US Presidency
1997

To do otherwise is simply unworthy of a great nation of immigrants. Now, looking ahead, the greatest step of all, the high threshold of the future we must now cross, and my number one priority for the next four years is to ensure that all Americans have the best education in the world. Let's work together to meet these three goals: Every 8-year-old must be able to read; every 12-year-old must be able to log on to the Internet; every 18-year-old must be able to go to college; and every adult American must be able to keep on learning for a lifetime. My balanced budget makes an unprecedented commitment to these goals, $ 51 billion next year. But far more than money is required. I have a plan, a call to action for American education, based on these 10 principles: First, a national crusade for education standards, not federal government standards but national standards, representing what all our students must know to succeed in the knowledge economy of the 21st century.