Remarks Upon Presenting the National Teacher of the Year Award to Mrs. Lawana Trout

Mrs. Trout, Senator Monroney, Congressman Wickersham, Congressman Belcher, ladies and gentlemen:

This is a very gratifying occasion for me, to participate this morning in honoring our Teacher of the Year.

I started my career in the classroom, too, and sometimes I feel that I have returned to the profession now. In these times the Presidency offers a great educational challenge and responsibility. While the pay here is appreciably better, Mrs. Trout, than in the public schools, the tenure is appreciably less certain.

We are honored to welcome Mrs. Trout to the White House this morning. In honoring her as the Teacher of the Year, we honor an outstanding woman and a most useful citizen. In a higher sense we honor one of our society's most valuable professions, the profession of teaching.

In this free land, the minds of our young are our most valuable resource. The classroom teacher is always the steward of that resource. For our prosperous Nation and our growing population, no challenge is greater on our horizon than preserving and raising higher the standards of public education.

The good, well-trained, dedicated teacher will remain invaluable. But we must reach out to utilize new techniques and new resources to assure universal standards of excellence in every school district, in every section, in every region in this land.

I believe that we may see, over the next decade, more advance in the art of teaching than in the last century, or, for that matter, several centuries. Certainly if we can use our technology of electronics to defend freedom and keep peace, as we are doing effectively, we can apply this great technology to open new horizons for young people, to equip them for the opportunities and the responsibilities of their time.

Yesterday I was privileged to meet with the members of my Presidential Scholars Commission. I told them that all too often we fail to give the highest possible recognition to some of the real heroes of America. We honor the athletic stars, and we forget the academic stars. So I hope our Presidential Scholars program will serve to partially correct this emphasis. Through this plan we will recognize some of the brightest and the most able young men and women from every State in the Union. I hope this will help keep before us all the realization that in the future the trained American will be the indispensable American.

Mrs. Trout, in honor of your presence this morning, and of the great profession you represent, I want to make an announcement that you were not expecting.

I am today appointing you to be a member of the Presidential Scholars Commission, and I am further directing that each year the man or woman selected as Teacher of the Year serve as a full and active member of this Commission that year.

In addition, I would also like to announce the appointment to the Presidential Scholars Commission of Mrs. Jeanne Noble of New York. Mrs. Noble is Associate Professor for Human Relations Studies at the New York University, and is widely known as a teacher, professor, and leader, having served as immediate past president of Delta Sigma Theta.

My congratulations to you, Mrs. Trout, for your service and your dedication in upholding one of America's oldest and finest traditions. It is a pleasure to present to you the National Teacher of the Year Award of 1964•

This beautiful garden was once called a rose garden, and now they say we have mostly tulips in it. But Mrs. Kennedy worked a very long time, and Mrs. Paul Mellon, developing what I think is one of the most beautiful gardens anywhere in the world. Two great women proved their efforts here, and brought this about.

It was so good to see you, Mrs. Trout.