Word: summiteers
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...tools of any leader. Last week George Bush wielded both of them artfully in pursuing his long-promised bid to become "the education President." During two crisply photogenic autumn days at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, he convened his Cabinet and the nation's Governors for a historic summit that raised hopes of new national leadership, if not new federal funds, to address the critical problems facing American public education...
...traditional autonomy of states and local school districts. Now, however, the idea of national standards is supported by solid majorities in opinion polls. "Bold action is what we need," Bush told the Governors. "The American people are ready for radical reforms." Despite the high- flown rhetoric, however, the summit's achievements were not so much radical as merely encouraging...
...both parties pressed for information on when Bush would redeem another campaign pledge: to fund fully the Head Start program for needy preschoolers. Head Start has proved cost-effective in preparing disadvantaged students for school, but can now accommodate only about 1 in 5 of those eligible. As the summit closed, White House chief of staff John Sununu noted that "the Governors succeeded quite well in convincing the President of the value of preschool and early-childhood programs." Bush conceded "the need for more federal support for the prekindergarten education process...
...most provocative reform ideas came from drug czar William Bennett, the former Education Secretary, who bluntly described much of what he heard at the summit as "pap -- and stuff that rhymes with pap." Bennett noted, for example, that "everybody seems to like national performance goals, but the question is . . . What happens if we don't reach them?" He suggested that "if we're not able in five years to get our schools back up to where they were in 1963, after spending 40% more, then maybe we should just . . . give people their money back and let them educate themselves...
After months of coolness and caution, the U.S. and the Soviet Union suddenly seem consumed by arms-control fever. First, Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze ended their tete-a-tete in the Tetons by announcing plans for a spring summit. A few days later, George Bush and Shevardnadze were at the United Nations competing to see who could get rid of chemical weapons faster...