B001_Education Reform By Bush1.txt

Radio Address by the President to Nation on Youth Violence Good morning. As I enter the final week of my presidency, I'm extraordinarily grateful for all the progress we've made together these last eight years -- building the strongest economy in a generation, renewing our ethic of responsibility, and strengthening the bonds of community and family all across America. Today I want to talk about our progress in reducing youth violence and new steps we're taking to make our communities even safer. Over the past few years, terrible tragedies at Columbine and other schools have forced us to take a hard look at youth violence, and an even harder look at what each of us can do and must do to ensure that such tragedies do not happen again. Although there are no simple solutions, recent evidence suggests we are moving in the right direction. According to the latest data, violent crime by young people has been cut nearly in half since 1993; schoolyard deaths have dropped dramatically. These are both important declines that reflect the lowest national crime rate in 25 years.