[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 27 (Monday, February 22, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S909-S910]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        VERMONT ESSAY FINALISTS

 Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I ask to have printed in the 
Record copies of some of the finalist essays written by Vermont High 
School students as part of the sixth annual ``What is the State of the 
Union'' essay contest conducted by my office. These finalists were 
selected from nearly 800 entries.
  The material follows:


             NICK SEARS, VERMONT COMMONS SCHOOL (FINALIST)

       The United States of America is an amazing nation that 
     continues to lead the world through the complex geopolitical 
     problems that we are faced with today. As a strong economic 
     and political world leader, we have become the role model for 
     developing nations attempting to give their people the same 
     freedoms and opportunities that Americans have become so 
     accustomed to. This is why it is so important to work harder 
     than we ever have before to better ourselves as a nation, 
     because what we change will set a precedent of improvement 
     around the world and inspire change.
       The biggest problem in the U.S. is the incarceration 
     system. It has been broken for decades, and there has been no 
     legitimate attempt to fix it. Over the past thirty years, 
     there has been a 500% increase in incarceration rates, 
     resulting in the U.S. leading the world in number of 
     prisoners with 2.2 million people currently incarcerated. 
     Especially in this example, it is important to humanize these 
     statistics. These are 2.2 million people, who now because of 
     their conviction will find it much harder to be truly 
     integrated back in their communities, due to the struggles of 
     finding a job with a record, and the fact that they often do 
     not qualify for social welfare. The incarceration system is 
     also bankrupting both the state and federal government. It 
     currently is the third highest state expenditure, behind 
     health care and education.
       Fortunately, we as a nation have the opportunity to fix the 
     incarceration system. First, we need to get rid of mandatory 
     minimum sentences. Judges from across the nation have said 
     for decades that they do not like mandatory minimums, that 
     they do not work, and that they are unconstitutional. 
     Mandatory minimum sentences, coupled with racially biased 
     laws concerning drug possession is the reason why we see the 
     ratio of African American males to white males over 10:1. 
     This leads to the second action we must take; we must end the 
     war on drugs. It has proven to be a failed experiment that 
     has reopened many racial wounds in our nation. The war on 
     drugs also put addicts behind bars, rather than treating 
     addiction like the problem it actually is; a mental health 
     issue.


     PAIGE THIBAULT, CHAMPLAIN VALLEY UNION HIGH SCHOOL (FINALIST)

       In common day society, education is widely accepted as a 
     valuable resource to our nation's future. Education has 
     immeasurable impact on our lives and on our identity, as we 
     build foundations of our growth off of our learning. However 
     with all these potentially influential factors that education 
     possesses, the system that we have nurtured has failed in 
     reaching students with meaning and value. Like other things 
     in our world, the system is broken.
       What I've been noticing within my own education is that the 
     prospect of content is idolized in the classroom. Teachers no 
     longer cram memorization into our heads (an educational 
     revolution in itself), yet their focus is still the intimate 
     prevalence of deadlines and test scores. Yes--school is where 
     we learn--yet the purpose of our learning should not to 
     become `smart'. When students start thinking that this is 
     indeed the purpose of their learning, inspiration and drive 
     are completely decimated. Being `smart' is a subjective 
     standard that we press upon our kids, yet it's something 
     which has shallow value. Classes stuffed with disconnected 
     information only promote this misconception even further. Why 
     should we be focusing on feeding students material when the 
     students themselves don't see why they're supposed to consume 
     it?
       And this isn't just the content; it's the atmosphere. An 
     example: When an adult reads from a manual in front of a 
     class, there are two parties in play. There's the instructor 
     (includes the teacher, the manual, the authors of the 
     manual), and there is the student body. Notice it's not 
     twenty individual humans learning differently on the same 
     topic, it is the singular and collective student group. 
     Sitting in this blob of the ``student body'' and being 
     considered solely for the fact that you belong to a mass of 
     apparent learning is an extremely demoralizing thought in the 
     learning setting. I want to be appreciated for what I can 
     bring to my learning; not what the class average is. What 
     value do I have if I can be replaced with a statistic?
       I'll tell you why: our hopes and dreams are original. Our 
     minds run differently. And most importantly our souls all 
     want to go in our own direction. No matter how similar our 
     test scores are, we will never be destined to have the same 
     future, so why are we clustered to have the same upbringing? 
     Why are we held to the same expectations if the only thing 
     that is the same about us is the year on our birth 
     certificate? I understand that grouping students by age is a 
     positive thing, but we should not let that number classify us 
     as learners.
       We need to rethink education, emphasizing personal growth 
     versus increased IQ. Students should not be accepted with 
     their differences, but should be accepted because of them. 
     The teachers that guild students should be trained with the 
     ideology that learning is not for a destination, it is for a 
     journey. Administrators and Curriculum Directors or 
     Superintendents need to see the content and need to 
     understand that force-feeding students knowledge is not 
     knowledge at all. We need to create the environment where 
     students have choice of what their learning environment looks 
     like; choice of how they learn material; choice of how they 
     develop and a choice of how they grow.
       It's true: education is an important system that gets a 
     significant share of financial and governmental attention. 
     Now let's make it a revolution of consciousness. Let's make 
     meaningful education for our future; not for our brains.


       PETER UNGER, CHAMPLAIN VALLEY UNION HIGH SCHOOL (FINALIST)

       The internet is the first human creation with the potential 
     to unify and connect the world; with the potential to change 
     the way we collaborate and innovate forever; with the 
     potential to reestablish the United States of America as the 
     preeminent global leader in education, technology, and 
     medicine. However, none of this potential will be realized 
     without a fundamental rethink of Internet Service Provider 
     regulations. We also need a fresh approach on infrastructure 
     capable of launching a new age industrial revolution. The 
     United States of America needs a government maintained and 
     mandated fiber optic network. We no longer have an economy 
     based on production of tangible products for a regional 
     economy, instead we produce innovative and revolutionary 
     ideas. Without a fiber optic backbone, these ideas won't 
     reach their potential. Let me convey to you the urgency and 
     importance of this issue. The competition has already started 
     or even finished the improvements this country is in dire 
     need of. The cost of broadband in dollars per megabits per 
     second ranked Bulgaria as number one with a cost of forty 
     seven cents per megabit per second, and in thirty third place 
     is the United States of America at three dollars and fifty 
     cents. This disconnect between value and product is dousing 
     the innovative fire that is the American Technology industry.
       What do we do? Myself and experts alike, know for certain 
     that the Internet Service Providers aren't going to figure it 
     out on their own. They are up selling us into decade old 
     technology for a premium. Currently, there is no incumbent to 
     challenge the oligopoly that are the American Internet 
     Service Providers. The only realistic solution to this dire 
     problem is a mindset change in the legislative branch of this 
     very country; people don't do things on the internet, people 
     just do things. Internet needs to be classified as the true 
     utility it is. The internet may be the most powerful 
     collaboration and creation tool ever known to man. I 
     personally believe that we can't currently comprehend the 
     possibilities that will be made real by this truly amazing 
     tool.
       Do you want cable companies to control what website you 
     visit and to prioritize services that pay a premium? 
     Currently, these are controlled by a concept known as net 
     neutrality, the cable companies' lobbyists want to abolish 
     this fundamental protection of freedom of speech and 
     innovation. Without this fundamental freedom, the creativity, 
     innovation, and communication, at which the internet is so 
     powerful at stimulating, will be stomped out for good.
       The only way to protect the openness, fairness, and freedom 
     we as United States Citizens are accustomed to as well as 
     enhance the creativity, innovation and communication, which 
     we all use the internet for, is for the Federal 
     Communications Commission to reclassify broadband service 
     under Title II of the Telecommunications act. This letter is 
     not a preventative measure, this letter is an

[[Page S910]]

     eleventh hour plea to pull even with the rapidly evolving 
     global information arms race.

                          ____________________