[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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