[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 91 (Thursday, June 19, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8216-S8219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           AMERICAN HISTORY AND CIVICS EDUCATION ACT OF 2003

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask that the Senate proceed to S. 
504, as under the order.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 504) to establish academies for teachers and 
     students of American history and civics and a national 
     alliance of teachers of American history and civics, and for 
     other purposes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
  The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. President, this week there was a great celebration of National 
History Day. There were high school students from all over the country 
in our offices and at the University of Maryland.
  Last Friday, when I was sitting where the distinguished Senator from 
Minnesota now sits, presiding over the Senate, I had the privilege of 
hearing Senator Byrd deliver an address about Flag Day.
  Since 9/11, President Bush has spoken more regularly about the 
American character. Suddenly, in our country there is a lot of interest 
in what it means to be an American.
  In the mid-1990s, I read a book by Samuel Huntington, a professor at 
Harvard, called ``Clash of Civilizations.'' A lot of people read that 
book in terms of understanding in what conflicts the United States, the 
West, might find in future years. But I read it for a different reason. 
It made me think that if the new world order was to be a group of 
civilizations whose differences began with their cultures, their 
religions, and a variety of other things that made them unique--it made 
me think if we were moving into that kind of an era, then maybe we 
ought to have a better understanding of just what made our culture 
unique. What did it mean to be an American?
  I was invited to hold a professorship at Harvard University and 
taught in the John F. Kennedy School of Government there. And the 
course I taught was on the American character and on American 
Government. In that course, the graduate students applied the great 
principles which unite us as a country to the great controversies which 
we in the Senate debate--about race-based scholarships, about military 
tribunals, about faith-based institutions--and the conflicts of those 
principles. The students were fascinated by that.
  And then suddenly I found myself, last year, in a Senate race that I 
did

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not expect to be in. And like most candidates for the Senate, as the 
Chair well knows, I spoke about a number of different things. Sometimes 
I spoke about our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Sometimes 
I spoke about taxes, about judges, about education.
  But, Mr. President, there was one sentence I could say during that 
campaign to any audience, anywhere in my State of Tennessee, that 
brought the greatest response. I could barely get it out of my mouth 
before there would be some response from the audience--of heads nodding 
or some kind of applause--and it was this sentence: It is time to put 
the teaching of American history and civics back in its rightful place 
in our schools so our children can grow up learning what it means to be 
an American.
  That is why today I stand before you to support S. 504, the American 
History and Civics Education Act of 2003, which we will be voting on in 
the morning as the first order of business.
  It will help put the teaching of American history and civics back in 
its rightful place in our schools. It will set up summer residential 
academies for students and teachers: 2-week academies for teachers--
say, at a university--and 4-week academies for students of American 
history and civics. And it would join the variety of efforts that the 
President and this Congress on both sides of the aisle have been acting 
upon with increasing frequency to underscore American history.
  It is modeled after the Governor's Schools which exist in the State 
of Tennessee and many other States across this country. And it is 
premised on the idea that if 200 teachers go to the University of 
Tennessee or a university in Nevada or a university in California, and 
spend 2 weeks with outstanding leaders, talking about the great 
principles and the great stories and the key events of our history, 
that they will be inspired to do an even better job of teaching that 
during the next year to their students.
  I introduced this bill and support it on behalf of 36 Senators, 
including the Democratic whip, who is the chief cosponsor, and has been 
from the very first day of its introduction, which I, as a new Senator, 
greatly appreciate. It also includes Republican and Democratic leaders 
whom I will mention in just a moment: The majority leader; Senator 
Gregg, the chairman of the relevant committee; Senator Burns, the 
chairman of the relevant Appropriations subcommittee; Senator Kennedy, 
the ranking member of our committee; and Senator Byrd, who has been a 
pioneer in supporting this kind of legislation.
  Mr. President, we need this bill, and we need additional attention to 
American history because, first, when our values are under attack, we 
need to understand clearly what those values are. And, second, we 
should understand what unites us as Americans.
  Our diversity and variety in this country is an enormous strength. It 
is a tremendous strength. We are a nation of immigrants with people 
from everywhere, but our greater strength--our greatest 
accomplishment--is we have been able to take all of that variety and 
diversity and turn it into one country--``e pluribus unum.''
  We need to understand what those values are. And we need to put into 
context the terror of the time. I have heard a great many people on 
television say these are the most dangerous times our country has ever 
faced. Well, only if you have never had 1 minute of American history 
would you believe that. We need for our young people to know that there 
have been struggles from the very beginning.
  But our young people do not know the story of this country as well as 
they should. Too many of our children do not know what makes America 
exceptional. National exams show that three-quarters of our fourth, 
eighth, and twelfth graders are not proficient in civics knowledge, and 
one-third do not even have basic knowledge, making them civics 
illiterates.
  Until the 1960s, civics education, which teaches the duties of 
citizenship, was a regular part of almost every high school's 
curriculum.
  But today's college graduates probably have less civic knowledge than 
high school graduates of 50 years ago. Reforms have resulted in the 
widespread elimination of required classes and curricula in civics 
education. Today, more than half the States have no requirements for 
students to take a course even for one semester in American government.
  That is not the way it has always been. From the beginning of our 
Nation, we have generally understood what it means to be an American, 
and that has been a preoccupation of Americans: Think of our Founders, 
writing those letters, holding those debates, making sure we knew what 
it meant to be an American; Thomas Jefferson in his retirement years in 
Monticello taking his guests through his home and pointing to portraits 
on the wall of the leaders from whom he had gotten many of his ideas so 
they would understand what he had in mind when he helped create this 
country.
  When we had a huge wave of immigration more than a century ago, just 
as we do today, our national response was to teach new Americans what 
it means to be an American. Because you don't become an American by 
your color or by your ethnicity or by being born here. You become one 
because you believe a few things. If you move to Japan, you don't 
become Japanese. If you move to France, you don't become French. If you 
move to America and want to be a citizen, you must become an American. 
That is the way our country works.
  We created the common school, today's public schools, to teach 
reading, writing, and arithmetic to immigrant children as well as what 
it means to be an American, with the hope that they might go home and 
teach their parents. That was what Albert Shanker, former president of 
the American Federation of Teachers, said about the creation of common 
schools.
  Then of course in World War II, President Roosevelt made sure that 
every GI who stormed the beaches at Normandy understood what the four 
freedoms are. We have not always been complete in our understanding of 
what it means to be an American. Sometimes we have gone to excess. We 
didn't teach the stories of African Americans well. We undervalued the 
contribution of the Spanish to our culture. And in the 1950s, we were 
embarrassed, as we look back, by McCarthyism. But that is no excuse for 
what is going on today: dropping civics, squeezing American history out 
of the curricula, and when it is in, it is watered down. Too often the 
textbooks are so dull, nobody would want to study them. All the talk is 
about victims and never about the heroes. The schools have become 
politically correct. The teachers are reluctant to teach the great 
controversies. But what is American history if it is not the story of 
great controversies and great conflicts of principles and great 
disappointments with not reaching our great dreams and great stories 
and great heroic efforts?
  Our students need to know that Kunta Kinte came to this country in 
the belly of a slave ship and that his seventh generation grandson, 
Alex Haley, wrote the story of Roots about the struggle for equality 
and freedom. They need to know that Thomas Jefferson owned slaves and 
that he wrote the Declaration of Independence, as it is taught at the 
Ben Hooks Center at the University of Memphis.
  We are a work in progress. We have never been perfect. They need to 
know about the Pilgrims who were Christians, and they need to know 
about the Presbyterians, my ancestors, the Scotch Irish who fought a 
Revolutionary War because they were tired of paying taxes to support 
the bishop of a church to which they didn't belong. They need to know 
about the religious character of our country and about the importance 
of the separation of church and state. They need to know about our love 
of liberty and about the incarceration of Japanese Americans in World 
War II.

  The response to putting the teaching of American history and civics 
back in its rightful place in our schools has been overwhelming. Not 
just the Democratic whip, Mr. Reid, has sponsored this, but 36 Senators 
from both sides of the aisle, leaders of both sides. And in the House 
of Representatives, Roger Wicker of Mississippi is the lead sponsor of 
the same bill. He called tonight and said they have 160 sponsors in the 
House, Democratic and Republican leaders.
  I offer my special thanks to a few Senators in addition to Mr. Wicker 
for

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his leadership. To Senator Frist, the majority leader, for scheduling 
the bill in the midst of a lot of other important business and for 
cosponsoring it. To Senator Gregg, chairman of our committee, for 
moving it through. Especially to Senator Reid, for his understanding of 
American history, his leadership, his being here tonight, and his 
serving as the principal cosponsor of the legislation. To Senator 
Kennedy, who has gone out of his way not just to support the bill but 
to attract other cosponsors. He has had a long interest in this 
subject. To Senator Burns, on the Appropriations Committee, for his 
strong support. And to Senator Byrd, who took the time to come to the 
hearing and to testify. Senator Byrd is, of course, the author of the 
Byrd grants which are already being used in many of our schools.
  The kind of American history we are talking about is the traditional 
kind, the study of the key persons, the key events, the key ideas, and 
the key documents that shape the institutions and democratic heritage 
of the United States of America. We spell out in our legislation that 
by key documents, we mean the Constitution and its amendments, and the 
Declaration of Independence, for example. By key events, we mean the 
encounter of Native Americans with European settlers and the Civil War 
and the civil rights movement and the wars. By key ideas, we mean the 
principles that we almost all agree on in this body: Liberty, equal 
opportunity, individualism, laissez-faire, the rule of law, federalism, 
e pluribus unum, the free exercise of religion, the separation of 
church and state, a belief in progress. We agree on those principles.
  Our politics is about applying those principles. That is what our 
politics is about. The key persons, the heroes, the men and women of 
this country from its founding until today, the scientists, inventors, 
pioneers, the advocates of equal rights, and artists who have made this 
United States of America.
  There are a great many efforts heading in the same direction. This is 
only one part. The President's efforts, the Library of Congress' 
efforts, the Byrd grants, the James Madison study, the National 
Endowment for Humanities which would award these to residential 
academies, to educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations. 
All are working hard in this way. We are adding to that.
  In conclusion, I will mention two things. I was in a Foreign 
Relations Committee hearing the other day. We were talking about what 
we might expect with the reconstruction of Iraq. One witness said that 
we would be fortunate in our nation building there if the three grand 
divisions of Iraq, the Kurds, the Sunnis, and the Shiites, the 
geographical areas, could agree on two things: One would be how to 
split up the oil money, and two would be on a federation that would 
basically keep them safe and independent in their own areas. And maybe 
we would have some semblance of democracy so they could choose their 
leaders.

  I was thinking about how much we take for granted, how much more we 
are able to look forward to. There is no chance in Iraq of e pluribus 
unum, not for the foreseeable future. There is no general agreement on 
those principles I just read.
  We have a marvelous country and a great story. We should be teaching 
it.
  The last thing I would like to say is the first thing I mentioned: We 
need to put the terror in which we find ourselves today in context. 
Those who say this is the most dangerous time in our history have had 
no American history. What about the Pilgrims who died in the first 
winter? What about the soldiers at Valley Forge who walked across the 
ice with their bare feet? What about the Native Americans and the 
European settlers killing each other's children? That was terror. What 
about the African Americans who came in the slave ships? What about the 
brothers who killed each other in the Civil War? What about the 
millions who stood in line in the Depression? What about in the 1950s 
and 1960s, when we all stood within 30 minutes of a nuclear missile 
from the Soviet Union?
  We have had greater terrors face the United States. This is a time of 
struggle. It is a time when we should stop and think about what it 
means to be an American so that we can teach our children and so that 
we can continue our country.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic whip.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I can remember when I served in the House of 
Representatives on the Foreign Affairs Committee. Mr. Kissinger came 
before the committee. The chairman of the committee, Mr. Solarz from 
New York, said: I don't know how to refer to you. Dr. Kissinger, is it 
Mr. Ambassador? Is it Mr. Secretary? Kissinger didn't hesitate a 
second, and he said: Your Excellency would be fine.

  I am reminded of this when I think of Governor Alexander, Secretary 
Alexander, and Senator Alexander--a man with a great resume who is now 
a Senator. The background certainly is one where this legislation came, 
as a matter of fact, from somebody who served our country as the 
Governor of a very important State, who served as Secretary of 
Education, and now as a Senator. When this distinguished Senator came 
forward with this legislation, I knew right away that it was good, 
based on his experience and background. I felt inclined to move on this 
legislation to be a prime cosponsor of it. I am happy to do that.
  It is important to the point where we are now. Tomorrow we will pass 
this bill, and it will become law. I think we have such momentum here 
that this isn't something we are going to just issue a press release on 
as having authorized this legislation. We have support so that we are 
going to appropriate the money. As the Senator from Tennessee has 
announced, Senator Robert Byrd, the ranking member and long-time 
chairman of the Appropriations Committee, supports this legislation. We 
are going to move forward and not only authorize but appropriate money 
for this most important program.
  The bill itself, if you look at it--and then read this bill, we have 
a Medicare bill here that is some 700 pages long--is just a few pages 
long, seven or eight pages. It may not seem like much, but for me it is 
very important. For the American people, it will be very important 
because this little bill will allow as many as 7,200 teachers every 
summer, every year, to be updated on what they should be teaching their 
young folks. The 7,200 teachers each were under this legislation--the 
Chairman of the National Commission on Humanity has the ability to 
select 12 different academies, 1 for teaching history and civics 
congressionally, the other with a Presidential background. Each of 
these academies will be chosen, 12 in each category, and they could 
have up to 300 teachers to participate. That is 7,200. It adds up 
quickly. In 10 years, that is 72,000. I think that is remarkable.
  It is important because teachers have so many burdens. They have 
paperwork, and now with Leave No Child Behind, they are so immersed in 
teaching children how to pass tests that they don't have a lot of time 
to teach sort of outside the box. This allows them to do that, to be 
reinvigorated and take a look at what is happening around the world, 
what has happened that they have missed.
  So this little bill that is going to become law very quickly--because 
the House already has over a hundred cosponsors--is important 
legislation. I commend and applaud my distinguished friend, the Senator 
from Tennessee, for his work in this area. I hope this is the first of 
many pieces of legislation the Senator introduces, based on his 
experience and background as Secretary of Education for this wonderful 
country.
  As my friend has indicated, the education of America's children has 
to be one of our priorities. It is one of our priorities. We have to 
make sure that children are our future. In order for them to be our 
future, we need to give the people who are teaching them the tools they 
need to teach them to be good leaders.
  Teachers and administrators have many important responsibilities to 
achieve that end, including providing students with the basis to pursue 
higher education, helping them develop their individual potential, and 
preparing them for successful careers.
  As has been indicated in the introductory remarks by my friend from 
Tennessee, America is a nation of immigrants. Our schools have helped 
instill in our diverse population a sense of what it means to be 
American, and

[[Page S8219]]

we have prepared our youth for the responsibilities of citizenship. But 
we can do better. That is what this legislation is all about.
  We need to reaffirm the importance of learning American history and 
maintaining the civic understanding, recognizing that diversity and 
tolerance are at the core of that understanding.
  Many individual districts and schools within those districts, such as 
those in the State of Nevada, have recognized the importance of civics 
education and have designed curricular programs to highlight students' 
knowledge of civics and history.
  One young man who has the unusual name of Trey Delap, a fine young 
man from Boulder City, which is right near Hoover Dam--where growth has 
slowed slightly, unlike the surrounding area--describes himself as an 
average high school kid from a small town. Boulder City is not too 
small, but the school isn't really big. He dreamed of doing other 
things all of his life, but certainly never, ever thought about 
anything dealing with government, until he participated in a program 
called We The People. It is a program offered through the Center for 
Civic Education that allows students to study civics and then share 
their knowledge through competitions such as the one held in 
Washington. They have State competition and, if they do well there, 
they can come to Washington.
  His first assignment as part of this We The People program began with 
the question: What is the role of a citizen in a democracy? He pondered 
this question, and he discovered that his true passion was government.
  Defining the role of a citizen led him to question his own 
responsibility as a citizen and the importance of understanding what 
our Constitution stands for. This is a high school kid.
  In this program, Trey was able to celebrate his 18th birthday in our 
Nation's Capital, while he voiced his opinion about the role of being a 
citizen in front of lawyers, judges, and congressional staff during a 
congressional debate. We The People is a great program, but only a few 
are allowed to participate in it.
  What we are talking about tonight with this legislation is that 
schools all over America would have similar programs, in effect, 
because we would have teachers who are having a shot of adrenaline, 
updating the education they received going through their educational 
programs in college. This bill would establish a network of teachers 
sharing ideas about history and civics programs.
  S. 504 would accomplish these goals that I have talked about by 
creating grants for teachers, and the students would come and 
participate in the program. With teachers in so many areas not sharing 
information among themselves, they teach information not consistent 
with prescribed curriculum. So we should have networks like the one 
proposed here for all students.
  Another reason, frankly, that I jumped aboard this program was that 
Senator Paul Simon and I--we served as Lieutenant Governors together, 
served in the House of Representatives together, and we served here 
together--had the idea that what we needed to work on was to do 
something about science and math. We lose so many science and math 
teachers because they cannot make enough money teaching in high school. 
It has to be for the love of teaching that they stay, because math and 
science is so acceptable by outside industry. That is the only reason 
they stay in teaching--they love it.
  Senator Simon and I had the idea of creating summer workshop programs 
so that math and science teachers during the summer, or with year-round 
school systems, whenever there was a break, had summer workshops to 
attend to update their skills but be paid for doing so. This would also 
give them some extra money.
  Math and science teachers make the same as somebody who teaches PE. 
PE is important, and we have good teachers teaching physical education. 
But realistically, we need more math and science teachers than we do 
physical education teachers.
  Well, Senator Simon and I worked hard, but we could never get the 
program funded.
  This program, while it is not like the program Senator Simon and I 
sponsored, it is as I feel about this Medicare bill. This Medicare bill 
is not something I love, but it is, as we heard so many times, the 
proverbial camel with his nose under the tent. We can make this 
Medicare bill better.
  With this program I am confident we are going to pass and fund, maybe 
we can go back to what Senator Simon and I wanted to do: to do 
something to enrich math and science teachers' lives, not only enrich 
them academically but also monetarily. I hope that is something my 
friend from Tennessee will take a look at and work with me.
  As we work to make sure all schoolchildren--and especially I am 
concerned about those in Nevada--are connected to the Internet--and we 
have programs doing that--and are connected to the future, I also want 
them to be connected to America's past and to know the common values of 
histories binding together all who live in this great Nation.
  We learn from history. I love history. I love to study history, and I 
want young people also to have a love of history. That can come about 
with one good teacher. One good teacher can change a young person's 
life, just like Trey's life in Boulder City. His life was changed by 
having someone telling him that Government is important. Government is 
important, history is important, this legislation is important, and I 
hope we have a resounding vote, which I am confident we will, tomorrow 
morning.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Nevada for his 
leadership and for his comments. I look forward to working with him on 
math and science and other education issues. I especially appreciate 
his commenting on the teachers.
  He noted perhaps 72,000 teachers. Even though this is just a pilot 
program for a few years, if for 10 years 72,000 teachers of American 
history and civics went to summer residential academies, called 
Presidential Academies of American History and Civics, they should be 
inspired to be even better teachers.
  One of the things I most enjoyed doing as Governor was creating the 
Governor's School for Teachers of Writing which was run by Richard 
Marius of Harvard. Every summer 200 teachers would gather at the 
University of Tennessee. He would lead them. He taught Harvard freshmen 
in their writing program.
  What happened was, if you put the teachers together, they taught one 
another. They became inspired. They developed better lesson plans, and 
they went back to their classrooms fired up and much better teachers.
  I have great confidence in our teachers. I believe if we afford an 
opportunity for them to come together in many places across the 
country, and for 2 weeks focus on how to teach the great stories of 
American history, that by itself will help put it in its rightful 
place. When we add to that 4-week schools that students of American 
history and civics will attend, it will double our punch.
  I appreciate that sponsorship. I look forward to the Presidential 
Academies for Teachers of American History and Civics and the 
Congressional Academies for Students of American History and Civics.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the engrossment and third 
reading of the bill.
  The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading and was read 
the third time.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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