Political Quotes

“For a moment, Mr. Speaker, it seems to me the House position is the right position. The House position, the idea of a one-size-fits-all national test is a bad one, and it is not bad because of who writes it. It is bad because of the implications of a single test. Letting parents, teachers, school advocates in my home State write our test I think is the right way to go. There are already many quote unquote national tests. The Iowa Basic Skills Test was given to my school all the time I was growing up. I think they are still given there now. I would be interested in hearing from the gentleman what is given in Indiana. But it is not as though we cannot compare performance from school to school or State to State. And indeed, if we want a non-Federal, that is a nongovernment written test that people could voluntarily choose to give to their children, that might have some value. But the problem in this debate and the concern I have is that we are going to surrender, in the spirit of doing good for our children, we are going to surrender the notion that that means we need a single national test. I heard my colleagues on the other side of the aisle tonight say, you cannot care about kids, you cannot support public education, you cannot believe in the process if you do not support national tests. They are wrong. I think every American in their gut that thinks about it knows that they are wrong.”