Becky coming in here today, I said, ``There's people just like you, 
Becky, who are probably watching, or may be watching, who just got to 
know that because of what you have done here at Owens, they've got a 
shot, too. They've got an opportunity to improve themselves.'' So let 
her go.

[Rebecca Albritton, student, Owens Community College, made brief 
remarks.]

    The President. This good soul says, ``I've got a skill set; I need 
to upgrade it,'' that ``The world is changing; I need to change with 
it.'' Community colleges need to change, but people also have got to 
make the conscious decision to seize opportunity, to see a brighter 
future. That's what I love about Becky's story. She could have just 
said, ``Well, I quit.'' But she didn't. She found opportunity.
    Some of the people may be out there wondering whether or not this is 
affordable, whether or not there is any help. And why don't you tell us, 
Becky, what you found.
    Ms. Albritton. I found, when I went out to the one-stop, that 
tuition was available, and they pay for your tuition; they pay for your 
books. The only thing they don't pay for is your time. That's honest.
    The President. That's good. [Laughter] Let me ask you this question. 
Is it worth it?
    Ms. Albritton. Very much so, very much so.
    The President. There you go.
    The other living example of what is possible when people make up 
their mind to improve themselves and seek opportunity, and the local 
community provides those opportunities, is Mike. Mike Potter is with us. 
He's the pretty one down there on the end. [Laughter] I asked Mike to 
share his story with you because I think you'll find it interesting. I 
think anybody who wonders whether or not they can learn a new skill 
should listen to what Mike has to say. Mike, why don't you let her go.

[Mike Potter, maintenance technician, Oracle Packaging, made brief 
remarks.]

    The President. How long did it take? I mean, you're laid off; you 
come here. How long did it take you to get prepared, to get--to be ready 
for the new kind of job, the higher paying job? Because, frankly, he was 
more productive as a worker. He had the skills necessary to fit into the 
changing economy. How long were you here for?
    Mr. Potter. The program--actually it's a self-based program. It's an 
excellent program for anybody that doesn't have much trouble with--well, 
that has trouble with bookwork, I'm sorry. It's hands-on, self paced, 
and that's what was a great part. It actually took me about, probably 
about maybe 3 or 4 months to finish the program.
    The President. So it's not a lifetime?
    Mr. Potter. No, no, not at all.
    The President. You're able to come in, move quickly, get some 
skills, and all of a sudden, somebody says, ``I love his attitude. He's 
a hard worker, and he's got the skill sets necessary to fit into this 
new workforce.'' That's what people need to know.
    Mr. Potter. Everything is changing. People don't just want to see a 
person with just one skill anymore. They want several skills, and that's 
what the IST program offers.
    The President. That's good. Thanks for sharing. You did a great job.
    Our two students here are serving as mentors, in a way, aren't they? 
They're saying what is possible. And I want to thank you all for sharing 
your story. I'm sure it was a nerve-wracking experience--[laughter]--
thinking about coming here. [Laughter] Look at all those cameras.
    We've got another mentor with us today. Bruce Vanisacker is with us. 
He came out to the airport to meet me. It's an interesting idea he's 
doing. He has started what's called First Robotics, that teaches and 
inspires young people to be interested in the sciences, and that's 
important. Science and engineering and mathematics are all essential as 
we head into the 21st century.
    I appreciate Bruce coming because it gives me a chance to remind 
people here and in

[[Page 107]]

Toledo and around the State of Ohio and the country that the true 
strength of the country lies in the hearts and souls of our fellow 
citizens, that we're a mighty military country--we'll stay that way, in 
order to keep the peace--that we've got wealth, compared to other 
countries, and that's good. But the true strength can be found in 
neighborhoods where people have decided to mentor a child, to teach a 
person to read or write, to love the homeless, to help feed the hungry.
    Bruce is with us. Bruce, thank you for coming. You might stand up 
right quick. He happens to be interested in science and robotics, but 
really what he's doing, when you think about it, is mentoring a child.
    This country is prosperous. We're going to be more prosperous, but 
we don't want anybody left behind. No child should be left behind in the 
education system, no worker left behind because we haven't created a 
flexible system in order to get skills, nobody who needs love left 
behind. Government can't make people love one another, but we darn sure 
can encourage people who love to reach out to a neighbor in need. 
America can change for the better one heart, one soul, one conscience at 
a time, and I call upon you to be a part of the army of compassion, to 
help make this community and this State and our country one of hope for 
every single citizen who lives here.
    It's such an honor to be here today. I thank our panelists for what 
I have found to be an interesting discussion. I hope you have as well, 
and thank you all for coming.
    May God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 10:24 a.m. In his remarks, he referred to 
former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. 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).