The Book of Ron Paul 1997 Ron Paul Chapter 87 H.R. 2264 16 September 1997 Home Page   Contents Congressional Record (Page H7331)   Cached

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1997 Ron Paul 87:1 Mr. PAUL. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. 1997 Ron Paul 87:2 (Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.) Mr. PAUL. 1997 Ron Paul 87:3 Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendment offered by the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. GOODLING] to prohibit the expenditure of Federal funds for President Clinton’s national testing scheme. 1997 Ron Paul 87:4 The amendment of the gentleman from Pennsylvania would prevent the Department of Education from developing a national test unless authorized to do so by Congress. While I share the concerns of the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. GOODLING] that the administration should not take such a drastic step as developing national testing without congressional authorization, and I thank the gentleman for all his leadership in fighting for this amendment, the fact is the Federal Government has no constitutional authority to develop national testing even with congressional approval. 1997 Ron Paul 87:5 National testing is another significant step toward total nationalization of education. National testing will ultimately lead to fulfillment of the dream of the enemies of the constitutional system of local and parental control of education, the de facto creation of a national curriculum. 1997 Ron Paul 87:6 Mr. Chairman, the administration claims that the testing program would be voluntary. However, I remind my colleagues that this is the same administration that considers the Goals 2000 a voluntary program, despite the numerous times Goals 2000 uses the terms “shall” and “must” in describing State functions. 1997 Ron Paul 87:7 Furthermore, whether or not schools are directly ordered to administer the tests, schools will face pressure to do so as colleagues and employers inevitably begin to use national tests as the standard by which students are measured for college entrance exams and entry-level jobs. At the very least, schools would soon find Federal and perhaps even State funding dependent on their voluntary participation in the national testing programs. 1997 Ron Paul 87:8 When all or at least the majority of the schools are administering national tests, the tests will then be the standard against which all schools will be measured. Those schools whose students did poorly on the national test would be labeled as doing a poor job of educating children. Educators would react to this pressure to ensure that students scored highly on the national test by teaching the test; that is, structure the curriculum so students can learn those subjects and only those subjects covered by the national tests. 1997 Ron Paul 87:9 As University of Kansas professor John Poggio remarked in February, “What gets tested is what will be taught.” Government bureaucrats would control the curriculum of every school in the Nation, and they would be able to alter the curriculum at will by altering the national test. 1997 Ron Paul 87:10 Private schools and home schools will be affected as well, as performance on the national tests become the standard by which student performance is judged. Those in private and home schools will face increasing pressure to participate in national testing and to shape what is taught to the criteria of the test itself. 1997 Ron Paul 87:11 The Department of Education has already admitted its ultimate aim is for a national curriculum. According to a United Press International story on the national assessment of educational progress reprinted in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat in May, “The Education Department * * * hopes the kinds of questions involved in the voluntary test will shape the way science is taught.” Mr. Chairman, under the United States Constitution, the enumerated powers of the Federal Government simply do not include education. Yet the Clinton administration’s national test proposal will inevitably result in Federal bureaucrats dictating what every child in America will be taught. National testing represents another giant step in the centralizing of American education and a giant step away from America’s constitutional republic. 1997 Ron Paul 87:12 I therefore urge my colleagues to join me in opposing all moves to implement a national testing scheme, starting by supporting the amendment offered by the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. GOODLING] to prohibit the expenditures of Federal funds to develop and administer a national testing program without explicit authorization from Congress. Note: 1997 Ron Paul Chapter 87 The title of this chapter was editorially supplied by the webmaster.

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