http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6088505,00.htmlBush Says Education Is Path to Democracy
NEW YORK (AP) - President Bush on Monday linked his push for democratic reform across the world with first lady Laura Bush's call for governments to embrace literacy programs to improve lives.
``The simple act of teaching a child to read or an adult to read has the capacity to transform nations and yield the peace we all want,'' the president said at the White House Conference on Global Literacy being hosted in New York by the first lady. ``You can't realize the blessings of liberty if you can't read a ballot.''
Bush attended his wife's event, which was being held on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly sessions this week. Later in the day, he had bilateral talks scheduled with several foreign leaders to kick off his attendance at the world body's annual meetings.
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``You can't have prosperity unless people can read. It's just as simple as that,'' Bush said. ``To be a productive worker you have to be able to read the manual.''