A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                    Contact:  Kathryn Kahler    December 8, 1994                                   (202) 401-3026

STATEMENT BY U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION RICHARD W. RILEY

regarding recent statements by former education secretaries Alexander and Bennett

If ever there was a time that education should remain a national priority it is now in the 1990s. This is no time to de-emphasize education as Lamar Alexander and Bill Bennett have suggested. Our nation is rapidly entering this new knowledge-driven Information Age and the only way the American people are going to get ahead is by getting a first-class education.

In 1983, former U.S. Secretary of Education Terrell Bell was encouraged to eliminate this department, but fortunately he had the good sense to raise the alarm that our nation was at risk. Since then, there has been a bipartisan effort to return excellence to American education. This is why every piece of legislation we sent to the last Congress passed with strong bipartisan support.

Education is a state and local responsibility, but it has to be a national priority. In the next 10 years, we are going to have a 14 per cent increase in the number of young people going to school -- close to 7 million more young people. We can either give them a good, basic education and help local communities end the violence and put discipline back into education -- or we can let everybody fend for themselves and pay the price later.

Eighty percent of the people in America's prisons and seventy percent of the people on welfare are high school drop-outs. The fastest way I know to end the violence and keep people off welfare is to improve this nation's education system. Those are two important reasons why I think we need to keep the nation's focus on education. Education is the foundation of our economic security.

We are a very small department that persists in working very hard on behalf of millions of Americans who want to learn more to get ahead. As we move into this new Information Age, this should be a golden moment for American education. Everybody should be learning more. I encourage all Americans, to keep the focus on what is important.