Proclamation 6841—National Character Counts Week, 1995

The children of today will be tomorrow's leaders, educators, caregivers, and parents. As we seek to prepare our Nation for the challenges of the future, we must reaffirm America's deepest beliefs and instill in our youth the principles of opportunity, responsibility, and community that have always united our citizens. Emphasizing both individual and social duties, character education helps us toward that goal and reminds us that our country's strength has long been drawn from fundamental ideas.

Families have always held the primary obligation for teaching values to their children. Schools, too, play a vital role in reinforcing the basic precepts of good citizenship—fairness and honesty, respect for oneself and for others, and personal accountability. My Administration's education agenda is dedicated to raising standards for academics and discipline so that young people will have the essential tools they need to succeed. Our Goals 2000: Educate America Act embraces the importance of parental involvement in the learning process, recognizing that family participation encourages children to value scholarship and to adopt strong values. Character education programs can increase school performance as well, and the Improving America's Schools Act promotes such initiatives.

As Americans, we are called upon to fulfill the obligations of citizenship in many ways. As our Nation observes this special week, let us remember our responsibilities to children and do everything in our power to inspire in them the moral and ethical standards that will, in turn, help them to become productive, integral members of our society.

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 15 through October 21, 1995, as National Character Counts Week. I call upon government officials; educators; religious, community, and business leaders; and all the people of the United States to work for the preservation of traditional values and to commemorate this week with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twentieth.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON