[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 136 (Friday, October 2, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11386-S11387]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HELP OUR STUDENTS LEARN
Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, yesterday I stood with the President and
several of my Democratic colleagues to call on the Republican
leadership to focus their attention on the children of America.
Millions of American children in schools across the United States are
being denied the basic education foundation they need to succeed.
In Hawaii, thousands of children waited with anticipation for the new
school year. Parents took their children to buy school supplies, new
clothes, and other back-to-school preparations. However, many of these
students entered or returned to schools that are so inadequate that
they cannot receive a quality education. Our children are being asked
to learn in environments that are not conducive to learning, and may
even be dangerous. But still, these young, bright-eyed, captivated
children go day-after-day to schools seeking to learn the wonders of
the world.
Mr. President, Congress has the moral responsibility to ensure that
we provide our children access to quality education. President Clinton
recently called on Congress to enact several education initiatives that
will improve education facilities, ensure that the education curriculum
challenges and engages our students, and provide teachers and
administrators the resources they need to teach and support our
children.
These proposals work together to strengthen our nation's schools.
First, we need to build and modernize our nation's schools. We continue
to demand that our workforce compete in the demanding high technology
marketplace, yet we educate children in schools that do not have access
to the information superhighway, let alone the physical capabilities to
support the demand for access. Many of Hawaii's schools were built over
50 years ago, before schools required a computer in every classroom.
For example, I recently received a e-mail from a concerned parent whose
child attends Hickam Elementary School. The parents had decided to hold
a teachers' breakfast for the faculty at the school. They turned on the
air conditioning in the office and the library and blew the fuses--the
electrical wiring was unable to handle the demand for the increased
energy required by the air conditioners. If the wiring cannot support
air conditioners, how can it support the computers and the air
conditioners needed to cool the rooms which house the computers?
Although Hawaii is facing economic problems, we are not facing these
problems alone. Every day 14 million students attend schools that need
extensive repair and replacement, like Hickam Elementary School. Almost
60 percent of America's schools reported at least one major building
feature in disrepair.
As we continue to rely on technological advances to improve education
for our children, schools need to be capable of supporting these
increasing demands. Hickam is not the only school in Hawaii
experiencing this hardship; many schools in Hawaii face this problem.
Administrators must choose whether to cool the library so that children
can read and learn, or turn on the computers in their labs. This should
not be. We need to assist schools in making the investments to improve
existing facilities or allow them to build new facilities to meet the
growing technological demands. We must commit ourselves to ensuring
that our children are able to learn in a comfortable and safe
environment. That is why I support efforts to rebuild, modernize, and
reduce overcrowding in more than 5,000 public schools through Federal
support that would pay the interest on nearly $22 billion in bonds to
help improve the schools across the country, including Hawaii.
But a new school loaded with technology gizmos is not enough.
Ensuring access to such advancements does not guarantee success. We
must also invest in our teachers. We chide teachers for being
unqualified, but we fail to provide them the support needed to succeed.
We lament the teacher shortage, but fail to provide the resources to
recruit quality individuals. And, we have a growing problem with
teacher retention, yet we fail to give teachers the respect they
deserve and acknowledge that teaching is a very complex and difficult
profession.
As my colleagues know, before I came to Congress, I was a teacher. I
taught elementary, intermediate, and high school students in Hawaii. I
know, firsthand, the difficulties teachers face each day in their
classroom. Fortunately, I taught during a time when teachers were
respected and appreciated. Today, however, we take teachers for
granted. We expect them to be teachers, counselors, and sometimes, even
part-time parents. We fail to recognize the importance these
individuals have in shaping the nature of our nation's future leaders.
I am not sure when this terrible decline began, but I know that it must
stop. We must raise our respect for teachers and realize that they are
not the source of our education problems, nor are they the only
[[Page S11387]]
ones that can improve our current situation.
We have a responsibility to provide the resources needed to allow our
nation's teachers to succeed. We need to increase funding for teacher
development programs such as technology teacher training, which helps
teachers learn to use technology effectively to improve classroom
instruction and enhance student learning. We need to help communities
hire 100,000 new qualified teachers to allow schools to reduce there
class sizes. We need to reduce the number of out-of-field teachers,
particularly for new teachers who are more often assigned to teach
subjects outside of their field of training and often do not have the
support and mentoring to assist in their development. The First Lady
said, ``it takes a village to raise a child.'' I believe that, but I
also believe that it takes a village to teach a child. Teachers,
parents, administrators, and communities as a whole must be committed
to ensuring that our children are provided the assistance they need to
obtain a quality education.
Children are wonderful, forthright, and open individuals,
particularly when they are young. It is always a treat for me to meet
with young students, they often have a very truthful and direct way of
putting things into perspective. Just three weeks ago, I participated
in a satellite conference with third grade students from Queen
Liliuokalani Elementary School and high school students from Radford
and Kaimuki High Schools. The high school students are participants in
E-school, a virtual school which provides on-line and satellite
distance learning opportunities to students and teachers. Hawaii's
Department of Education is a national leader in the virtual school
concept. Leveraging federal funding through the Technology Literacy
Fund and the Technology Challenge Grants, Hawaii students are able to
learn and receive over 21 high school credit courses for on-line
classes. Yet, even with these wonderful achievements in Hawaii, more
needs to be done. The students who participated shared with me their
concerns over the lack of more capable computers, the need for greater
security for the system, and the desire for more teachers who are able
to use the system. Students want to learn, it is our responsibility to
ensure that they have the resources available to help them achieve
their goals.
We know that children learn better in small classes, particularly in
the early childhood years, study after study has proven that class size
makes a difference in the achievements of our children. President
Clinton has requested $12 billion over 7 years to reduce the class size
in grades 1 to 3. As a former teacher, I strongly believe that the
proposal would significantly advance the educational achievements of
our students. The average class size in the United States for grades 1
to 3 is 23. In Hawaii, the average class size for kindergarten through
third grade is 21.9. How can we expect our children to be able to learn
when one teacher is required to teach 21 five- to eight-year-olds. I
challenge my colleagues to spend a day, just one day, at a elementary
school in their State to experience firsthand the challenges in getting
21 five through eight-year-olds to pay attention to you.
Our responsibility should not stop with the school bell. As many as 5
million children are home alone after school each week. Hawaii was
fortunate to have the first state-wide after-school care program. This
innovative program began in 1990 under the leadership of Governor
Benjamin Cayetano while he was the Lieutenant Governor. Hawaii's A-Plus
program provides after-school activities to eligible students in grades
K through 6. The program provides supervised enrichment and physical
development activities at 171 public schools. It is available to
eligible children and fees are based on a sliding scale from $6 to $55
per month.
However, many of our children in other states are not as fortunate.
Only one-third of the schools in low-income neighborhood and half the
schools in affluent areas offer after-school programs. Full funding for
the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program would provide
400,000 children in the United States access to safe learning centers,
similar to those provided in Hawaii.
First-rate facilities, quality teachers, students ready and willing
to learn are important ingredients needed to ensure success for our
children, but that success also needs to be based on high academic
standards. We must set significant academic standards for our students
to ensure that they will be able to compete in the growing global
economy. We should increase funding for Goals 2000 to assist states in
raising and setting academic standards that challenge and motivate
students. We need to expand funding for Title I to provide the means
for disadvantaged communities to develop and maintain high academic
standards.
Mr. President, our schools are in disrepair, our classrooms are
overcrowded, our teachers are overburdened, our children need our help
now. We have a responsibility and a moral obligation to provide modern,
safe facilities, reduce class sizes, provide the support for children
outside of the classrooms, and support and help recruit and retain
well-qualified teachers. I urge my Senate colleagues to make a
concerted effort to address this vital national problem. The
implications of ignoring or delaying our obligation may have
ramifications that may not be so easily corrected.
Our nation's children are depending upon us to make the sacrifice and
do what needs to be done. We must stand up and meet this challenge, if
we do not, we will have failed our nation's children--our nation's
future.
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