The True Goal of Our Education System

Floor Speech

THE TRUE GOAL OF OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM -- (House of Representatives - June 19, 2007)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. described the end result of education as a person having the ability to think intensively and critically. He embraced the idea that intelligence plus character should be the true goal of our education system. This truly is the goal that we must strive and work towards.

Helping our children to think is crucial; however, the blocks to build to that point are difficult to create. It takes support, resources, confidence and opportunity, but most importantly, these pieces must be available for each individual no matter who or where they come from.

Today we find our public school systems throughout America in many places in disarray, underfunded, overpopulated, and, in many districts, underattended. As a Nation, we have moved forward, and then there are times when it looks as though we're doing the Watusi, that is, two steps forward, and two steps back.

I can remember a time when, in almost any community that you went, people realized and recognized that education was the absolute key to progress.

According to the Abecedarian study, the importance of early childhood education is critical. The report shows that children who receive a formal early childhood education overwhelmingly do better in school.

Unfortunately, 55 percent of children whose families are below the poverty line do not receive a formal early childhood education. An overwhelming number of these children, whose mothers are unemployed, do not have access to early childhood education. These numbers are astonishing, especially given what we already know.

We are engaged in competitiveness, not just in communities and neighborhoods or States, but from a global perspective, and unless children get an early beginning, they find themselves continuously behind and finding it difficult to catch up.

And finally, Mr. Speaker, one of the areas that I have a tremendous amount of concern about is the fact that African American males are graduating from high school at a rate of less than 50 percent. As a matter of fact, many of them drop out as early as third or fourth grade.

And it's my contention that they drop out because, for many of them, they have never seen a male figure with a book in his hand. They've never had a male teacher who looked like them. They've never seen a male at home with a book. And so they contend that education is a female or woman or girl kind of thing.

And we must find ways to get more male teachers in the classroom, more male teachers involved in Head Start. And we must get communities totally engaged and totally involved, so that as children grow up, they will know that education has been and will continue to be the great equalizer, and without it they don't have a chance.

So I thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Congressional Black Caucus, our chairman, Representative Kilpatrick, for setting aside this time to address education issues, especially affecting African American communities.

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