Bush Cites Gandhi, Mae West in Education Talk

President Bush told an education forum in a blue-collar north New Jersey suburb Thursday that--in facing its education needs--the United States must “rely less on the collective wallet, and more on our collective will.”

Quoting Mohandas K. Gandhi and Mae West and stopping his motorcade by arrangement to greet a sixth-grade, learning-disabled student who had written to him, Bush sought support for his newly unveiled education program in a community that has achieved a 1% school drop-out rate.

Stresses Volunteerism

Drawing attention to his emphasis on volunteer work and community support for local schools, Bush declared:

“A society that worships money--or sees money as a cure for all that ails it--is a society in peril. But we are not that kind of people. And we must do more than wish we had more to spend.”

The President also called for “a kind of performance-driven, partial deregulation of education.” Education Secretary Lauro F. Cavazos, who accompanied the President, told reporters that the Department of Education is trying to relax regulations to “get funds to local schools without a lot of paper work.”

On April 5, Bush sent Congress a $441-million program that would include cash awards for “merit” schools and top teachers, science scholarships, promotion of magnet schools based on specialized curricula, and “alternative” certification to allow experts lacking teacher training to work in classrooms.

But critics said that the program does not make up for the fact that in his proposed 1990 budget Bush sought no increase over 1989’s level of $21.9 billion in education spending. In effect, the critics believe, that amounts to a reduction because there is no adjustment for anticipated inflation of 3.5%.

Responding to such criticism, Bush said: “More spending isn’t the only right answer, or even the best answer. What we need is a better value for what we spend.”

Speaking to an overflow crowd in the gymnasium of Union High School, Bush told local residents, students and educators from throughout the state that “the problems our schools face won’t be solved by assigning blame, or applying a puff of smoke here, some bolt of lightning there. Only a united effort can lead to the kind of education reform that lasts.”

Holds All ‘Accountable’

“This means that all of us are accountable for the quality of American schools,” the President said, singling out school superintendents, parents and “business leaders, who understand that their ability to compete depends on the quality of the new talent that they help develop.”

Bush, returning to one of his old presidential campaign themes, recalled that when Mae West was asked what she wanted to be remembered for, “she said, ‘everything.’ ”

Refers to ‘Bully Pulpit’

“My goal is a little more modest,” he said, citing his target of being remembered as the “education President” by using “the bully pulpit of the White House, the bully pulpit of the presidency of the United States, to help you all improve American schools.

“America can be the very best in education,” Bush said. “I know a few skeptics have doubted that. For instance, somebody once asked Mahatma Gandhi what he thought in general about Western civilization, and he said: ‘I think it would be a good idea.’ ”

Shortly before Bush arrived at the high school, he encountered a cluster of elementary school pupils along his motorcade route. Among them was sixth-grader Gina Marie Sisco, who had written to him a week ago to complain that the students chosen to meet him at the high school were picked for their academic achievement.

“I have a learning disability. There are many kids just like me and we all have to work harder than most kids,” she wrote, asking him to visit her classroom. The President did not do that, but instead made a brief stop to say hello to Gina Marie at curb-side.

But the gesture of greeting the youngster served to underscore a point contrary to the theme of the President’s address: Gina Marie wrote that her education includes work in a “resource room” where she receives training in math and English--a program that requires additional funding to pay for teachers and teaching material.

Similarly, the Union school system that Bush saluted offers other costly programs, including a student television studio, computer-automated vocational shops and preschool classes for all children whose parents want to enroll them.