[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 142 (Tuesday, October 21, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H8844]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       LIBERAL EDUCATION ADVOCATES ARE NOT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY

  (Mr. HUTCHINSON asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Madam Speaker, it appears to me that the liberal 
thinkers who talk about education and always call for education 
standards are not to be taken seriously. These advocates for children, 
who proudly call themselves progressives, are the same people 
responsible for the outrageous academic fads in the classroom which 
have produced such terrible academic results in the first place.
  Academic rigor gives way to emphasis on self-esteem. Merit is 
replaced by cooperative learning. Common sense, time-tested methods to 
teach kids how to spell correctly lose out to whole learning.

                              {time}  1215

  Classrooms which challenge the gifted are scrapped for dumbed-down 
learning that cheat kids out of real education. Math that requires 
actual calculations yields to rain forest algebra that teaches no 
mathematical skills whatsoever, and so on and on. So before we listen 
to the progressives who are responsible for this deplorable state of 
affairs, let us consider instead whether a return to the basics and 
common sense learning methods are what is really needed.

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