[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 82 (Thursday, June 12, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1200-E1201]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 STATEMENTS BY NEAL GAY AND ROBERT BURKE, CHAMPLAIN VALLEY UNION HIGH 
                    SCHOOL, REGARDING SCHOOL CHOICE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BERNARD SANDERS

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 12, 1997

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

       Mr. Gay. We are here today to discuss the benefit of school 
     choice. We believe it is essential in a competitive world to 
     have thoughtful, intelligent people. Granted, there are 
     always winners and losers when competition is at hand, but 
     that isn't to say that everyone cannot come out on top.
       The world is competitive; that we have established, and 
     that is why school choice is absolutely necessary in an ever-
     changing democracy. Would not a true democracy embrace the 
     true individual's right to determining their own future?
       If a student excels and finds joy in the vastness of 
     literature, then the student shouldn't be restrained. If the 
     student wishes and dreams in the analytical field of 
     mathematics, the student shouldn't be shackled with other 
     burdens.
       This is not to say that all liberal arts obligations should 
     be ignored. Students should still be held to the absolute 
     highest standards. A well-rounded education should remain 
     required as it contributes to the student's overall learning. 
     What it boils down to is the intrinsic need to better 
     ourselves.
       If that student who loves literature sees that her school 
     has no advanced placement English class, why cannot she take 
     it somewhere else?
       See, we do not propose that students should be allowed to 
     puddle jump between schools. We ask that the student find the 
     school that best suits their needs and take all of the 
     classes within that school's walls. We propose that a federal 
     grant be issued to the State of Vermont allowing schools to 
     bask in the freedom of school choice. Schools need to produce 
     the absolute highest quality caliber of students for the 
     betterment of our society as a whole.
       See, here is where it gets kind of tricky because we think 
     that a lottery could be instilled making it fair to all 
     students who feel that their school can suit their needs 
     and to get to this lottery a lot of kids could say I do 
     not like my school, I want to go somewhere else, but that 
     is where an application process would be brought forth 
     because the student would have to have a need. Like I go 
     to CVU and to graduate from CVU you have to do a 
     graduation challenge. So the sole reason for a student to 
     want BHS instead of CVU shouldn't be because I just do not 
     want to take the challenge.
       Mr. Burke. The grant would be used to support a study and 
     to make changes based on the study's outcome. We cannot 
     stress the point enough that we live in a competitive place. 
     Competition doesn't mean that there are winners and losers; 
     it gives a chance for everyone to do better.
       Mr. Gay. We aren't proposing that the parents get a check 
     for $6,000; that is what the other group proposed, something 
     along the lines of that. We are proposing the student picks 
     the school that best suits their need that is a public school 
     because as they said, there is a separation between church 
     and state. The federal grant comes into play because the 
     federal grant would be given to the schools that have the 
     highest caliber of classes and the highest amount of students 
     leaving the loser schools is the easy way to phrase that and 
     the loser schools would get the grant to become winner 
     schools. That is why no one comes out on top. Poor schools 
     would take the money to become the best schools.
       I take pretty much anywhere from mild to hard classes, I 
     excel more in literature and not all that much in math, and I 
     think I would be better educated at a different school that 
     would offer more perhaps history courses. We have essentially 
     four history courses at my school and we never discuss, we 
     never seem to discuss other parts of the world; essentially, 
     it is all western philosophy courses, and I think I could do 
     better somewhere else.
       But I think overall in a public system there has to be the 
     best and the worse have to come together so where we are it 
     is pretty good, but I have heard concerns from other students 
     here today and it sounds like may-be we are pampered where I 
     go to school. CVU is a pretty rich school; we have resources 
     and a lot of them.
       I think it could be better. I think when it comes to 
     education you always have to strive to do better because the 
     future of this entire country and the future of preserving 
     democracy depends on a group of intelligent people and you 
     have to maintain that.
       Mr. Burke. I am the opposite of Neal, I excel in math and 
     not so well in literature. I feel I could do better because 
     we do not really have any type of like accelerated program at 
     CVU. Most of the mathematics department, if you do really 
     well in one class you still have to be there for the full 
     time you take the course even if you might be accelerated 
     enough that you could take it in less time or maybe a school 
     that offers more courses in math, not just the basic 
     languages.
       Mr. Gay. We are not a part of the educational process at 
     CVU. To do that you have to be either--I think it is you have 
     to be an elected official and at CVU the elected officials 
     are essentially the same people that are on HS and all those 
     higher track programs. I vent my frustrations toward my own 
     school, I write for the ed section of the Burlington Free 
     Press. I use that as my own stomping grounds to perhaps lock 
     my opinions because I am not that well heard as a member of 
     the student government. Seeing that it is our education and I 
     think a lot of the time parents do not always know best, so I 
     think the students should play a more active role in the 
     hiring of teachers and perhaps the firing of teachers.
       Mr. Burke. I feel the same way as far as if the students 
     had a say. I believe right now

[[Page E1201]]

     there are one or two students involved with the actual 
     planning of curriculum and stuff and the way courses are, but 
     they do not have much say because they are students.
       Mr. Gay. Thank you for hearing our concerns, Congressman 
     Sanders.

     

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