George H.W. Bush: “Let me tell you--the first place, a good question. Secondly, everything we do is affected by education. For the first…”

“Let me tell you--the first place, a good question. Secondly, everything we do is affected by education. For the first time, since I've become President, for the first time in history we have six education goals. Now, you might say, ``Well, what does that accomplish?'' It means that we've gotten all of the Governors of the States together, and they have agreed on the goals, the goals that we must strive for: better performance. Kids should start school ready to learn; that means much more emphasis on Head Start, which we've done. Nobody is too old to learn; that means more emphasis on adult education, which we've done. It means proficiency in math and science. It means voluntary testing. So we've got these goals. Secondly, we have the most revolutionary program in education, called America 2000. I regret to report to you that America 2000's ingredients have been blocked in a hostile United States Congress that is thinking old thoughts. The problems you bring up require new thinking. I would urge you to take a look at the America 2000. The way to achieve, not for my sake but for everybody's sake, better education is to pass our program America 2000. It has things like school choice. You see, when I got out of the service and was on the GI bill, why, you could choose where you want to go to school. Pell Grants, you can choose where you want to go to school. But in elementary and secondary education, the parents have no choice. I believe the time has come for the parents to have choice in education. So we're stressing that. The fundamentals, we've gotten too far away from them in many of our schools. We are stressing that. So, first place, I think our schools are under constraints because of the economy. This, as you know, is the responsibility of the local government. I do not want the Federal Government to dictate curriculum to the cities. It's much better that Newark decides on its own and not have some bureaucrat in Washington setting the agenda. But we are spending more money by far on education. Head Start funding, which is to meet one of our national goals, is way up; Pell Grant funding is up. So the Federal Government, in spite of these enormous deficits that are ripping off everybody, is putting more money into education. But the answer isn't more money; it is America 2000, our education program. We need the help in the United States Congress to get it passed. Thank you.”