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

Thank you, Maria Echaveste. I would like to acknowledge a few people from the Department of Education who are here today: the Department's Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Norma Cant?; my Senior Advisor Cha Guzm?n; and the Director of the White House Initiative Sarita Brown. They are committed to improving education for all Americans, and I feel fortunate to work with them.

I am delighted to be here before an audience of so many who can speak more than one language. As you know, a person who knows two languages is a bi-linguist. A person who knows three languages is a tri-linguist. And a person who knows only one language is . . . probably an American. I am hoping that someday soon that joke will become obsolete.

Up to now, jokes about Americans' unwillingness to learn a second language have been fairly harmless. But if Americans continue to lag behind in multilingualism, it will be no laughing matter.

By 2050, nearly one-quarter of our population will be Hispanic. The percentage for young people is even higher. According to a recent report from the National Center for Education Statistics, the student population in our public schools is not only growing but also changing. Between 1972 and 1998, Hispanic enrollment rose from 6 percent to 15 percent. And in 1998, the proportion of Hispanic students in the West reached 30 percent.

I see this trend as a tremendous opportunity for our nation. Those who live in the United States and speak more than one language could help us become stronger in the international arena. Also, we need to help Hispanic students and their families succeed. When we see a Latino child, a disadvantaged child-any child-we need to have high expectations and visualize great achievements for that child.

We need to do this because it will strengthen our nation, and because it is the right thing to do.

In the information age, knowledge is power. Or, as we say in South Carolina, "Saber es Poder." And in an international economy, knowledge of a second language is power. Those who speak English as well as another language will be wonderful assets for our nation in the coming years, so I am encouraging our schools to adopt an "English plus one" approach. This approach challenges young people to meet high academic standards in two languages.

As we work together to improve education for Hispanic Americans, it is important that we continue to set ambitious goals and use solid statistics to measure our progress. That is why I am so pleased to announce today the release of A Status Report on American Education and Hispanic Students.

I should note that this report does not paint a rosy picture. In fact, the Status Report makes it clear that we have to work much harder to support Hispanic families and better education for Hispanic students.

We'll start by looking at the results for very young Hispanic children. In 1999, just a third of Hispanic children between the ages of 3 and 5 were read to by a family member on a daily basis. If parents read to their children for 30 minutes a day, we could revolutionize education in America. We need to make sure that all parents know the importance of reading to their children. They can read in Spanish, or they can read in English, or they can learn English along with their children-but parents and children need to read, read, read.

For older children, there are measurable differences in performance. On recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests, more than 60 percent of 4th-graders in the United States scored at or above the basic level in reading, compared to just 40 percent of Hispanic children. The results for 4th-grade math and 8th-grade reading were similar-the gap is about 20 percent. But we have better news for 8th-grade math, where the gap is just 4 percent.

In high school, the achievement gap continues. In 1998, 85 percent of people in the United States between the ages of 18 and 24 had a high school diploma or a General Equivalency Diploma (G.E.D.). For young Hispanics, just 63 percent had a diploma or G.E.D. That means we are sending 15 percent of young people and 37 percent of Hispanic young people into the workforce of the information age without a high school education. We must do better than that.

The Status Report also looks at the percentage of individuals ages 25 to 29 who hold a bachelor's degree. The overall average in the United States is 32 percent, compared to just 14 percent for Hispanic Americans. In this area, our new GEAR UP program helps middle school students, especially those in disadvantaged neighborhoods, begin to think about and prepare for college early. We need to make sure that GEAR UP and our college financial aid programs are helping Hispanic Americans. And I am concerned that recent budget actions on education in the U.S. House of Representatives provide no new funding for GEAR UP.

Before I conclude, I would like to make a point about the significance of the Status Report. Although the results may be troubling, these baseline statistics are going to be very useful as we gauge our progress in years to come. For all students, in all categories, we need to move these numbers closer to parity and closer to 100 percent.

Although the Status Report reflects many challenges that lie ahead, the trends in many areas have been good. And the Clinton-Gore administration deserves much of the credit for the improvements. If businesses, community organizations, and government agencies at all levels work together, we can meet these challenges. Every American individual or enterprise has a stake in the success of Hispanic Americans. We are all in this together. No individual or group can become a true success unless everyone has opportunities to succeed. It is simple: "Better education is everybody's business."

This conference is part of our continuing effort to move our nation closer to its ideals. As C?sar Ch?vez observed, "Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read." His words are a testimony to the power of education, which improves us as individuals and strengthens us as a community.

The community of all Americans will be stronger if we eliminate the obstacles to success for Hispanic families. I am grateful to each of you for your commitment to providing Hispanic Americans-and all Americans-equal access to a quality education.

Thank you very much.