[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 157 (Sunday, November 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H10427]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             EDUCATION WOULD CHANGE IF WE HAD SCHOOL CHOICE

  (Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, there are schools in 
America that turn out more criminals than young people that will go out 
to attend college. Would Members like a choice if their child was 
attending that school? I believe they would.
  Madam Speaker, wealthy Americans and many Congressmen and Senators 
make choices every day, and our President and Vice President, they send 
their child to the school of their choice. Many middle-class Americans 
choose where they live so their children can attend a school that they 
know is a good school. But what about poor Americans who are stuck in a 
bad neighborhood with a bad school?
  Eighty percent of the schools in America are good and delivering a 
good product. Recently we had a bill that would allow choice for the 
poorest of Americans. What are the Democrats in the educational 
establishment afraid of, that it might work? We would have a chance to 
change education, and education would change, if we had choice. Bad 
schools would close, and the children would have a chance to go to a 
good school.

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