[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 10, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H7124-H7125]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            CONGRESS SHOULD EMPOWER PARENTS, NOT BUREAUCRATS

  (Mr. ROGAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROGAN. Mr. Speaker, in today's newspaper we learned that the 
Journal of the American Medical Association is publishing a national 
study that found when teenagers feel connected to their parents and to 
their schools, they are less likely to suffer emotional distress, 
consider suicide, engage in violence, smoke, drink, use drugs, or have 
early sex.

[[Page H7125]]

  It may surprise some of our friends on the other side of the aisle 
who really believe that schools should be run by Washington 
bureaucrats. Perhaps they believe these favorable findings are achieved 
only when children feel connected to big government. The truth is, the 
connection must be to parents and to good schools, not to Washington.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot legislate good parents, but we in Congress can 
legislate better schools. The way to make schools better is to end the 
day of Washington bureaucrats and redtape running our local schools. 
Let us empower parents and teachers and local school districts instead 
of bureaucrats thousands of miles from the classroom. That would be the 
greatest legacy we could give to both public education and to our 
children's future.

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