[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 71 (Monday, May 17, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5416-S5419]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    A UNION OF MINDS WORTH EXPLORING

  Mr. BYRD. Madam President, I have scoured the newspapers in recent 
days in an effort to begin to unravel the pieces of the puzzle that led 
two young teenage boys to commit such senseless atrocity at Columbine 
High School. It is long past time to stop wringing our hands over this 
issue of school violence. We can no longer afford to sit idly by, 
watching our nation's schools being infiltrated by hoodlums and hate 
groups more concerned with converting schools into places of fear than 
maintaining them as havens of learning and enlightenment. This Congress 
and the American people must join forces and take action now to protect 
our young.
  Now, that is very easy to say--very easy to say. And I think everyone 
would agree on that, that they must join forces. We must find ways to 
restore discipline. Now, that is a little tougher. That is a little 
harder to bring about. We must find ways to restore discipline.
  The ancient Romans practiced discipline. And it began in the home 
where the children were taught to venerate their ancestors, to respect 
their gods. They were pagan gods, but nevertheless they were the gods 
of the Romans. And the young men and women in the homes were taught to 
revere their parents and to respect the law. Each Roman believed that 
the gods had designed a destiny for Rome. And each Roman believed that 
it was his duty to help bring about the fulfillment of that destiny 
which the gods had designed for the Roman state. That discipline 
overflowed from the home and into the Roman legions, and it was in 
great part because of that iron discipline that the Roman legions were 
enabled to conquer all of the nations around the Mediterranean Sea and 
to subjugate them. It was that discipline that was first learned at the 
hearth, in the family circle, in the home. That is where it has to 
start today. That is exactly where it has to begin today--in the homes.
  We must instill in our children basic values and provide them with 
the knowledge and the skills to confront the many demands that are 
placed upon our society. We must prevent, if we can, a recurrence of 
these ruthless slaughters that continue to rock the institutional base 
of our Nation's education system.

[[Page S5417]]

  It is now time to do what we can. I am only one, but I am one. I 
cannot do everything, but I can do something. And what I can do, by the 
grace of God I intend to do.
  It is time to do what we can do, and to search out additional avenues 
that will return peace and tranquility to our schools and our society. 
So, today, I heed my words, and come to this hallowed chamber to take 
an essential step forward in this unfolding national debate by joining 
with my colleagues Senator Lieberman and Senator McCain to call for the 
convening of a National Commission on Youth Violence.
  I know we appoint lots of commissions. I spoke of the Romans a while 
ago. So did they; they appointed commissions. I make mention of the 
Romans many times. Of course, I could speak of our English forebears as 
well. But I mention the Romans because Montesquieu thought that the 
ancient Romans were a unique people. The framers were acquainted with 
Montesquieu. He admired the ancient Romans so much that he wrote a 
history of the ancient Romans. It was back several years ago, when we 
were discussing the line-item veto, I thought that, inasmuch as 
Montesquieu had studied with thoroughness the ancient Romans, I would 
do the same. And it was there that he learned about checks and 
balances, and separation of powers--in his study of the Romans. So they 
appointed commissions as well.
  This amendment, which I am pleased to learn has been accepted into 
the managers' package, focuses on the formidable challenge of 
identifying and reconciling the root causes, the underlying motives, 
and the influences fueling this widening streak of lawlessness plaguing 
the heart and soul of America.
  By gathering together men and women of the highest caliber of 
expertise in law enforcement, school administration, child and 
adolescent psychology, parenting and family studies, we call upon all 
parties--all parties--to listen and learn, galvanizing a true national 
discussion on school safety. This National Commission will seek 
difficult answers to some difficult questions--What drives children to 
commit such violence?
  When I was a little boy and when I was a young man, we never heard of 
such violence. We would never have thought of carrying a gun to school.
  The most outrageous thing I ever did in school back in that little 
two-room school--I was always glad when the teacher appointed me as one 
of the two boys who would go over the hill to the spring house and 
bring back to the school a bucket of water, out of which we all drank. 
We all drank out of the same bucket and with the same dipper. One day, 
I decided to put a few tadpoles in my pocket and put those tadpoles on 
the desk of one of the little girl classmates. Well, I thought it was 
funny, but when the teacher got through with me, it wasn't so funny. 
She didn't think it was funny.
  On another occasion, when I was in high school, I was asked by one of 
my teachers, whose name was Margaret McKone, a question. I said, 
``Huh?'' And I went on reading at my desk. I was not aware of the fact 
that she walked to the back of the room, came up the aisle, and had 
gotten just level with me until she slammed me in the face with a hard 
smack of her hand. I can feel it still, and I can feel the 
embarrassment that went along with it. She said, ``Robert, don't you 
ever say `huh' to me again.'' I did not give her any back talk, and I 
never said ``huh'' to her again.
  My old coal miner dad said: If you ever get a whipping in school, you 
will get another one when you get home. I knew something about his 
whippings. He started out with a hickory limb. Later, as I became a 
little older, he used a razor strap.
  One day, we had a substitute teacher. We never thought of doing 
violence in school. Violence? Why, it wasn't allowed in our school. 
Nobody talked about violence. I took a piece of paper and I folded it 
and made myself a toy airplane. When I saw the teacher's back was 
turned--this was a substitute teacher, as I say--when the substitute 
teacher's back was turned, I sailed that paper airplane across the 
room.

  The teacher turned just in time to see the airplane still suspended 
in air and my outstretched hand. He said, ``Robert, come up here.'' He 
called me to the front of the class. He put a chair up there. He said, 
``Robert, get up in that chair.'' He drew a circle on the blackboard 
and said, ``Stick your nose in the center of that circle.'' I did. When 
I did, there were resounding whacks on my posterior which I will never 
forget, after which I turned to my seat red faced amid the snickers of 
my classmates. They were somewhat veiled snickers, but I heard them. It 
was embarrassing. I got just what I asked for.
  What would you think of the things some children are doing in school 
these days? They are not sailing paper airplanes. And up until a few 
years ago, we did not have these outrageous, violent crimes being 
committed by youngsters.
  My old coal miner dad never bought me a cap buster at Christmastime. 
I was lucky to get an apple, or an orange, or a piece of candy. He 
never bought me a cap buster. He never bought me a cowboy suit. He 
always got me a drawing tablet or a watercolor set or a book. He taught 
me to learn. He urged me to learn so I would not have to work in the 
coal mine.
  Those were the two people who raised me. They were religious people. 
They were not of the religious left, not of the religious right. They 
did not make a big whoop-de-doo over their religion, but they were 
religious. How did I know? Many times when the lights were out and in 
my early boyhood, the house was lighted by a kerosene lamp. We did not 
have any running water in the house, no electricity. But when the light 
was out, I would hear that great lady who raised me praying. I would 
hear her praying in another room. I knew she was on her knees. I had 
seen her many times on her knees. When my old coal miner dad left this 
world, he did not owe any man a penny.
  They taught me to be honest, pay your debts, and work, work hard. It 
never hurt anybody. It may have killed John Henry, but that is about 
all I can recall. We were taught to work, to be honest, to revere our 
father and mother. The Bible says: Honor thy father and thy mother. We 
were taught to do that, not talk back.
  Thank God I am one of those few Americans left who grew up in the 
Great Depression, who knows something about the Great Depression, who 
was in school during the Great Depression.
  I was the coal mining community's scrap boy. I went around the coal 
town and gathered the scraps from the coal miners' tables and fed my 
dad's pigs. He always bought about 10 to 12 Poland China pigs. I would 
feed those pigs. I would gather the scraps year round. I was the 
village scrap boy. Some people called it the village ``slop boy,'' the 
town's ``slop boy.''
  When we were in school, we always had prayer every morning and 
pledged allegiance to the flag of the United States. I am the only 
Member of 535 Members of this Congress today who can say that I was 
here, in Congress, on June 7, 1954, when the House of Representatives 
voted to insert the words ``under God'' into the Pledge of Allegiance--
``under God,'' on June 7, 1954. The Senate followed suit the next day, 
and on June 14 it became a law.
  The first thing we did was have prayer. They do not do that these 
days. It did not hurt any of us. It was good for us. If there is 
anything about which I would amend the first amendment, it would be 
that. I am not above amending the Constitution, but I think we had 
better be very slow about it. Don't do it very often, certainly. But 
that is one thing that I think would help, if the Nation returned to 
God first.

  ``Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Bring up a child in 
the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from 
it.''
  When we parents are looking around wringing our hands and we 
politicians are looking around and wringing our hands saying, ``What 
should we do?'' let's return to some of the country's basics, the 
fundamentals that made this a great nation.
  The Bible says remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have 
set. That is one of the old landmarks. We have gotten too far away, 
drifting too far from the shore. My friend from Alabama will remember 
that old hymn--drifting too far from the shore.
  I will tell you, there is nothing wrong with this Nation that some 
old-time religion will not cure. It does not have to

[[Page S5418]]

be my religion; it does not have to be a Baptist; it does not have to 
be Methodist, Presbyterian, whatever--just a basic belief in a Creator.
  Now, you might say: Well, Charles Darwin didn't believe that. You 
read his books. Read his books. He mentions the Creator in ``The Origin 
of Species.'' And in ``The Descent of Man,'' he said he made a mistake 
in ``The Origin of Species,'' he had exaggerated, he had gone too far.
  We can pass all the laws that we can pass, all the laws we care to 
pass, but it has to start out in the home. In the home, that is where 
it begins. That is the root.
  So what drives children to such violence? Why are students taking the 
lives of their classmates? How do we prevent future incidents like 
those at Columbine High School from recurring? I hope the commission 
can find some prescriptions for change as a result of these 
explorations. But perhaps, most important of all, the commission's 
mandate will serve as a catalyst for our Nation's parents, teachers, 
industry leaders, and their communities, to each--each; you, me; each; 
him, her; each--take responsibility in protecting our Nation's 
children.
  One of the many charges delegated to the National Commission is an 
exploration of the ever-important role of school teachers and 
administrators in the lives of their students--school teachers. Part of 
the cure, I believe, lies in the need to restore basic discipline--
basic discipline--to the classroom.
  When I was a young boy, I attended to my lessons and I attended to my 
lessons. I threw a paper airplane once in a while, but I attended to my 
lessons. And in a two-room schoolhouse my teachers were my role models. 
I wanted to be the best in the algebra class; I wanted to be the best 
in the geometry class; I wanted to please my teacher, and I wanted to 
please that old couple who took me to raise. They were my role models.
  I have met, in my long political career, with kings and shahs and 
princes and queens and Presidents and Governors and men and women of 
the highest station in this world, but one of the few great men whom I 
ever came to know was that old coal miner dad who raised me. He was a 
great man. I never heard him say God's name in vain in all the years I 
was with him--not once, not once.
  So those teachers, along with my adoptive parents, taught me the so-
called ``old values'' of integrity, honesty, respect, and loyalty that 
I carry with me to this very day.
  Now, I am no paragon. I do not claim to be a paragon of rectitude or 
whatever, but, as Popeye used to say, I am what I am. My old dad and 
mom, they taught me to be what I am, and they taught me to believe in a 
higher power, taught me to believe in God.
  Now, if parents ingrain that kind of teaching in the child, they may 
stray from the righteous path from time to time but they will come 
back, they will come back.
  The classroom was a sacred precinct where a quiet and wholesome 
environment prevailed, and where students came to learn. They came to 
learn the fundamentals of math and science and grammar and literature 
and history. Discipline was expected and discipline was enforced.
  And on that little report card that I took back home, there was one 
item, deportment--deportment. I was always careful that my dad would 
see a good mark in every category, and particularly in deportment.
  When disorder broke out, as it did very rarely, the teacher had the 
authority and the command of the classroom to bring students to upright 
and full attention.
  Mr. President, I know that it is easy to hear someone from my 
generation speaking of morals and values and the way things used to be 
and simply dismiss those words and sentiments as being old-fashioned or 
out of step with the world today. Well, in some things I do not want to 
be in step with the world today. Let the world go its way. But for the 
sake of our future, I think we can learn from our past.
  Today, the discipline that we once knew has eroded to the point that 
students no longer resolve conflicts with words, but with weapons. The 
normal angst of adolescence has given way to anger and outright 
violence. As a consequence, we have teachers who fear the very 
environment in which they one day thrived, wondering whether they, too, 
might be caught in the line of fire.
  I remember there was a class in agriculture when I was in school in 
Spanishburg, WV, may I say to the distinguished Senator from Missouri, 
who is presiding over the Senate today with a degree of dignity and 
skill that is so rare as a day in June. The teacher was talking about 
the potato and about the eyes of the potato. He called on me and asked 
me a question. I thought it would be funny if I said that the potato 
got dirt in its eyes. I thought that was kind of funny. And he said, 
``Robert, stand up. Now, you apologize to the class for what you just 
said.'' See, I was making a little light of a serious matter. I thought 
I was being a kind of showoff, which I did not particularly try to do 
many times. But he said, ``You stand up and you apologize to the 
class.'' And I apologized to the class.
  Mr. President, our teachers deserve the opportunity to teach just as 
our children deserve the opportunity to learn.

     A Builder builded a temple,
      He wrought it with grace and skill;
     Pillars and groins and arches
      All fashioned to work his will.
     Men said, as they saw its beauty,
      ``It shall never know decay;
     Great is thy skill, O Builder!
      Thy fame shall endure for aye.''
     A teacher builded a temple
      With loving and infinite care,
     Planning each arch with patience,
      Laying each stone with prayer.
     None praised her unceasing efforts,
      None knew of her wondrous plan,
     For the temple the Teacher builded
      Was unseen by the eyes of man.
     Gone is the Builder's temple,
      Crumbled into the dust;
     Low lies each stately pillar,
      Food for consuming rust.
     But the temple the Teacher builded
      Will last while the ages roll,
     For that beautiful unseen temple
      Was a child's immortal soul.

  So the worth of a good teacher can never be measured. But without the 
involvement of parents, I fear that the madness overrunning our 
nation's classrooms will not abate. We have sadly learned that, all too 
frequently, one parent's complacency can result in another parent's 
worst nightmare. And so I call upon parents to be alert and active 
participants in their child's education--whether it means attending 
parent-teacher conferences or reviewing their child's math assignments. 
Parents should strive to know their children inside and out--their 
temperament, their habits, their strengths and their weaknesses. And 
they should make it a priority to know their children's friends and the 
parents of their children's friends. In today's two-working parent 
society, such supervision is extremely difficult and places a greater 
burden on the community, as a whole, to look at this dilemma in a new 
light, and to help parents juggle competing demands. It is my hope that 
the National Commission will help parents refocus on this role of 
individual responsibility, reinforcing the urgency in parents' stepping 
up to the plate, and enabling them to take a more active and involved 
role in their children's lives.
  Furthermore, with parents caught up in the hustle and bustle of their 
own everyday life, many children today have much too much unsupervised 
time on their hands, with free run of their own money--I never knew 
what it was to have a loose nickel in my pocket when I was a boy--and 
their own leisure activities. Mr. President, I do not mean to 
discourage the idea of children working after school. It instills 
within our children at a young age a strong work ethic and an 
appreciation for the value of a dollar. If you want to know the value 
of money, try and borrow some. For some families, it is necessary to 
ensure that the family's needs are met, or to save for college. But too 
often, at the hands of disengaged parents, the lessons have been lost, 
with after-school jobs serving only to enable misconduct--giving young 
people the unchecked financial means to purchase guns and to buy bomb-
making materials. Once again, we witness the eternal need for parents 
to be an integral component of their children's lives, to teach them 
right from wrong, and be their first line of defense in leading them 
away from these kinds of troubling situations.

[[Page S5419]]

  Today, with the overwhelming amount of violence and amorality 
inundating kids' minds from the media and entertainment industry, 
parents face an even greater challenge than before.
  How fortunate my wife and I are that our children, our two daughters, 
were virtually grown women before we had a television set in our home. 
I know it must be more difficult today than it was when our two 
daughters grew up.
  It saddens me to think that we have reached a point where a National 
Commission is necessary to explore these pervasive negative 
influences--movies. I have been in the Washington area 47 years this 
year. I have been to one movie in that 47 years, and I haven't lost 
anything. I have watched some good movies--Alistair Cooke's great 
movies, performed by British actors who knew the English language and 
who could speak it well: ``The Six Wives of Henry VIII,'' ``Elizabeth 
R,'' great movies. But I went to one movie. I walked out before it was 
over. It was boring. Yul Brynner played in that movie. I walked out. I 
haven't lost anything. But I have seen some great movies on television, 
I mean great movies.
  I wouldn't waste my time on trash, because I don't have a lot of 
time. You don't either. You don't have much time. We are only here a 
short time. Why waste it on trash--movies, video games, television. I 
suppose if I had young children in my house, the first thing I would 
take out is the television set. Take it out. And they wouldn't miss 
anything except a lot of junk. That is not to say that television is 
all bad. It is a great medium, a great medium for informing the people. 
It is a great medium, a great tool for good, but all too often the 
programming is absolutely lousy. It is built around the dollar, the 
dollar. What can make money. Movies, video games, television, the 
Internet, and other free-wheeling vehicles, to explore these pervasive 
negative influences for disseminating smut and violence, smut and 
violence. You watch many of the advertisements on the TV. They are full 
of violence, the advertisements themselves.
  It is particularly troublesome that the bad tends to overshadow the 
good aspects of the entertainment arena. When I think of movies such as 
the recent ``October Sky,'' which tells the story of three young boys 
growing up in Coalwood, West Virginia in the late 1950s, with a dream 
to build and launch their own homemade rockets in the hopes of winning 
the National Science Fair's college scholarship awards, I realize that 
there, too, are wholesome stories to be told. The kind that inspire and 
motivate youth to push beyond their daily homework assignments and to 
shoot for the stars. To find a mission in life, once thought 
impossible, and tackle it. The kind of movie that all parents ought to 
take their children to see. There are some good movies.
  We have learned from the recent events the ease with which a 
youngster can access dangerous information, dial up polluted Web sites 
advertising recipes for bomb making and solicitations for joining hate 
groups. Likewise, we know that violent video games in the home and at 
the arcade confuse or override a child's moral sense of right from 
wrong by rewarding them with points for shooting their enemy dead. 
Until we find solutions to curb or counteract this madness spewing 
forth from the TV set, the radio, and cyberspace, we, as a community, 
must demonstrate greater vigilance and care, and think twice before 
giving our children free rein of the remote control or leaving 
inquisitive young minds unattended in the wilderness of cyberspace.
  Mr. President, seemingly, in the blink of an eye, we have witnessed 
the true demise of part of the American dream. The once peaceful and 
serene schoolhouse has been marred by episodes of violence and 
bloodshed, with precious young children falling victim--children who 
may have grown up one day to be great teachers, great physicians, great 
lawyers, great architects, great physicists, businessmen and women.
  There is no one-step solution to ending schoolyard slaughters, but it 
is my strong hope that this National Commission will provide answers to 
the many whys and hows infesting America's psyche, and begin to remedy 
this harrowing problem once and for all. Let us all work together to 
ensure that the tragic events of Columbine are not revisited in another 
American neighborhood.

       I took a piece of plastic clay
       And idly fashioned it one day
       And as my fingers pressed it still
       It moved and yielded to my will.
       I came again when days were past,
       The bit of clay was hard at last.
       The form I gave it, it still bore,
       And I could change that form no more.

       I took a piece of living clay
       And gently formed it day by day.
       And molded with my power and art
       A young child's soft and yielding heart.
       I came again when years were gone,
       He was a man I looked upon.
       He still that early impress wore,
       And I could change him nevermore.

  Our children, the home, that is where we got off the track. That is 
where we are going to have to get back on the track--the home.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. SESSIONS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama is recognized.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, one of the great delights in the Senate 
is being able to listen to Senator Byrd, on a number of occasions, 
share his wisdom with us. I think the story of the Roman legion and 
others he has shared with us are not unimportant. They go to the very 
heart of the decline in discipline and order in America today, and it 
is deeper than most people think.
  I have often thought what good does it do to have a $500 text book if 
a 14-year-old won't read it, would even scoff at the thought of reading 
it, and has no intention of reading it or paying attention to the 
teacher, who we are paying and encouraging to try to teach. It does go 
back to the home. The home is also being undermined, I think, by the 
popular culture, as Senator Byrd suggests. It is difficult to conceive 
how we can have any moral order not founded in religion.
  I suggest that we really don't need to amend the First Amendment. We 
really need to have it enforced as it is written. It says that Congress 
shall make no law respecting the establishment of a religion. In other 
words, Congress can't establish a religion. That is us. Congress cannot 
establish a religion or prohibit the free exercise thereof. Congress 
can't prohibit the free exercise of religion. I think we need to get 
back to the first 175 year's interpretation of the plain words of that 
amendment, and little children might be able to have a prayer in the 
morning. I don't think it hurt me. I think it was a benefit. As a 
matter of fact, I know the Senator knows Judge Griffin Bell, former 
Attorney General under President Jimmy Carter. He was asked once at a 
big bar meeting what he thought about the litmus test President Reagan 
was applying to judges. I think he shocked everybody in the room when 
he stepped up to the microphone and said, ``Well, we need a litmus 
test. Nobody ought to be a Federal judge who doesn't believe in prayer 
at football games.'' I have thought a lot about that. Maybe that had a 
lot of insight to it.

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