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1996 State of the Union Address: Education (Paragraphs 31-37) Summary

Coining the "New Century" Cliché

  • Clinton vows to use the new technology of the '90s (the Internet) to improve education, and asks Congress to have his back.
  • He pressures schools to adopt "national standards of excellence" (32.2).
  • He challenges communities and parents to teach good values to their children, and suggests school uniforms as a way of decreasing violence in schools. To quote Kanye, I do it for the kids.
  • College, college, college! In the next century (and millennium), Clinton declares, higher education is "more important…than ever before" (35.1). He brags about his student loan program.
  • He also brags about AmeriCorps, which lets people earn college money by doing community service.
  • Clinton proposes expanded college tax credits, which make tuition tax-deductible.