Vernon Ehlers: “So we have some initiatives before the Congress on this issue. I have sponsored three bills. There are similar bills in…”

“So we have some initiatives before the Congress on this issue. I have sponsored three bills. There are similar bills in the Senate, and they are being worked on. There may or may not be enough time this year to get them through, but I hope we can continue to pursue that because it is badly needed. If I had my druthers, I would start at pre-school; but I am willing to start at least in first grade or kindergarten. An interesting result of doing it properly, and that relates to the chairman's emphasis on reading. If science is taught early and properly, it improves success with reading, because the learning of science and mathematics develops parts of the brain that otherwise lie fallow, and those parts of the brain are very important in developing the visual skills that are necessary to develop good reading skills. So it all goes together: Science, math, reading, that is what we need in the elementary schools. We have to develop programs that will do that. We have to develop teachers who will teach that well; and I hope with that we will be ready for the revolution in the next century, in fact the next decade, of where the jobs are actually going to be and we will produce Americans who will have those jobs and not have to import individuals from foreign nations to take those jobs.”