ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 30, 1996 TAG: 9605300097
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
The United States needs some ``new basics'' for education, starting with the way it prepares teachers, President Clinton said Wednesday. At a South Lawn ceremony honoring the achievements of ``Blue Ribbon'' schools, Clinton announced an effort to train thousands of teachers in the latest computer technology so they can apply it in the classroom.
Saying he is ``literally obsessed'' with ensuring the United States will be competitive in the next century, Clinton proposed including citizenship and computer literacy in every curriculum.
``We all know the kinds of things we need to do,'' he said. ``I think every American child should be able to read independently by the third grade. ... I believe every American looking for a job should be able to read and fill out an application.''
Clinton said the volunteer initiative, 21st Century Teachers, aims to instruct 500,000 teachers on using computers, software and networks in the classroom, so they ``are as comfortable with computers as they are with chalkboards.''
The initiative is separate from a $2 billion program the president proposed earlier this year to supply computers to link all of the nation's classrooms to the information superhighway.
The effort will be coordinated by the Clinton administration, private groups and companies and education organizations such as the Parent Teachers Association, the National School Boards Association, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers.
``We have to imagine what the world is like today, with its problems and its promise, and ask ourselves whether there ought not to be some new basics,'' Clinton said. ``We can build a generation of good citizens, and I'm determined to see us do it.''
LENGTH: Short : 42 linesby CNB