| transscript:
Now,
there's a young man right in front of you here who's --
yes, you. (Laughter.) In fact, I just received a note
that this is the last question. Oh, don't be mad at me. (Laughter.)
I would love to stay here for a long time, but I've got
to go back to Washington and convince everybody to get
moving on this package. (Applause.)
Q What are you going to do to help our schools?
THE PRESIDENT: And this is a good place to end, with our
future here. What's your name?
Q My name is James.
THE PRESIDENT: James, how old are you?
Q I'm nine years old.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, fantastic. What's your question?
Q What are you going to do to help our schools?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know, I just started talking
about that. (Laughter.) So, James, as I said, I think
that we've got to rebuild our schools to make sure that
they're state of the art. We also have to make sure that
we are training new teachers and retraining some of the
existing teachers so that they've got the best possible
skills.
We also are going to have to reform how we do business in
some of the schools. I think it's very important for us
to have high standards. I think we've got to do a better
job, though, of assessing performance in schools. No
Child Left Behind needs to be reworked in a more
effective way. (Applause.)
But the last thing that we need in schools -- do in
schools has nothing to do with money. It has everything
to do with parents. (Applause.) Because we can put as
much money as we want into schools -- if parents don't
have an attitude that says, I'm going to make sure my
child does my homework; that I'm meeting with the teacher
to find out what's going on; if all of us aren't
instilling a sense of excellence in our kids -- then they're
not going to be able to compete. And that means young
people like you, you're going to have to -- you're going
to have to work a little harder. (Laughter and applause.)
Yes. Thank you, James.
All right, everybody. God bless you. God bless America. (Applause.)
END 1:07 P.M. EST
|