[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 25, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H598]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1415
                         GIVE TEACHERS A BREAK

  (Mr. ETHERIDGE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of talk in Washington 
these days about education. The President is talking about education. 
Business people are talking about education. At just about every level 
someone is talking about education, and every politician I bump into 
wants to talk about education.
  But as a former two-term State superintendent of schools, I can tell 
you talk is cheap, ladies and gentlemen. That is why last week I went 
into the classroom and began a program I call Give Teachers a Break. I 
took over a history and political science class and taught a group of 
students in Lee County High School in Sanford, NC in an effort to 
really give a teacher a break.
  This program puts Congressmen in the classroom where children are so 
they can understand what is happening day in and day out with a 
teacher, the problems they face, the difficulties of education, so we 
can learn from what is happening and we can look into the face of the 
next generation and have a reminder of what is at stake.
  I am proud that a number of my colleagues in this House have already 
decided to join in this program, and I challenge every Member of the 
U.S. Congress to do it. Mr. Speaker, it is no great feat to talk the 
talk on education. Today I challenge every Member to walk the walk and 
give a teacher a break.

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