[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 102 (Wednesday, June 21, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S8833]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                                LITERACY

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I picked up the spring 1995 issue of 
the Congressional Institute for the Future and noted the following 
Barbara Bush quotation in it: ``There is really no question that 
literacy is related to all our social concerns--crime, drugs, and 
teenage pregnancy as well as America's stature in the world, our 
competitiveness on the international scene, and our national security. 
Low literacy goes hand-in-hand with unemployment, low productivity, and 
problems with job retraining in our rapidly changing communities--this 
is a now and future issue. The literacy of parents affects the 
educational chances of children. We are only just beginning to treat 
this complex, many-sided issue with the care and concerted action it 
requires.''
  Barbara Bush provided significant leadership on this issue of 
literacy, and if we're to have a truly productive country, we're going 
to have to pay more attention to this issue.
  One complaint I hear about more from heads of major corporations is 
how poorly prepared American workers too often are.
  The basics have to be there in the field of education to have a well 
prepared work force. The basics are the old ``reading, writing, and 
arithmetic.''
  People in this country are not more stupid than people in other 
Western industrialized countries, but the other countries have had the 
good sense to put a greater stress on basic literacy.
  We have to do the same.
  Yes, we ought to improve the schools that we have, but we also have 
to reach out to those who have not been helped by schools, adult 
Americans.
  I urge my colleagues to keep in mind Barbara Bush's words of 
wisdom.


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