THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(New York, New York)
For Immediate Release
September 18, 2006
Remarks By The President and Mrs. Bush At White House Conference On Global Literacy
New York Public Library
New York, New York
12:10 P.M. EDT
MRS. BUSH: Thank you all so much. Thank you very much. Thanks
a
lot. (Applause.) Have a seat, everyone. Thank you all very much.
Thanks, everybody. You all can have a seat. I want to thank all the
terrific panelists today for sharing your experiences and your
expertise.
I want to thank everyone in this room for your commitment to literacy.
Today, we heard about the three most important benefits of
reading:
Literacy instruction for women improves educational opportunities for
their children -- women who can read are advocates for their
children's
education; literacy helps adults make informed decisions to protect
their
health and the health of their children; and literacy helps adults --
women and men -- learn the basic financial skills that generate
income,
that foster independence, and that boost local economies. If more
countries invest in literacy programs like the ones we've heard about
today, the benefits of reading can be enjoyed by every country. The
leaders of every government must commit themselves to this cause.
Now I'd like to introduce a leader I know is dedicated to
improving
literacy and education: Ladies and gentleman, my husband, President
George Bush. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thank you for attending this
important conference. I look around the room and see some familiar
faces
-- my mother. (Laughter.) How are you doing? It's good to see you.
My
mother-in-law. (Laughter.) Both of these ladies have instilled a
great
passion for literacy not only in Laura and me, but for others around
our
country. Thank you all for coming. Laura, thank you for your
leadership.
Laura believes strongly in the power of literacy to change
societies.
And that's really what we're here to talk about. The capacity of --
the
simple act of teaching a child to read, or an adult to read has the
capacity to transform nations and yield the peace we all want.
So I want to thank you for being here. I particularly want to
thank
the First Ladies who are here, and the ministers from different
governments around the world. We're really proud you've taken time to
join us here today.
As you probably can tell, our government takes this initiative
seriously. After all, we've got the Secretary of State, Condoleezza
Rice,
and the Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, both here. It
should
say to people loud and clear that, when you combine the resources of
the
Department of Education and the State Department, that we're serious
about
helping global literacy. And then we've added Randy Tobias, who's the
head of USAID. He's the fellow who's got the responsibility of
handing
out some money -- (laughter) -- which is what we're doing, because we
believe strongly in this initiative. So I want to thank you all for
taking time out of your busy schedules to send a clear message to
folks.
I want to thank Mr. Matsuura of UNESCO. Thank you, very much,
for
serving. Thanks for leading this vital organization. We want to work
with you. And I see you're sitting next to one of my great friends --
the
Ambassador, Karen Hughes, is here, as well.
I want to thank Paul LeClerc of the -- of this fantastic library.
Isn't this a wonderful place to meet? Obviously, it makes sense to
meet
in a library if you're going to talk about literacy. It's really one
of
the most special spots here in New York. And I also want to thank
Catie
Marron for allowing us to use this facility. She's the chairman of
the
board, and Paul, of course, is the president and CEO of the New York
Public Library.
I want to thank those who have participated in panels. I had the
honor of meeting some of the panelists and the panel leaders. I met
Gerri
Elliot, who is a corporate vice president of Microsoft. The reason I
bring up Gerri Elliot is because, in America we believe that there is
a
combined responsibility to help. We believe government has got a
vital
role, but we also believe corporate America and our citizens have got
a
vital role to play in helping others benefit from learning how to
read.
And so I want to thank Gerri for setting such a good example.
I call upon others in our country to understand the importance of
this initiative and to step forth. After all, a literacy initiative
will
help spread prosperity and peace. And that's really why we're here at
the
UNGA. I've been looking forward to coming here. As you know, it's an
annual event. Every year I get to come. It gives me a chance to meet
with fellow leaders, and it gives me a chance to clearly explain, the
goals of this country are to help those who feel hopeless; the goals
of
this country are to spread liberty; the goals of this country is to
enhance prosperity and peace.
You can't have prosperity unless people can read. It's just as
simple as that. You know, one of things that we have committed
ourselves
to in America is to help eradicate persistent poverty. But there is a
direct link between illiteracy and persistent poverty. Oftentimes
when
we're talking about prosperity and helping this world become a more
prosperous place, we tend to focus only on trade. And no question,
good
trade agreements and tearing down the barriers that prevent the free
flow
of goods will help enhance prosperity. But you can't be a prosperous
nation if you don't have people who can read.
I mean, think about it, it's pretty clear; in order to be an
informed
consumer you have to read. In order to be able to take advantages of
jobs
that may come to your country as a result of expanding economic
opportunity, you've got to read. In order to be a productive worker,
you
have to be able to read the manual. And so part of this initiative,
part
of the practical application of this initiative is to encourage
prosperity
by enhancing people's capacity to read. And I want to thank you for
your
focus on that important issue.
I also strongly believe that those of us who have the benefits of
living in free society must help others realize the benefits of
liberty.
I believe that. I believe that's part of America's responsibility in
the
world. I realize we can't impose our vision of government, nor should
we
try. But we believe here in America in the universality of freedom.
We
don't believe freedom belongs only to the United States of America; we
believe that liberty is universal in its applications. We also
believe
strongly that as the world becomes more free, we'll see peace. That's
what we believe. And we're going to act on those beliefs.
But one thing that's for certain: It is very hard to have free
societies if the citizens cannot read. Think about that. It's much
harder for a society to realize the universal blessings of liberty if
your
citizens can't read the newspaper in order to be able to make informed
choices and decisions about what may be taking place in a country.
You
can't realize the blessings of liberty if you can't read a ballot, or
if
you can't read what others are saying about the future of your
country.
I am deeply concerned about the spread of radicalism, and I know
you
are, as well. We long for the days when people don't feel comfortable
or
empowered to take innocent life to achieve an objective. One reason
radicals are able to recruit young men, for example, to become suicide
bombers, is because of hopelessness. One way to defeat hopelessness
is
through literacy, is to giving people the fantastic hope that comes by
being able to read and realize dreams.
So this literacy initiative is vital as far as the United States
of
America is concerned, and we want to help. That's what I'm here to
say.
I want to thank you for being here and let you know that we want to
lend
our help.
I know Laura talked about our initiative on the continent of
Africa.
It is a firm, real, dedicated commitment to helping folks become
literate.
We share -- we have that same sense of commitment in more places than
Africa. For example, in our own neighborhood, we are deeply concerned
about illiteracy, and we believe it's in our national interest to help
folks become literate in Central and South America.
One of the most, I guess, heartwarming literacy initiatives that
I
have witnessed as President was the Women's Teacher Training Institute
in
Kabul. I know there's some people from Afghanistan here, and I want
to
thank you for your courage and your bravery. I don't know if you know
what the institute has been doing, but think back to the days prior to
liberation when women really weren't let out of the house. Young
girls
couldn't go to school. There was an underground teacher movement
because
of the great passion teachers feel for -- feel for their students.
And so
after the liberation of the country, we have worked with that
institute to
teach trainers -- teach teachers how to teach, in the knowledge that
when
they leave the institute, they'll then go to the village.
It's kind of this cascading movement of skill so that people can
fulfill their compassion, fulfill their dreams about a more literate
Afghanistan. This young democracy will survive. And one of the
reasons
it will survive is because of the committed effort by a lot of folks,
not
just the United States, but by people around the world to help the
brave
educational entrepreneurs that recognize hope and peace come about as
a
result of education.
We -- a lot of times you hear a lot of words -- people are pretty
good talkers in this society of ours. People step up and make
promises
and kind of flowery statements. I want it to be said that our
government
is doing more than just talking, that our government is willing to
act.
We've doubled the development assistance since I've been the
President.
We have set forth what's called the Millennium Challenge Account. We
said
we were going to help people, particularly those who fight corruption,
those who believe in markets, but equally importantly, those who
invest in
the education and health of their citizens.
We believe strongly that this world must confront the pandemic of
HIV/AIDS, and believe that to whom much is given, much is required in
order to solve disease and poverty -- a lot of it brought about
because --
a lot of that poverty brought about because of illiteracy.
And so one thing I'd like to take away from today is, one, we're
committed. We believe that the United States of America must not
isolate
ourselves from the problems of the world. We believe we have an
opportunity to help you solve problems of the world.
There is nothing more hopeful, there's no greater gift than to
teach
a person to read. When I was the governor of Texas, I remember an
African
American woman walking up to me, and we were talking about the
importance
of teaching every child to read -- not just a few, but every child to
read. We believe in America that reading shouldn't be the right of
just a
few people, it ought to be -- it's universal, as well. And the woman
walked up to me, and she said, "Mr. Governor," she said, "I want you
to
understand how people in my community feel." She said, "Reading is
the
new civil right." I feel the same way about global literacy. Reading
will yield the peace we want.
So thanks for coming. God bless. (Applause.)
END 12:22 P.M. EDT
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