American History and Civics Education Act of 2004

Mr. President, I wish to discuss H.R. 5360, the American History and Civics Act of 2004.

I support H.R. 5360, the American History and Civics Education Act of 2004. The bill represents an important step forward in the teaching of these critical subjects. The Senate acted last year on an earlier version of this bill that I sponsored along with the Senator from Nevada, Mr. Reid. I introduced that bill in my Maiden Speech before the Senate, and we later voted 90-0 in support of its passage. The House has now passed its version of the bill, under the leadership of Congressman Roger Wicker from Mississippi. Senate passage of the bill today will be the culmination of nearly two years of work on this important piece of legislation.

National exams show that three-quarters of the nation's 4th, 8th and 12th graders are not proficient in civics knowledge and one-third does not even have basic knowledge, making them ``civic illiterates.''

Children are not learning about American history and civics because they are not being taught it. American history has been watered down, and civics is too often dropped from the curriculum entirely.

It is time to put the teaching of American history and civics back in its rightful place in our schools so our children can grow up learning what it means to be an American. This act does precisely that. It establishes Presidential Academies for Teachers of American History and Civics and Congressional Academies for Students of American History and Civics. Their purpose would be to inspire better teaching and more learning of our history and way of government. The Secretary of Education is authorized to provide grants to universities, libraries, museums, or other non-profits that demonstrate expertise in the core subjects of history and civics and government. For example, the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, which operates and maintains the home of our first President, might apply to host an academy at their historical site, focusing on the history of the founding of our nation and the principles upon which it was founded.

Additionally, the bill allows the Secretary of Education to provide grants to the National History Day program, a year-long national program that trains teachers and sponsors a national competition among junior high and high school students, who produce dramatic performances, imaginative exhibits, multimedia documentaries and research papers based on research related to an annual theme.

I want to extend my gratitude to the Senators who have supported the bill here in the Senate: Senators Frist, Reid, Gregg, Kennedy, Stevens, and Byrd, among many others. And I want to thank our colleagues in the House who worked so hard on the bill, including Congressmen Boehner, Miller, Castle, Woolsey, Blackburn, and especially Congressman Wicker who was the lead sponsor.

A strong, bipartisan team of players stood up for the future of our children and this nation by working on this legislation. With Senate passage, today is a great victory for everyone working to improve the teaching of American history and civics so our children can grow up learning what it means to be an American.

This bill will be coming, hopefully, before the Senate later today. It passed the Senate unanimously last year. Now it has passed the House and is coming back in an amended and improved version. I believe it has full support. The lead sponsor is the new Democratic leader of the Senate, Harry Reid. It is also sponsored by Senator Kennedy and Senator Byrd, who testified for the bill. Most of the Republican Senators have cosponsored it.

This is a bill very simply to put teaching of American history and civics back into its rightful place--in schools where our children can grow up learning what it means to become an American.

It takes a modest step to establish Presidential Academies for Teachers of American History and Civics in the summer and the Congressional Academies for Students of American History and Civics. They are modeled after the very successful Governor's Schools that are in many States across the country where students and sometimes teachers go for 2 weeks or 4 weeks to learn particular subjects.

The reason for it is that high school seniors in the United States make the lowest scores of any subject on U.S. history. The lowest scores of any subject, according to the National Assessment for Educational Progress of America, for high school seniors are on U.S. history. That is absolutely disgraceful.

Here we are a nation at war, our principles are being attacked, and we are not teaching our children those principles. Here we are a nation that celebrates itself for being one for many with more new Americans coming than

ever in our history, and we are not teaching what it means to be an American.

You don't get to be an American by the color of your skin or where you come from. You get to be an American by understanding what we believe in. The common school itself was created 150 years ago, according to the late president of the American Federation of Teachers, Albert Shanker. He said the public school was created to help immigrant children learn the three Rs, and what it means to be an American, with a hope they would go home and teach their parents. The civic purpose of the public school is being fundamentally ignored in many parts of our country and this is one small step in that direction.

I am delighted that a bipartisan group of Senators and House Members--Mr. Boehner, Mr. Miller, Representative Blackburn from Tennessee, and the principal sponsor, Roger Wicker of Mississippi-- played a role. I thank them for that.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend from Delaware as well as my friend from California for their remarks so far in this debate. I also want to thank the chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), who, Mr. Speaker, has been enormously patient and helpful to me during this year-long effort to promote better knowledge of American history and civics. Thanks also goes to the ranking member of the full committee as well as the entire House leadership. I am very appreciative.

Mr. Speaker, we meet today in a Chamber that exhibits a magnificent portrait of George Washington just to my left. We meet at a location actually selected by George Washington, the father of our country. Just above the Speaker's podium is a profound quote from another of our distinguished patriots, Daniel Webster. We are governed today by rules promulgated in part by Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence and another of our great founders.

In that atmosphere, Mr. Speaker, it is perhaps hard for us to imagine that not everyone in our country shares our appreciation for this great system of government and this wonderful tradition and history of freedom and independence that we have in America or has even a rudimentary knowledge of that great system of government. Yet, sadly, as I talk to my colleagues about this issue, they have observed the same thing as they travel around the country that I have: an appalling, even shocking, lack of knowledge about American history and our American system. This is particularly true among our young people.

Just a few facts, Mr. Speaker. Sixty-two percent of Americans today cannot name the three branches of the Federal Government. An examination was given to seniors in 55 of our Nation's top colleges and universities, including Brown, Harvard and Princeton. The exam contained 34 questions, multiple choice, testing a high school level of proficiency on American history. Some 81 percent of the seniors in these colleges received either a D or an F on these examinations. Seventy-five percent of our high school seniors are not proficient in American history and civics, and one-third lack even a basic knowledge of this subject matter.

Part of the reason for this, Mr. Speaker, is that the curriculum at these same 55 elite universities does not require an American history course for graduation and 78 percent require no history credit at all to graduate from the best colleges and universities in our land. As a result of this fact, over one-half of our high school history teachers received their college degrees in subjects other than history.

This is not their fault, Mr. Speaker. This is simply a fact which we are trying to address today.

Simply put, what this bill does, as my friend from Delaware stated, is to authorize the Secretary of Education to award competitive grants from existing funds for summer academies that would promote civics and history education. The grants would be available to colleges and universities, to museums, libraries, nonprofit organizations, some of which are already engaged in this type of activity, and other entities that can demonstrate the capability to enhance the subject matter.

The sessions for teachers would focus on new ideas and more creative ways to communicate the history and civics curriculum to students. It would not dictate a curriculum. Separate academies for students would provide a unique and more comprehensive look at the important subjects of civics and education.

I would say to the Members in closing, Mr. Speaker, that this legislation has the support of a wide spectrum of Americans, from Paul Weyrich and Bill Bennett on the right, to Senator Ted Kennedy at the other end of the political spectrum. I think it simply demonstrates this: that knowledge and understanding of America and Americanism really has no ideology.

I again express my thanks to the leadership of the committee and of House of Representatives, and I urge a ``yes'' vote on the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5360) to authorize grants to establish academies for teachers and students of American history and civics, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 5360.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Today the House will consider H.R. 5360, the American History and Civics Education Act of 2004. This bill, which was introduced by my colleague from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker), is intended to support programs that will help raise student academic achievement by improving the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of American history and civics education for our Nation's teachers and students.

According to the 2001 National Assessment of Educational Progress assessment in United States history, 33 percent of students in grades 4 scored below basic, 36 percent of students in grade 8 scored below basic, and 57 percent of students in grade 12 scored below basic.

In addition, the data from the assessment revealed that 92 percent of students in grade 12 could not explain the most important cause of the Great Depression, 91 percent of students in grade 8 could not list two issues that were important in causing the Civil War, and 73 percent of the students in grade 4 could not identify the Constitution from among four choices as the document that contains the basic rules used to run the United States Government.

Accordingly, H.R. 5360 is designed to improve student academic achievement in American history and civics education by authorizing the Secretary of Education to use existing funds to award grants to entities to establish Presidential Academies for Teaching of American History and Civics to help strengthen the teaching skills and knowledge of teachers in American history and civics. H.R. 5360 also authorizes the use of existing funds at the Department of Education for Congressional Academies for Students of American History and Civics to help broaden secondary students' knowledge of American history and civics.

Finally, this legislation authorizes the Secretary to use existing funds to award grants to the National History Day program to promote the study of history and improve instruction. The purpose of H.R. 5360 is to help our Nation's students and teachers develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of American history and civics education. I urge my colleagues to support the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker), sponsor of this legislation in the House of Representatives, himself one who cares deeply about history.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support of the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I support this bill. Just as an aside, I would like to say, as a Member of Congress, if there is any subject I wish I had paid more attention to, it would have been American history. I support this bill, which improves history and civics education, primarily by funding workshops for history teachers. It recognizes the importance of teaching our children history and allows for Federal support for an effective and widely respected program, National History Day.

This bill creates both Presidential Academies for Teaching of American History and Civics and Congressional Academies for Students of American History and Civics. I am pleased that it will ensure that these are quality programs by ensuring that grants are awarded only to those who have demonstrated expertise in historical methodology or the teaching of history.

A very important feature of this legislation authorizes the Secretary of Education to award grants to the National History Day program, a highly successful, year-long national program that trains teachers and sponsors a national competition among junior high and high school students. They produce dramatic performances, imaginative exhibits, multimedia documentaries and research papers based on research related to an annual theme.

The National History Day program, which reaches 2 million people annually from nearly every State, teaches students important literacy skills and engages them in the use and understanding of museum and library resources. It inspires students to study local history and challenges them to expand their thinking and apply knowledge of local events to national and, at times, international issues. The program also teaches students to become technologically literate through the use of computer and Internet research methods and the use of technologically advanced applications in their presentations.

For more than 25 years, National History Day has used history to help students develop research, thinking and communication skills. I am pleased that this bill would help continue and expand its important activities.

All Americans benefit from a better understanding of history, and this bill is a positive step toward ensuring that future generations have the background and tools for appreciating history and applying those lessons to our daily lives.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am unable to be in Washington, DC today. Two weeks ago, I injured my leg and my physician prefers that I not put it through the stress of an airplane flight from my home in Seattle, WA to Washington, DC. Were I able to attend today's session in the House of Representatives, I would have voted in support of H. Res. 847, H.R. 5370, S. Con. Res. 8, S. 2618, H.R. 5365, S. 2781, H.R. 4324, S. 150, S. Con. Res. 146, H.R. 5360, H.R. 1350, H. Res. 858, and H. Res. 859.