[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 10 (Monday, February 7, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 7, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                             ET TU, PEOPLE?

  Mr. BYRD. Madam President, from time to time here on the Senate 
floor, I have decried declining standards of education in our society, 
sliding levels of literacy among increasing numbers of our citizens, 
and a disturbing spread of inaccurate and undisciplined scholarship, 
even at some of the higher echelons of American education.
  Unfortunately, the First Law of the decay of civilizations seems to 
be that, paralleling monetary experience, ``Bad culture drives out good 
culture.''
  Thus, bad music overwhelms good music. Bad taste destroys good taste. 
Bad literature drives out good literature.
  And, I might add, apparently, ignorance often displaces fact.
  Shakespeare said:

       . . . Ignorance is the curse of God, knowledge the wing 
     wherewith we fly to heaven.

  As a case in point, I cite the February 7, 1994, issue of People 
magazine.
  People has never purported to be a scholarly publication. However, as 
a premier offering of Time-Life, Inc., People has proved to be a cut 
far above the prolific tabloids found prominently near the checkout 
stands of most supermarkets.
  However, on page 93 of the February 7, 1994, issue of People, one 
finds this assertion, ``Jubilee, for example, comes from the Bantu word 
juba, a popular plantation dance dating back to the 18th century.''
  Madam President, ``jubilee'' does no such thing!
  As thousands of American school children might have known 60 or 70 
years ago from the widespread study of Latin in our public schools, 
``jubilee'' comes from the Latin verb jubilare, meaning ``to shout'' or 
``to rejoice,'' which is to say that the Romans were using that word 
and the Latin equivalents that sprang from it and into English--
``jubilation,'' ``jubilant,'' ``jubilate,'' and such--as much as nearly 
3,000 years before any plantation dances were being performed on the 
North American continent.
  Further, in Leviticus 25 in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old 
Testament, one reads about ``the year of jubilee,'' long before 
plantation dances were ever heard of in the South. This goes by 
hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. An ancient Jewish 
celebration ``the year of jubilee'' was an ancient Jewish celebration 
lasting 12 months, either every 25 or 50 years, during which all 
bondsmen were set free, all mortgaged lands restored to their original 
owners, and the land was left fallow. Further, Hebrew carries the word 
yobel, which translate as ``ram's horn,'' a ceremonial instrument that 
was sounded ritually to announce holy occasions such as ``the year of 
jubilee,'' and the apparent source of the Hebrew equivalent for 
``jubilee.''
  According to Biblical scholars, the Book of Leviticus, in which the 
word ``jubilee'' is prominently found, took its final form by the 6th 
century B.C. And from the Hebrew into the English, the word ``jubilee'' 
was carried over into the King James Version of the Bible, which was 
first printed and published during the years 1604-1611, well before 
1619, when the first slaves were landed at Jamestown.
  Again, this was before plantation dances were taking place down 
South.
  Thus, Madam President, neither the Romans, the Jews, or the English 
of 1600 A.D. had an opportunity to know anything about plantation 
dances performed in the American South, which occurred long after the 
word ``jubilee'' had entered the Latin, Hebrew, and English 
vocabularies.
  I point this faux pas out not to excoriate People magazine as much as 
to again underline the decline of popular culture in our country. As I 
indicated, six or seven decades ago, U.S. school children would have 
recognized jubilee from their Latin classwork.
  Further, six or seven decades ago, millions of churchgoers and 
members of adult Sunday school classes would have recognized jubilee 
from their knowledge of the Old Testament--the Book of Leviticus.
  But today, a publication as glossy and apparently as sophisticated as 
People magazine can print a false citing that at one time might not 
have gotten past a proofreader with a high school diploma.
  Unfortunately, Madam President, unless the standards by which we 
measure educated men and women are raised, and unless the goals of 
education itself are geared to rising and increasingly demanding world 
expectations, the price that our society and economy will pay will be 
far more exacting than inaccuracies in a glossy celebrity gossip 
magazine. That price will be increasing illiteracy among millions of 
Americans and a plunge in the standard of living taken for granted by 
most Americans today.
  Indeed, one of the signs of the decay of the Roman Empire and the 
dawn of the Dark Ages was a rise of sloppiness in the writing and 
speaking of daily language, the spread of ignorance about history and 
the past, and the displacement of fact and truth by superstition and 
falsehood. Is it possible that, even in this dawning space age, we 
stand simultaneously on the precipice of a new Dark Age?
  Perhaps only time and the reassertion of accuracy, discipline, and 
rigorous scholarship will halt the current slide into cultural 
barbarism and the rotting away of standards of truth evident too often 
in contemporary communication, writing, and research. Let us hope that 
it is not too late.
  Good, sound education gives us hope.

       True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings;
       Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.

  Valentine, speaking to Proteus in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, and 
referring to his dearly beloved Silvia, said:

       And I as rich in having such a jewel
       As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl,
       The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.

  Valentine could just as well have been speaking of a good, solid, 
well-rounded education:

       And I as rich in having such a jewel
       As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl,
       The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.

  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The absence of a quorum has been suggested. 
The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GREGG. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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