    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 16 (Monday, April 24, 2006)]
    [Pages 734-740]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama

    April 19, 2006

        Thank you all. Please be seated. Thanks for having me. Mr.
    President--[laughter]--got a nice ring to it. [Laughter] I respect
    President Ben Payton for his commitment to education and his commitment
    to the United States of America, and I'm proud to be on this campus.
        I was telling President Payton that I knew about Tuskegee before I
    knew about most other universities when I was a kid. When I was growing
    up, believe it or not, in Midland, Texas, which is way out in the
    desert, I knew about Tuskegee. I knew Tuskegee was a center of
    excellence, has been for a long period of time. And I saw firsthand, it
    is still a center of excellence.
        George Washington Carver--you've heard of him; so did I as a young
    guy. [Laughter] Booker T. Washington--when you think Tuskegee, you think
    Booker T. Washington. And when you hear about Booker T. Washington, you
    think about Tuskegee--Ralph Ellison, or the music of Lionel Richie. I
    mean, Tuskegee has been a center for educational excellence and a place
    for opportunity for a long period of time here in the United States of
    America.
        When I was the Governor of Texas--Governors are heads of the
    National Guard, and I had the opportunity and honor to name the person
    that headed our Guard. And I picked a fellow named Danny James--General
    Danny James. It just turns out his father was a man named Chappie James.
    As a matter of fact, Tuskegee--I was in the Chappie James Building a
    little while ago. You named the building after a fine person.
        I appreciate the role that Tuskegee has had in the 20th century to
    break down racial barriers, to provide hope, and to help build a better
    America. What I'm here to talk about is the role Tuskegee will continue
    to play in the 21st century, and it is to prepare our students and our
    kids for the jobs of the 21st century. Tuskegee is a really important
    part of making sure the United States of America provides hope and
    opportunity for all people.
        I want to thank Dr. Shaik Jeelani, who is the director for the
    Center for Advanced Materials. I don't know if you have seen that
    facility before. I'm sure some of you have who work here, but if you
    haven't, I strongly urge you to go there. It's a really interesting
    center of the--where you'll see the future being explored and developed.
    There's a lot of science going on there.
        I appreciate being joined by Governor Bob Riley. Riley is a friend.
    Riley cares deeply about educating every child. I'm going to talk about
    the No Child Left Behind Act as part of the foundation to make sure
    every child gets educated, but in case I forget, Riley is willing to set
    high standards and hold people to account and provide help so no child
    gets left behind. And I want to thank you for your leadership.
        Margaret Spellings is with us. She's the Secretary of Education.
    I've known her for a long time. I know this: She's committed to the
    public school system and the higher education system of the United
    States of America. I look forward to working with her to make sure that
    every child gets a good

    [[Page 735]]

    education and every child has a chance to succeed.
        I appreciate being here with the Congressman from this district,
    Congressman Mike Rogers. Thank you for coming, Congressman. I appreciate
    your service. Although he's not here, we better say something nice about
    Senator Shelby. [Laughter] The reason why is, is that he is the chairman
    of the Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Committees. And
    what I'm going to talk about requires appropriations. [Laughter] That's
    why I'm being nice to him. [Laughter] Plus, I like him. He's a fine
    United States Senator--as is Senator Jeff Sessions.
        I appreciate all the State folks who are here and the local
    officials who are here. I want to say something about my friend Johnny
    Ford. I'm proud that the mayor--there he is--city of Tuskegee mayor.
    Thank you, Johnny. Thanks for being here. I know you didn't ask me--my
    advice is, fill the potholes. [Laughter] If anybody can get them filled,
    it's Johnny. [Laughter] He's a good man.
        Listen, I flew into Montgomery; I choppered over to the airfield.
    And what I found interesting was, that is the airfield where the
    Tuskegee Airmen trained. Now, Tuskegee Airmen have led an important part
    of the reputation of this facility. A lot of people know about the
    Tuskegee Airmen, and more people are going to know about it when we
    finish that museum.
        With us today is Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Carter, Tuskegee Airman.
    Where are you, Colonel? Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Did you bring Mildred?
    [Laughter] Oh, there she is. Hi, Mildred. Thank you for coming. And so
    is Major Carrol Woods, member of the Tuskegee Airmen. Thank you for
    coming, Major Woods. Proud you're here. Thank you, sir.
        I appreciate the members of the Tuskegee Board of Trustees. I want
    to thank the university leaders. I particularly want to say something
    about the faculty. I thank you for teaching. Yours is a noble
    profession, and yours is an important profession, and I thank you for
    answering the call. And I want to say something about the students. I
    hope you're proud of this fine institution. And I know you'll bring
    honor to it by not only studying hard but by going out and being people
    of accomplishment after you graduate. And so I thank you for having me.
    It's such an honor to be here.
        So here's the problem we face. The problem is this: Can we compete?
    Are we going to be a nation in which we can compete in a globalized
    world? Tomorrow I'm welcoming President Hu Jintao of China to the South
    Lawn of the White House. Last month, I traveled to India to set the
    stage for new relations with that important country. These countries are
    emerging nations. They are growing rapidly, and they provide competition
    for jobs and natural resources. And it's really an interesting thought,
    when you think about it. The world has really changed, since at least
    when I was growing up, where competition might have been around, but it
    didn't really nearly affect the lives of our citizens as much as it does
    today.
        I'll give you an example of the effects of globalization. When India
    buys more fossil fuels, it causes the price of crude oil to go up, which
    causes our price of gasoline to go up. That's an example of
    globalization. As these new jobs of the 21st century come into being,
    people are going to hire people with the skill sets. And if our folks
    don't have the skill sets, those jobs are going to go somewhere else.
    That's one of the effects of the world in which we live.
        And there are several ways to look at the world in which we live. We
    can say, ``We understand the world the way it is, and we're confident in
    our capacity to shape the future,'' or, ``We don't like the way the
    world is, and we're going to withdraw and retreat.'' Withdrawing and
    retreating is not the right thing to do, in my judgment. America has
    always been able to compete. As a matter of fact, America should not be
    afraid of competition; we ought to welcome it and continue to be the
    leader of the world--the world's economy. We ought to continue to be the
    leader in research and development. We need to continue to be the leader
    in higher education. We shouldn't lose our nerve. We shouldn't see the
    future and fear the future; we ought to welcome the future.
        And here are some things we need to do to make sure we shape the
    future. First is to make sure we're always on the leading edge of
    research and technology. I saw some

    [[Page 736]]

    amazing things happening today. I was a history major, so maybe they
    were really amazing because I didn't know what I was looking at.
    [Laughter] It seemed amazing. [Laughter] I was at the Center for
    Biomedical Research--I was really at the Center for Advanced Materials
    called T-CAM, a sister organization to the Center for Biomedical
    Research and for the Center for Aerospace Science Engineering. Isn't
    that interesting, that those three centers exist right here in Tuskegee.
    I think it's a hopeful part of making sure we're a competitive nation
    and a confident nation, to be able to say out loud those three centers
    of excellence, the centers of science right here on this campus.
        We spent some time talking about nanotechnology. I don't know if you
    know much about nanotechnology--[laughter]--but I met some students who
    knew a lot about nanotechnology--Ph.D. candidates who knew a lot about
    nanotechnology. By the way, Tuskegee produces Ph.D. candidates. I think
    you produced five last year. You're on your way to five more over the
    next year or so. That's important.
        But also as important is the research that's being done here. It's
    research that will keep the United States on the leading edge, keep the
    United States competitive. And that's important for our fellow citizens
    because so long as we lead, our people are going to have a good standard
    of living. So long as we're the leader, people will be able to find good
    work. If we lose our nerve and retreat, it will make it hard for us to
    be able to provide those jobs people want. The more productive a society
    is--and by the way, research and development leads to higher
    productivity--the higher standard of living we'll have. And that's what
    we want. We want our people to be able to realize their dreams, to be
    able to get good work.
        So here's the first thing that I intend to work with Congress on to
    make sure that we're on the leading edge of change and technology, and
    that is to increase Federal support for vital, basic research. I don't
    know if you realize this, but because of Defense Department spending in
    the past and because of the research that the Defense Department was
    doing to enhance communication, to improve military communications, the
    Internet came to be. In other words, the Defense Department said, ``We
    need to figure out how better to communicate.'' And therefore, they
    spent some research dollars at institutions like Tuskegee. And out of
    that research came the Internet, which has helped change our society in
    many ways.
        Here's another interesting example of where basic research can help
    change quality of life or provide practical applications for people. The
    Government funded research in microdrive storage, electrochemistry, and
    signal compression. They did so for one reason; it turned out that those
    were the key ingredients for the development of the iPod. I tune in to
    the iPod occasionally, you know. [Laughter] Basic research to meet one
    set of objectives can lead to interesting ideas for our society. It
    helps us remain competitive. So the Government should double the
    commitment to the most basic--critical research programs in the physical
    sciences over the next 10 years. I look forward to Congress--to doubling
    that commitment.
        Secondly--and by the way, those centers of excellence I went to are
    funded by--some of them are funded by grants from the Federal Government
    on this type of research money. So, obviously, it helps your institution
    flourish, but more importantly, it helps our country. It helps our
    country in two ways. There's no telling what's going to come out of this
    basic research. As a matter of fact, I saw nanotechnology applied to
    what could conceivably be the next airplane wing. Boeing is funding
    research into nanotechnology here at Tuskegee, which may end up yielding
    a lighter, more firm material which could become the basis for the new
    airplanes that you fly in. It's lightweight stuff, but it's really
    strong. It's right here on this campus that people are making research
    into this--[applause].
        But you notice I said ``Boeing.'' See, the Federal Government has
    got a role to play, in my judgment, in basic research. But the private
    sector spends twice as much money on research and development that the
    Federal Government does. So I think it's important for us to put policy
    in place to continue that kind of research. If you were to ask the
    President and the folks involved with the scientific and the engineering
    departments

    [[Page 737]]

    here, you'll find that private companies are providing research and
    development money to help meet certain objectives. And one of the things
    we got to do is continue to provide incentive for corporate America to
    make these investments. They spend about $200 billion a year. If we want
    the country to be competitive, if we don't want to fear the future, and
    shape it, then there needs to be incentive for corporate America to
    continue to make these research and development investments.
        We do that, by the way, through what's called the research and
    development tax credit. It's fancy words for saying that if you spend
    the money, there's going to be a--you'll get a credit on your income. It
    makes sense to me. It makes sense to a lot of other countries, too, by
    the way. A lot of countries, in trying to be competitive in this global
    world, are doing the same thing to encourage research and development,
    because they know what we know, that if you come up with new products
    and are constantly on the leading edge of change and innovation, the
    standard of living for the people in the country in which these
    investments are made goes up.
        The problem we have is that the research and development tax credit
    expires every year. Now, if you're somebody trying to plan an investment
    strategy and you're uncertain as to whether or not the research and
    development tax credit is going to be around for the next year, then
    you're less likely to be aggressive in your research and development
    spending. It's logical. It makes sense.
        So I think Congress needs to make sure there's certainty in the Tax
    Code, so as to achieve an important social objective--by the way, and an
    objective which helps Tuskegee--and that is they need to make the
    research and development tax credit a permanent part of the Tax Code.
        Thirdly, and perhaps the most important way that this United States
    of America can remain the leader when it comes to economic development
    and opportunity, is to make sure our education systems work well. And so
    here are some ideas as to how to set in motion a strategy that says, we
    shouldn't fear the future; we ought to welcome it. We ought to be a
    nation that says, we can compete. And the way to compete in the 21st
    century is to make sure that our children have got the skills necessary
    to fill the jobs of the 21st century.
        I said earlier--and this is practical--if we don't get the children
    the skills in math and science and engineering, those jobs are going
    elsewhere. That's just the way it is. And therefore, we've got to deal
    with it head on. We can't hope the world changes. We've got to be
    confident in our capacity to achieve an objective. And it starts with
    making sure younger children know how to read and write and add and
    subtract.
        I want to describe to you, if you don't mind, the theory and the
    strategy and the vision behind the No Child Left Behind Act. And here it
    is: One, I believe every child can learn. Two, I believe it is important
    for people to show us whether or not every child is learning. And three,
    if a child is not learning early, there ought to be extra help to make
    sure he or she does not get left behind. That's the theory behind No
    Child Left Behind Act.
        We spend a fair amount of money at the Federal level, particularly
    on Title I students. It's money directed toward a certain segment of our
    population, as it should be. But I think in return for money spent, we
    ought to--we have said to the States, ``You develop an accountability
    system to let us know whether or not a child can read,'' for example.
    All the talk about science and engineering and math matters nothing if
    the children cannot read. The first step toward making sure our children
    have the skills of the 21st century is to insist upon a solid reading
    program that works. How do you know whether a program works or not--
    really depends on whether or not you're willing to measure.
        I was the Governor of Texas; I remember the big debates over the--
    how to properly teach reading. If you've ever been on a school board,
    I'm confident you were involved in that debate. And it was quite a
    philosophical argument. The way to cut through all the rhetoric is to
    say, ``Let's measure and--to see.'' I've heard every excuse why not to
    measure, by the way. I don't know if you've heard them, but excuses
    ranging from, ``All you're doing is teaching to test.'' No. My attitude
    is, when you teach a third grader to

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    read, he or she can pass the test. ``All you do is spend time worrying
    about tests. It makes me nervous, tests.'' Well, what ought to make you
    nervous is a school system that simply shuffles children through without
    understanding whether or not they've got the basics.
        I remember being told that testing is discrimination. I said, no,
    the system that's discriminatory is one that doesn't care and just says,
    ``If you're so-and-so age, you belong here.'' I believe a compassionate
    society is one which says, let us find out early, before it's too late,
    and provide extra money for after-school tutoring or help to make sure
    children get up to grade level.
        Now, if you believe certain children can't learn, then it's
    justifiable that you just pass them through. I believe every child can
    learn. And therefore, our school systems must make sure we focus on
    individual children. And so we're beginning to see some improvements, by
    the way, in the public school systems around America. How do we know?
    Because we measure.
        In 2005, America's fourth graders posted the best scores in reading
    and math in the history of the test. That's positive. People are
    beginning to learn. African American fourth graders set records in
    reading and math. How do we know? Because we measure.
        The Federal Government, by the way, didn't design the test. I'm a
    local-control-of-school guy; I don't think the Federal Government ought
    to be telling you how to run your schools. And one way to tell you how
    to run your schools is if the Federal Government designed the test. We
    said to the Governor, ``Design your test, but make sure you measure;
    make sure we know.'' It's in your State's interest that people know
    whether or not the curriculum is working or whether children are
    learning to read and write.
        The Nation's Report Card showed that eighth graders earned the best
    math scores ever recorded. And that's a positive development if you're
    worried about making sure our children have the skills to fill the jobs
    of the 21st century. Eighth grade Hispanic and African American students
    achieved the highest math scores ever. In other words, there's
    improvement. It's positive development. But here's the problem: By the
    time our kids get into high school, we've fallen behind most of the
    developed world in math and science. In other words, we're closing the
    achievement gap, and there's improvement in the public school system
    around America, but what ends up happening is, is that there is a--is,
    we're beginning to fall off. And that's where the challenge exists.
        And so, how do we make sure that our high school students are coming
    out of high school so they can go to a place like Tuskegee with a skill
    set necessary to even go farther, so we remain a competitive nation?
    Here are some ideas.
        First, one of the programs that works well is the Advanced Placement
    program. I don't know if you've heard of the Advanced Placement
    program--I hope you've heard of the Advanced Placement program--it is a
    rigorous course study program. It basically says, it's possible for
    children from all walks of life to meet high standards. I went to an AP
    school in Texas, in inner-city Dallas. It wasn't one of these suburban
    deals; it was inner-city. And there's more children graduating from that
    high school with--passing AP than any other high school in America--at
    least, that's what they told me. Texans sometimes, you know, might--
    [laughter]--I believed the principal. [Laughter]
        But, nevertheless, it is important to set high standards,
    particularly in math and science, and to have rigorous academia. And a
    good way to do that is through the Advanced Placement program.
    Therefore, the Federal Government needs to provide money to train 70,000
    high school teachers on how to teach AP. In other words, take a system
    that's worked and see to it that it's spread all across the United
    States of America.
        Secondly, yesterday Margaret and I went to a high school--a middle
    school outside of DC, in Maryland, and we met two NASA scientists that
    were there in the classroom exciting these kids about math and science
    and engineering. There's nothing better than having somebody in the
    classroom who actually knows what they're talking about in terms of the
    practical applications of science and math and engineering, to excite
    somebody.

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        I don't know what it's like now, but when I was coming up, it wasn't
    too cool to be a chemist--[laughter]--or a physicist, or science wasn't
    exactly--it just didn't ring. We need to make it ring for our kids in
    high school by having people who know what they're doing. Therefore,
    part of this program to make sure we're competitive is to bring 30,000
    math and science professionals to teach in our classrooms. They're
    called adjunct professors. I think it's a smart way and a practical way
    to excite children to take the courses that are necessary to make sure
    this country is a competitive country.
        I want to repeat to you again; if we don't have the skill sets
    necessary to compete for the jobs of the 21st century, they'll go
    somewhere else. If our kids do have the skill set necessary to compete
    for the jobs of the 21st century, the standard of living of our country
    is going to improve.
        And that's the challenge we face. So I set up--recognizing that we
    need to do better in math and in science, I set up what's called a
    national math panel. It's a way to analyze--we got experts coming
    together, and they're going to analyze the best teaching methodology for
    math, the best curriculum for math. We did the same thing for reading,
    by the way. We set up a group of experts on reading. And they helped
    States and local districts understand what works, how best to make sure
    every child can read. And it's working. I just told you; it's working
    because we're measuring.
        We need to do the same thing for math. We need to make sure that our
    teachers, our school boards, our principals, our superintendents, our
    Governors understand what works. You cannot set an objective and achieve
    that objective unless you have the tactics necessary to do that. And so
    we're going to call the experts together. They'll be presenting a report
    to Margaret and myself by January 31st of 2007. It will be a really
    important study, because, again, it will give--it will help States and
    local school districts have the methodology, the teaching methods
    necessary to help achieve an important objective.
        And then we're going to implement what's called a Math Now program
    that will get those recommendations into the teacher's hands. But
    there's also another interesting aspect of Math Now, which I think is
    vital, and that is, when we measure and find a child slipping behind in
    math in the eighth or ninth grade, that child gets extra help. We do
    that in the third and fourth grades when it comes to reading; we need to
    apply that same standard of help for a child as they head into the high
    school.
        If you want to deal with the problem of the United States of America
    falling behind in math and science, you focus on the problem, and you
    focus on it with what works and money and extra help. And that's exactly
    what we intend to do to make sure that we begin to lay that foundation
    for a competitive tomorrow.
        I also understand that the Federal Government has a role in helping
    people go to college, see. It's one thing to make sure the students have
    got the skill set, but if there's not the financial means to get to a
    university, then that skill set could conceivably be wasted. And we
    don't want to waste it. We want to make sure we've got a strategy that
    works in the early grades and in the high school, and then make it more
    likely a child can afford coming to a place like Tuskegee.
        Of course, we have helped the Historically Black Colleges and
    Universities. I want to thank the good doctor for serving on the panel.
    I pledged a 30-percent increase of Federal help to Historically Black
    Colleges, and we met that commitment. I also said that it's really--the
    Pell grant system is a very important program. And since 2001, there
    have been 1 million additional students on the Pell grant program. So
    there are now 5 million students across the United States of America on
    Pell grants, which is an important part of making sure our students get
    to go to a higher education.
        I want to talk about a new program that I hope will interest you. It
    caught the good president's fancy when I described it to him, and it's
    this. I've always believed that it's--if you have an objective, like
    encouraging people to take rigorous courses, particularly in math and
    science, which lays the foundation for our engineers and our chemists
    and our physicists of the future, then there ought to be incentives to
    do that. And Congress this year listened and passed a bill which I

    [[Page 740]]

    signed into law, which Margaret is now going to implement, and it's
    this: There are two new grants associated with Pell grants. This will be
    a $4.5-billion program over the next 5 years, and here's the way it
    works.
        One is called the Academic Competitiveness grant, which will provide
    additional money to first- and second-year students, college students,
    who have completed a rigorous high school curriculum and have maintained
    a 3.0 GPA in college. There will be up to 750 for first-year students
    and up to $1,300 for second-year students. The idea is to encourage
    rigorous courses and to provide incentive. I'm not talking about
    impossible; I'm talking about raising the standard--saying to somebody,
    ``Here's your chance. Apply yourself in the fields that we know are
    necessary to be able to compete in the 21st century, and we'll help you
    more.''
        And then third, we've got what's called SMART grants. Now, these
    grants are for college students, third and fourth-year college students,
    who have maintained a 3.0 GPA and who major in math, science, or
    critical foreign languages. What we're trying to do is to make sure that
    people have got that skill set, and it makes sense to provide incentives
    for people. And by the way, these grants will be up to an additional
    $4,000 per person.
        So the Federal Government needs to play a vital role. One, a vital
    role is to set the goals and strategies, to make it clear to the
    American people we've got a choice to make: Do we compete or do we
    retreat; do we become isolationists and protectionists as a nation, or
    do we remain a confident nation and lead the world?
        The Federal Government has got a role in making sure that there's
    research dollars available for places like Tuskegee. The Federal
    Government has got a role to provide incentive for private corporations
    to continue to invest in research and development.
        I want to remind you that the research being done today in this
    university will end up somewhere in our society 10, 20, or 30 years from
    now. That's what's happening. And at the same time, that research is
    helping a young man or woman realize his or her dream, making sure that
    person gets the skill sets necessary to become the leaders.
        We should never cede any educational territory to anybody anywhere
    in the world. We need to be the centers of excellence all around the
    United States. And one way to do that is to continue to provide
    financial help and to encourage people to take math and science through
    additional financial help. And another way to do it is to make sure the
    public school system provides excellent education early in a child's
    life, laying that foundation for children from all walks of life, all
    across our country, so that we can continue to be the country of hope.
        I am very confident about the future of this country. There's
    nothing we can't do if we don't put our mind to it. And this is a step
    in putting our mind to making sure the United States of America is the
    finest country on the face of the Earth. I'm honored to be at one of the
    finest institutions in the United States of America to talk about this
    initiative. Thanks for letting me come. God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:20 p.m. in the Kellogg Conference
    Center. In his remarks, he referred to Benjamin Franklin Payton,
    president, Tuskegee University; and Gov. Bob Riley of Alabama.