Documents / Official release
This release contains White House Exchange Mail records dated January 1998 to October 1999. Most of it is a transcript of a January 29, 1998 press briefing by Press Secretary Mike McCurry covering Iraq, Iran, the budget and the Lewinsky inquiry, plus a 1998 presidential speech. An October 19, 1999 email among Transnational Threats staff forwards a Florida Today article on how scientists expect alien contact would spark a media frenzy rather than a cover-up, describing the 1989 SETI detection protocol.
“Harder”1 page
3512B34B.FIN Page 7 of 11 http://classified/email/data_source/exchange/record/cd008/febl 998/3512b34b.html 1/5/2010 The next issue I'd like to mention that I think has great relevance to the future is the environment. This year the two major — I'm very proud of t the world. Because we're kidding ourselves if we think we can really bu truly meritocratic society if a bunch of people are stunted coming out of blocks. No one believes we have the best system of elementary and secondary education in the world. We just got the results of the Third International Math and Science Survey, which is given to several thousand --1 think about 20,000 -- but representative sample of our high school seniors. And of 21 countries w scored 19th. Now, in the Sth grade were in the middle; in the 4th grade we're n< the top now - we tied for second in the 4th grade test. What happens? There are lots of reasons for what happens. But we've b< trying to unpack that. But I do not believe it is any longer acceptable to well, what do you expect, because we have so many poor kids, 20 perce our kids are in poverty and we have so minority kids and all that. That is all bunch of bull. This is not rocket science. I mean, Sally just introduced u that magnificent young woman who's a student at Stanford. I believe all can learn. I believe 90 percent-plus of us can learn 100 percent of what we r to know to make a society go, otherwise democracies would all fail. And ii would have happened long ago. didn't mention this before, but compared to five years ago the air is clea: the water is cleaner, there are fewer toxic waste dumps and the food sup is safer. And we have set aside more land and trust to be saved than any I have supported the charter school movement and school choice and a 1 other things. But we have got to have also more standards and more emphasis on teaching and a lot of other reforms in the schools. We've got a big progr out there now to lower class sizes and do a number of other things in this se of Congress. But I intend to spend a huge amount of effort in the next thret years to do what I spent the 20 years before I became President working on in public life, and that is trying to give us the best elementary and secondary systc
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Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 88 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.