[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 13717]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      EDUCATION IS THE ONLY ANSWER

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                        HON. JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR.

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 30, 2014

  Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, one of my constituents, Lee R. 
Johnson, a man for whom I have great, great respect, is very concerned 
about the type of education young people are receiving today.
  Mr. Johnson spent a long and distinguished career in the U.S. Army. 
Since leaving the U.S. Military, he has become a leader in East 
Tennessee.
  I bring to the attention of my Colleagues and other readers of the 
Record the wise words of Mr. Johnson.

                        My Life From Zero to 101

                          (By Lee R. Johnson)


                      EDUCATION IS THE ONLY ANSWER

       America's New National Education Mission Statement: America 
     must educate and mentor all of our young men and women so 
     that they are prepared to be academically and financially 
     competitive in all walks of their lives no matter where they 
     choose to live and work in this global society.
       Globalization has brought us to the realization that the 
     entire world is more important than ever. Globalization has 
     forever changed the way that we should judge the education 
     system in the United States, and there is no going back! 
     Think, for instance, about the way that we often compare our 
     local public school system with the same type of system in 
     neighboring cities, counties, and states. We even compare our 
     local system with the national average. When we judge our 
     school system in this way, the future of our education system 
     looks good. But if we judge our education system on a 
     worldwide basis, we can see that our system actually deserves 
     a failing grade. If our students are to compete successfully 
     in a global culture and economy, our school systems will have 
     to undergo a major overhaul. Our students (who will become 
     our future workers, supervisors, and CEO's) must be prepared 
     to compete--as never before--with the rest of the world. Most 
     Americans have not yet come to realize what a problem this is 
     now and how much more problematic this worldwide competition 
     will become in the future. If we fail to recognize this 
     problem, we will never find the answer to global competition, 
     and we will be left far behind.
       To understand how other nations impact most areas of our 
     lives, consider President Ronald Reagan's answer when he was 
     asked about the strength of America's military. He answered 
     that he did not determine the strength of America's military; 
     instead, he added, that the enemies of the U.S. determine the 
     strength of our military. The same can be said of our 
     education system. Competitors in every corner of the world 
     will determine what our education system must be like. Our 
     system should be flexible and constantly updated to meet 
     ever-changing global demands or the United States will fail 
     to keep up.


                   Drastic Change is the Only Answer

       Education is the largest business in America today, and so 
     education must be run as a business! Teachers, principals, 
     school board members, school superintendents, members of 
     state legislatures, governors, and federal government leaders 
     who don't believe this should get out of the American 
     education system immediately!
       In the business world, a business must be operated in real 
     time--even better five, ten, fifteen even twenty years in the 
     future--certainly not 25 years in the past. Our school 
     systems should be just as up-to-date! At the present time in 
     our nation's school systems, it takes years to change a 
     simple policy or even to add or drop a single subject. With 
     the changes in the world today, we must find a way to be 
     flexible enough to change twenty-five percent of our entire 
     education system within one year and continue to make changes 
     every year until we get our school systems back on track. If 
     not, our country will be in serious trouble--unable to 
     compete in a global economy.
       To date, our government and our leaders in the education 
     field have not even been able to define what a proper world-
     class education is. We don't even have a national education 
     ``Mission Statement''--what we expect from our children when 
     they finish each of the four levels of training (pre-K 
     through elementary years, middle school years, high school 
     years, and college/university years). A ``Mission Statement'' 
     is essential to our understanding of the definition of a 
     ``world-class education.'' I give our government and all of 
     our so-called learning institutions an ``F'' for their 
     failure to understand what the problems are in our education 
     systems. Many people, who realize that this problem exists, 
     would describe the situation by use of this age-old saying. 
     ``the blind leading the blind.'' And when the blind lead the 
     blind, everyone goes around in circles--never getting 
     anywhere.
       If America fails to adopt this mission statement and carry 
     through on its implementation, then our students will not be 
     prepared to measure up to other students around the world. We 
     cannot fail our children and grandchildren! After all, they 
     are the most cherished treasures of our hearts and our most 
     valuable resources. We must be ``on mission'' to provide 
     these students of ours with a world-class education.

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