Robert Torricelli: “Mr. President, I will concede that when this debate began I believed we were entering upon something very important…”

“Mr. President, I will concede that when this debate began I believed we were entering upon something very important, that after years of fooling ourselves about the quality of education in America, the Senate was about to undertake a broad and comprehensive debate--indeed, a discussion that could last not simply for this year or this Congress but through the decade--about how we fundamentally reform education in America, a debate in which everything was relevant and all subjects and proposals would come forward but one, and that is the defense of the status quo, because if there is one aspect of American life today that cannot in its entirety be defended, it is the quality of education that we are giving our children. The process of education in America today stands like a dagger at the heart of this country. It is time to speak the truth to parents and children alike, because it is not simply that the education of our country is not of a quality to compete, the problem is more fundamental--because many parents, working hard, paying their taxes, helping their children, believe they are being educated to world-class standards when they are not.”