Political Quotes

“I rise in defense of Head Start. How dare the gentleman from Louisiana, who has never been to a Head Start site, who has probably never talked to a Head Start parent, how dare he attack Head Start on the floor of Congress? I was an employee in the Head Start Program. I worked first as a teacher's aide. Because of Head Start, I returned to college. I graduated. I became supervisor of the Parent Involvement and Volunteer Service. Mr. Chairman, Head Start is not a baby-sitting program. It is an early childhood development program. It is a program for children of working parents and poor parents. Yes, rich parents can buy early childhood experiences for their children. Working parents do not have the money to do it. Head Start provides a little bit of an opportunity. Mr. Chairman, we have children who have learning disabilities that never would have been discovered had it not been for Head Start. They would have sat in school, not been able to learn, and been relegated to being a dropout. Mr. Chairman, we had children who never owned a book.”