[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 135 (Saturday, November 20, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11676-S11677]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         THE AMERICAN HISTORY AND CIVICS EDUCATION ACT OF 2004

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I wish to discuss H.R. 5360, the 
American History and Civics Act of 2004.
  I support H.R. 5360, the American History and Civics Education Act of 
2004. The bill represents an important step forward in the teaching of 
these critical subjects. The Senate acted last year on an earlier 
version of this bill that I sponsored along with the Senator from 
Nevada, Mr. Reid. I introduced that bill in my Maiden Speech before the 
Senate, and we later voted 90-0 in support of its passage. The House 
has now passed its version of the bill, under the leadership of 
Congressman Roger Wicker from Mississippi. Senate passage of the bill 
today will be the culmination of nearly two years of work on this 
important piece of legislation.
  National exams show that three-quarters of the nation's 4th, 8th and 
12th graders are not proficient in civics knowledge and one-third does 
not even have basic knowledge, making them ``civic illiterates.''
  Children are not learning about American history and civics because 
they are not being taught it. American history has been watered down, 
and civics is too often dropped from the curriculum entirely.
  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. This act does precisely that. It 
establishes Presidential Academies for Teachers of American History and 
Civics and Congressional Academies for Students of American History and 
Civics. Their purpose would be to inspire better teaching and more 
learning of our history and way of government. The Secretary of 
Education is authorized to provide grants to universities, libraries, 
museums, or other non-profits that demonstrate expertise in the core 
subjects of history and civics and government. For example, the Mount 
Vernon Ladies' Association, which operates and maintains the home of 
our first President, might apply to host an academy at their historical 
site, focusing on the history of the founding of our nation and the 
principles upon which it was founded.
  Additionally, the bill allows the Secretary of Education to provide 
grants to the National History Day program, a year-long national 
program that trains teachers and sponsors a national competition among 
junior high and high school students, who produce dramatic 
performances, imaginative exhibits, multimedia documentaries and 
research papers based on research related to an annual theme.
  I want to extend my gratitude to the Senators who have supported the 
bill here in the Senate: Senators Frist, Reid, Gregg, Kennedy, Stevens, 
and Byrd, among many others. And I want to thank our colleagues in the 
House who worked so hard on the bill, including Congressmen Boehner, 
Miller, Castle, Woolsey, Blackburn, and especially Congressman Wicker 
who was the lead sponsor.
  A strong, bipartisan team of players stood up for the future of our 
children and this nation by working on this legislation. With Senate 
passage, today is a great victory for everyone working to improve the 
teaching of American history and civics so our children can grow up 
learning what it means to be an American.
  This bill will be coming, hopefully, before the Senate later today. 
It passed the Senate unanimously last year. Now it has passed the House 
and is coming back in an amended and improved version. I believe it has 
full support. The lead sponsor is the new Democratic leader of the 
Senate, Harry Reid. It is also sponsored by Senator Kennedy and Senator 
Byrd, who testified for the bill. Most of the Republican Senators have 
cosponsored it.
  This is a bill very simply to put teaching of American history and 
civics back into its rightful place--in schools where our children can 
grow up learning what it means to become an American.
  It takes a modest step to establish Presidential Academies for 
Teachers of American History and Civics in the summer and the 
Congressional Academies for Students of American History and Civics. 
They are modeled after the very successful Governor's Schools that are 
in many States across the country where students and sometimes teachers 
go for 2 weeks or 4 weeks to learn particular subjects.
  The reason for it is that high school seniors in the United States 
make the lowest scores of any subject on U.S. history. The lowest 
scores of any subject, according to the National Assessment for 
Educational Progress of America, for high school seniors are on U.S. 
history. That is absolutely disgraceful.
  Here we are a nation at war, our principles are being attacked, and 
we are not teaching our children those principles. Here we are a nation 
that celebrates itself for being one for many with more new Americans 
coming than

[[Page S11677]]

ever in our history, and we are not teaching what it means to be an 
American.
  You don't get to be an American by the color of your skin or where 
you come from. You get to be an American by understanding what we 
believe in. The common school itself was created 150 years ago, 
according to the late president of the American Federation of Teachers, 
Albert Shanker. He said the public school was created to help immigrant 
children learn the three Rs, and what it means to be an American, with 
a hope they would go home and teach their parents. The civic purpose of 
the public school is being fundamentally ignored in many parts of our 
country and this is one small step in that direction.
  I am delighted that a bipartisan group of Senators and House 
Members--Mr. Boehner, Mr. Miller, Representative Blackburn from 
Tennessee, and the principal sponsor, Roger Wicker of Mississippi--
played a role. I thank them for that.

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