America Goes Back to School, 1997

_______________________________________________________________________

Part VI

The President

_______________________________________________________________________

Proclamation 7018--America Goes Back to School, 1997

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 7018 of September 8, 1997

America Goes Back to School, 1997

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Americans want the best for our children. We want them
to live out their dreams, empowered with the tools they
need to make the most of their lives and to build a
future where America remains the world's beacon of hope
and freedom and opportunity. To do this, we must all
make improving the quality of education in America one
of our highest priorities.

In my State of the Union Address earlier this year, I
issued a call to action for American education to
prepare our Nation for the 21st century. Working
together, we must make our schools strong and safe,
with clear standards of achievement and discipline and
talented, dedicated teachers in every classroom. Every
school and every State should adopt rigorous national
standards, with national tests in 4th-grade reading and
8th-grade math to make sure our children master the
basics. We must ensure that every student can read
independently and well by the end of the 3rd grade. We
must connect every classroom and library to the
Internet by the year 2000 and help all students become
technologically literate. We must modernize school
buildings and expand school choice and accountability
in public education. And we must encourage lifelong
learning for all our citizens, from expanding Head
Start programs to helping adults improve their
education and skills.

These goals are ambitious, but they are crucial if we
are to prepare for the challenges and possibilities of
life in the 21st century. With the 1997 balanced budget
agreement, we will begin to meet these goals by
providing new resources to help children learn to read,
the means to help connect every school to the Internet,
and tens of billions of dollars in tax cuts to help
families pay for college.

I urge all Americans to become actively involved in
their local schools and colleges and to make a real
commitment to support education improvement and give
our children the kind of support they need to succeed.
The Partnership for Family Involvement in Education is
setting a powerful example in this endeavor. These
partners--including the Department of Education and
more than 3,000 schools, families, colleges and
universities, community, cultural, and religious
groups, businesses, elected officials and policymakers,
and the men and women of our Armed Forces--have pledged
their support for our initiative, ``America Goes Back
to School: Answering the President's Call to Action.''
Through their dedication to our children, they are
helping America's young people grow into responsible
and productive citizens. They are proving that when
communities unite, every student can achieve.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim September 8 through
September 14, 1997, as a time when America Goes Back to
School. I encourage parents, schools, community and
State leaders, businesses, civic and religious
organizations, and the people of the United States to
observe this week with appropriate ceremonies and
activities expressing support for high academic
standards and meaningful involvement in schools and
colleges and the students and families they serve.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twenty-second.