Charles Taylor: “Mr. Chairman, year after year we try to massage our conscience for the failure in education to address a lot of the…”

“Mr. Chairman, year after year we try to massage our conscience for the failure in education to address a lot of the problems of the arts and humanities. We spend billions of dollars there and we never mention this in the education budget or any of the related budgets, so we think a few million dollars in the humanities or the arts will solve all the problems. It will, as one gentlewoman said, or gentleman, where the arts are disappearing from the community, it will solve that problem. The bureaucracy that is funded here and the limited programs that are funded here will not even begin to do that. We find that there is a need to raise the cultural level in the United States, both in the arts and the humanities. There is a need for us to see that young people recognize the documents vital in our Nation's history. I take tours through the Capitol with young people. Most of the teachers and the young people have not a clue about the paintings and the things that are going on in the Capitol. But it will not be solved by increasing the amount of money for the arts and the humanities.”