[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 11, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H1026-H1027]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DEVELOPMENT OF CRITICAL TELEVISION VIEWING SKILLS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 
                                STUDENTS

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to bring another example of wasted 
Federal education tax dollars to your attention. Through the Department 
of Education, we funded an education study entitled, ``The Development 
of Critical Television Viewing Skills in Elementary School Students.''
  Our kids do not need Federal assistance to watch television to 
develop,

[[Page H1027]]

``television viewing skills.'' Rather, they should be learning to read 
and write, finding solutions to math problems and perform science 
experiments. While American schoolchildren lag behind the rest of the 
developed world in basic academic skills, our Federal education dollars 
are paying for our children to watch television effectively.
  If my colleagues believe that Federal education dollars should be 
made available to kids in classrooms instead of funding studies like 
this one, I urge them to cosponsor the dollars to the Classroom Act, 
which will require 95 cents of every Federal dollar to be used in the 
classroom where learning basic skills occur.

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