James Rogan: “the next time those opponents of parental choice in education on the other side argue that the Federal Government should…”

“the next time those opponents of parental choice in education on the other side argue that the Federal Government should be running our public schools instead of giving parents more local control, I hope that they will consider these recently released facts. Last year, new rigorous exams were given to 130,000 elementary school children. The performance results were dismal. Only 39 percent of 8th graders and 33 percent of 4th graders had any kind of basic understanding in reading and writing. New reports also show that 75 percent of American college students are struggling with high school-level math. One textbook expert said, ``There is no question that every time we adopt a textbook, the reading level of the book is lower than the last.'' Yesterday, the Washington Times did an editorial that hit the nail directly on the head. They said that, ``Phonics is out, whole language is in, spelling primers and spelling bees are passe, invented spelling is the vogue. Self-esteem reigns supreme. The education establishment, the bureaucrats, and the unions still reject rigorous teaching of a rigorous curriculum in favor of the feel-good fuzziness that got us into this mess in the first place.'' Mr. Speaker, we will never correct this deficiency until parents, and not Washington bureaucrats, have the say in the education of our precious children.”