Shelley Berkley: “Interestingly enough, I go home every weekend. Last weekend I was home, and I had an opportunity to read. It was Reading…”

“Interestingly enough, I go home every weekend. Last weekend I was home, and I had an opportunity to read. It was Reading Readiness Week, and, of course, in Las Vegas we are working very hard to read to our children and give parents an opportunity to read to our children as well. I was one of those people who went into the classroom to read to a group of kindergarten students, and I can say that not only were the kindergarten students absolutely superb to read to, but I was particularly impressed with their teachers and the amount of training necessary in order to be able to pass on the skills that these children are going to need. So, Mr. Speaker, I am very, very excited. When I look at those kindergartners, when I look at my own children, I can only imagine what a magnificent life they have ahead of them. But before they can have any life at all, we need to make sure that they have the tools to prepare them to lead the life that they are going to be leading in the 21st century. And as the gentleman has so correctly demonstrated in his comments, that technology component is so vital. In order to not only succeed in the 21st century, but merely to survive in the 21st century, they are going to need to have those skills. And if we do not give them to our students while they are in school now, I am afraid they are going to be terribly disadvantaged and unable to compete in the global world that we now live in.”