Political Quotes

“Our children in America need these basic skills and they are vitally important. If we say to them, as this national math association proposes to say, and they already by the way have on their tests, those written by I think the National Association of Math Teachers, they have already decreased rather dramatically the amount that current tests used in schools across America test basic skills. But if we adopt a national test, an examination that does not test any or tests almost no basic skills, does not ask eighth graders if they can, without a calculator, add, subtract, divide, multiply basic calculations, we are condemning them to precisely what the gentleman points out. We are condemning an entire Nation to be taken advantage of. More importantly, we are putting ourselves at a huge disadvantage. But I want to make the point that this is not a debate about Bill Clinton and his test proposal. It is not a debate about Steven Leinwand. It is not a debate about whether we like or do not like the Federal Department of Education. It is not a debate about whether we like or do not like new math or whole English. That is not the issue. The issue here is a more fundamental one and it is nothing less than, to use a government term, Federalism. But Federalism is nothing more than the expression of belief in individuals to address and solve their own problems.”