[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 4, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E993]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       STATEMENT REGARDING STUDENT-CENTERED HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION

                                 ______


                          HON. BERNARD SANDERS

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 4, 1996

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, for the benefit of my colleagues I would 
like to have printed in the Record this statement by several high 
school students at Peoples Academy in Vermont, who were speaking at my 
recent town meeting on issues facing young people.

       Our topic is: changing the education system. We don't have 
     any great solutions, or anything, but we just want to 
     increase the awareness of the fact that there's too much 
     emphasis put on getting good grades, and having a good score. 
     And the desire to learn is gone; or if it's not gone, it's 
     not there very much, or whatever. The result of this is that 
     students just go through school just . . . playing the 
     motions, getting good grades, having tests, memorizing and 
     they're not necessarily learning anything; or discovering . . 
     . how they are self-learners, like what is the best way for 
     them to learn, which they can carry with them throughout 
     life.
       Another thing that we think is that teachers seem bored. 
     They're teaching the same thing again and again and again, 
     and . . . becomes monotonous; it makes learning more of a 
     chore. . . . 
       Along the same lines, we think that perhaps there could be 
     more courses--there's a lot of courses out there that are 
     trying to help teachers learn how to become better educators; 
     but many times the teachers themselves don't have the desire 
     to become better educated. If those teachers could, instead 
     of going to classes and things like that and learning how, we 
     could find the teachers that are considered good teachers, 
     that actually want to help someone . . . I dare say, that the 
     majority of people that become teachers don't necessarily 
     become a teacher and say, ``Well, I want to go out there and 
     help better the education of our youth, and . . . become 
     better people. They say, ``This'll be a good paycheck for me.
       And that's another thing that is a real problem with the 
     way the system is set up right now: that money and getting a 
     good paycheck is how things are judged by, and if you want to 
     become a doctor, or whatever, it's not because you want to 
     help cure disease, it's because you want a BMW. And, if these 
     things are taught in the school, then that's obviously how 
     it's going to be presented, but if we could . . . help people 
     understand what they would enjoy doing, and less emphasis on 
     money. Perhaps trying to help people understand that, ``Well, 
     hey, money's not the only thing out there, you know, you've 
     got to go to a job 40 hrs./week, making $50,000/yr., and hate 
     my job, that's not something that's going to make your life 
     happy. So, if we could change things, and help . . . people 
     understand that you have to want to learn; you need to 
     understand what you need to go out and learn about yourself.
       And this is going to help in the school system also, 
     because if someone's enjoying what they're learning, they're 
     going to actually go out and do it themselves; they're going 
     to be interested. I dare say that some people, if not most 
     people are here today because it's for a class; they have to 
     be here for a class, not because they're interested in the 
     political system, but because it's a break. And if that's 
     going to be the way things are, then nobody's going to be 
     happy in their life; and that's a bigger issue than simply 
     educating. (APPLAUSE)
       We also feel that . . . you shouldn't have as many required 
     courses; you have a four-year English requirement to 
     graduate, and had my 4th year of English, and just sat 
     through my English classes--I couldn't wait until it was 
     over, I didn't learn much of anything, I just got by. I think 
     that there should be more elective classes that you can take, 
     that you're interested in, so that you have more interest to 
     learn, I think that would be better for the students. Along 
     the same lines also, that it is a major problem how general 
     the courses are . . . The general courses are made to expose 
     us to a lot of things, so that we can try to find out what we 
     enjoy. But instead, it actually decreases that, because the 
     system that's presented is looked at as something that's not 
     enjoyable. So a kid--maybe does enjoy reading, but perhaps 
     the way it's presented isn't for him. So, he may go away 
     thinking, ``I'm no good at English, I can't get it right.'' 
     But that's not necessarily the case. It may be that the 
     system that the English is being presented [in] is the 
     problem. So you need to look at that, it's more than just 
     looking at, ``Well, he's just a bad student.''

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