[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 51 (Tuesday, April 20, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S4155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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            HONORING ERIN SMALLEY: A REMARKABLE YOUNG WRITER

 Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, today I rise to honor a fine 
young Iowan, Erin Smalley of Johnston. Erin is a seventh-grade student 
at Johnston Middle School. Erin wrote the following essay for a school-
wide contest for American Education Week on the topic ``Great public 
schools for every child--America's promise.'' Erin's eloquent and 
inspiring words remind us of the importance of education in America. I 
would like to take a moment to share with you what Erin Smalley wrote 
in her essay, A Passion for Education.

       William Butler Yeats, an Irish poet who won the Nobel Prize 
     for Literature in 1923, once said, ``Education is not the 
     filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.'' He made an 
     excellent point, but reading through is quote just once will 
     not make the meaning sink in. I am going to break it down to 
     make it more easily understood.
       The first part of Yeats' quote states, ``Education is not 
     the filling of a pail.'' I believe it means this: Education 
     is not just putting information and knowledge into someone's 
     mind. You can't dump fact, after fact, after fact onto 
     someone because it will just go in one ear and out the other. 
     Putting a lot of information into someone's head is just like 
     filling a pail with a lot of water. It will probably just sit 
     there, but it won't sink in. That is why education means 
     something more.
       The rest of the quote says: ``. . . but the lighting of a 
     fire.'' I believe this means that education is all about 
     enlightening students and making them wonder. To light their 
     fire is to make them want to learn more, to build a passion 
     for what they are being taught. When they have an interest, 
     then they will go for it. When kids are given an education, 
     and they discover a passion for something important to them, 
     then they will go higher and higher and never give up, until 
     they reach their dreams. When the light goes on, that's when 
     they start to discover and learn. That's when education is 
     most important, because then it will hopefully become a 
     turning point in their life.
       Everyone should get to go to a free school to learn freely 
     and learn new things. I want every kid to be able to have a 
     passion for something, and be able to have the chance to go 
     for their dreams. I want every kid to get the chance, because 
     it's not fair if only some do. I hope that having an 
     education will light all of the flames, and not just fill up 
     the pails.

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