On the recordMarch 31, 2011
I wanted to come to the floor today to talk a little about the state of public education in this country, especially when it comes to the condition of poor children in the United States, in part because I think it is urgent that we fix No Child Left Behind--a law that is not working well for kids and for teachers, and for moms and dads all across the United States, and certainly in my home State of Colorado. Sometimes people who aren't engaged in the work of teaching our kids--which I think is the hardest work anybody can do, short of going to war--don't realize how horrific the outcomes are for children in this great country of ours, especially children living in poverty. When I am on this floor, where there are 100 desks--there are 100 Senators-- I sometimes think a little about what the condition of the people here would be if they were not Senators, but if these 100 people were poor children living in the United States in the 21st century. First of all, it is important to recognize that of the 100 Senators-- or the 100 kids in this great country--42 of the 100 would be living in poverty. Forty-two out of the 100 would be poor. Of those Senators--now poor children living in this country--as this chart shows, by the age of 4 they would have heard only one-third of the words heard by their more affluent peers. They are living in poverty, and they have heard 13 million words. A child in a professional family has heard 45 million words.…
