[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20268]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               EDUCATION

  (Mrs. DAVIS of California asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mrs. DAVIS of California. Mr. Speaker, first, I certainly want to 
thank our troops and their families for their sacrifice as we exit from 
Iraq.
  It is my honor now to continue to bring the voices of my constituents 
to this floor. And the following is from Howard Tenenbaum. He is a 
science teacher in La Jolla, and I believe his class is watching today. 
He sent me his opinion on education:
  ``Weighing a pig every day doesn't get you a fatter pig. And annual 
testing of all students in all subject areas, without it impacting 
their grade, has not resulted in smarter students. It has made our 
students lose their intrinsic desire to learn and added an expensive 
layer of bureaucracy to an already administratively top-heavy system.
  ``This is especially true for science education. It is clear that the 
current accountability system has failed. Our students, parents, and 
their teachers are being held hostage to this failed system. When was 
the last time you were forced to take an exam, asked to do your `best,' 
and knew that the result wouldn't affect how you were being 
evaluated?''
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Howard for bringing to the House his 
thoughts on education and this question to our floor.

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