Statement by the President: American Education Week.

THIS is a time of great need--and a time of great progress in American education. In the past year the 89th Congress enacted more than a score of major measures to underwrite excellence in America's classrooms.

But the pursuit of excellence requires more than money; it requires vigorous and enlightened leadership of our schools at the local level.

I believe in local direction of school affairs-and I have firmly committed my administration to that policy.

I hope, therefore, that citizens everywhere who want better schools will recognize their obligations--and live up to them.

We need better teachers; we need more library books and trained librarians; we need more and better courses about our Nation, its history and government; we need more knowledge about our neighbors around the world.

I urge all citizens:

--To visit your local schools, to learn their problems and their possibilities;

--To take an active part in the work of your local parent-teachers association;

--To consider the contribution you can make to better education, and to begin making that contribution today.