Proclamation 4221—American Education Week, 1973

More than physical resources or industrial capacity, this Nation's greatest asset is its people.

Americans are both a heterogeneous and a homogeneous people, diverse in our multicultural heritage, in our varied talents, in our personal goals. Yet we are also a homogeneous people in our dedication to certain national objectives, among them the goal of broadening and enriching the American experience for our children and their children. One constant theme in our national story from its very beginnings has been our faith in education and our commitment to its advancement.

Educational institutions can be strong and effective only if they receive broad public support and continuing public attention. That is why it is so appropriate that the theme for American Education Week this year is "Get Involved."

There are many ways for individual Americans to "get involved" in education. For those who hold leadership positions in their communities, getting involved can mean strong support for needed innovation. For those whose profession is education, getting involved can mean subjecting proposed reforms to the most rigorous test of all: Will they benefit students?

But "getting involved" is appropriate advice for other Americans too. For the businessman who understands the give-and-take of the marketplace, for the oceanographer who understands the mystic cycles of the sea, for the writer who understands the beauty and power of words, getting involved can mean sharing knowledge and enthusiasm with young people struggling to make their own career decisions.

Getting involved can mean taking the time to help a handicapped child learn to read. It can mean raising the aspirations of a disadvantaged child by listening to his hopes and dreams—and by caring about them. It can mean working with gifted young people to help them channel their creativity into productive outlets.

Above all, getting involved means giving support to the dedicated men and women who are entrusted with the education of our children. They are trained professionals who welcome constructive change. They deserve our confidence.

Education should be everyone's concern, for the knowledge and values imparted to our youth today will determine our future as a people.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the week of October 21-27, 1973, as American Education Week.

I urge all Americans to join with me during this period in a reaffirmation of faith in our educational system and a new dedication to helping that system meet the challenges that now confront it.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-seventh.

RICHARD NIXON