Sam Gibbons: “there is some troubling news about our educational system which seems to be heading in the wrong direction. A recent…”

“there is some troubling news about our educational system which seems to be heading in the wrong direction. A recent survey of college students showed that 45 percent of those college students would be denied U.S. citizenship because they could not correctly answer at least seven out of ten basic American history questions. Mr. Speaker, foreigners know more about U.S. history and they know that history better than our own children. The poll showed that 56 percent of students could not place in order of occurrence the U.S. invasion of Normandy, the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the fall of the Berlin Wall. But 94 percent knew that Leonardo DiCaprio was the lead actor in ``Titanic.'' Mr. Speaker, Federal spending on education is at an all-time high; and yet, 40 percent of our Nation's fourth graders fall below the basic level of reading achievement. It is obvious that more money on failing programs is not the answer. We need to enact real educational reform that give parents and teachers the resources they need to educate our children. Mr. Speaker, I yield back all the Federal bureaucracy that is preventing our children from learning U.S. history.”