Pete Sessions: “I wish to join in support of this amendment. I think it is a brilliant idea and something that is overdue. I think…”

“I wish to join in support of this amendment. I think it is a brilliant idea and something that is overdue. I think Senator Hatch has commented quite clearly why the present state of the law is ineffective to assist teachers who are working steadily and giving of themselves sacrificially for their classrooms and why the current tax law benefits them not very much, or almost none at all. I taught one year. I recall that we had expensive readers paid for by the government. I tried to get the disadvantaged children in the classroom to read those readers. They hated it. But there are a bunch of books there on the walls--Daniel Boone, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and those kinds of books. I noticed that if I could get them to read those books, they liked it. Some of them read 30, 40, 50, or 60 books. When I went to the used bookstores, or places such as that, I would pick up books on my own and bring them back to the classroom because there was a lot of satisfaction in seeing those children actually enjoying reading a story. I think sometimes we need to review the quality of the material we are asking our children to read. It may be scientifically sound, but most of it is boring. They don't like it; it is work to them. If you can make reading a pleasure, I think it helps. My personal experience with that indicates to me we ought to encourage teachers to not hesitate.…”