"AMERICA READS" PROGRAM . . .President's Clinton's "America Reads" program will require 30,000 reading specialists to recruit one million volunteers as reading tutors because "40% of 3rd graders can't read." The "voluntary" scheme is to get $l.5 billion on top of the $2.5 billion already slated for the Reading Corps. Another $1 billion will be used to pay 11,000 Americorps "volunteers" to serve as tutors. "America Reads" also will disburse $300 million in grants to national, regional and local groups to help parents teach their children to read. What supporters of this scheme fail to mention is that so many 3rd graders are illiterate because many children are taught the "whole language" method of reading instead of the proven phonics method. ["Capital Briefs, Human Events, 3/97] Legislators in Washington, D.C. have had some concerns about the "Americorps" program and in response to those concerns, Rep. Tiahrt (R-KS) has introduced the AMERICORPS PROGRAM ELIMINATION ACT (H.R. 993). H.R. 993 will amend the National Community Service Act of 1990 to repeal the National Service Trust Program under which certain persons who perform national or community service receive stipends and education awards for such service. President Clinton wants to increase the "Americorps" program's budget by 36% to $550 million per year said Tiahrt, who added that this appropriation is not needed: 90 million Americans over age 18 currently volunteer over four hours per week. According to Tiahrt, AmeriCorps is the biggest government job program since FDR, and its "volunteers" receive $26,000 per year. Tiahrt pointed out that if Congress does not get rid of this program soon it will become even more difficult to abolish. This legislation will allow the program to continue through 1997 and then be terminated. [Scoop; 5/15/97] H.R. 993 currently has over 58 cosponsors and has been referred to the House subcommittee on Post-secondary Education Training & Life Long Learning. VIOLENCE IN THE WOMB . . .leads to violence outside of the womb. Finland's National Research and Development Center for Welfare and Health, reported that women who had an abortion are three times more likely to commit suicide than the general population and six times more likely to commit suicide than those women who have given birth. Sexual orientation is "just much more complicated than that." [The Communique, 2/21/97 as reported in the CALL, Collegians Activated to Liberate Life, April 1997]NO GAY GENE . . .Dr. Dean Hamer, the National Cancer Institute researcher who claimed in 1993 to have found 'a gay gene' has changed. He said that there is no test currently available to identify a gay gene in a fetus today, "and there never will be a definitive test -- never, ever, ever." [Family Research Report, March/april 1997]COMPUTERS & STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT . . .Are computers the answer to improving student achievement? At least some research indicates the answer is "no". According to Susan Haugland, professor of child development at Southeast Missouri State University, preschool children who had used computer drill programs designed to develop reading skills had a 50% drop in creativity and no significant improvement in learning how to read. A report from the 1994 National Assessment of Education Progress test in American history shows that fourth and eighth grade students who used computers almost daily in history classes scored 14 to 18 points lower on the history test than students who never or rarely used computers. ["Do Computers Help Children Learn?" by Lyric Wallwork Winik, Parade Magazine, Feb 2, 1997'COMPULSORY TESTING FOR HIV WORKS . .Hungary instituted a compulsory HIV testing program in 1988. Results? Out of 10.5 million people, through 1994, Hungary had about 161 known cases of AIDS and 440 others who are know to be infected with HIV. The U.S. has about 280 million people. For the same period, 460,000 were recorded with AIDS and possibly another 400,000+ infected. With about 27 times the population of Hungary, the U.S. should have had about 4,350 infected, but instead the U.S. had about 100 times more cases of AIDS than Hungary. According to Dr. Paul Cameron, Family Research Institute, U.S. AIDS cases are so high because the U.S. has followed the "compassionate" guidelines of the liberal philosophy -- that people who are addicted to sex or drugs must be given "freedom" to pursue their inclinations. "If the U.S. had implemented compulsory testing, contact tracing, shut down the gay and IV drug establishments to the degree possible, and guarantied at least the seriously ill among these movements' followers, we would be looking at a much lower total of AIDS today." [Family Research Report, Dr. Paul Cameron, March/April 1997]"DOLLARS TO THE CLASSROOM" . . .Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) introduced House Resolution 139, the "Dollars to the Classroom Resolution", which calls for at least 90% of federal education spending to go directly to the classroom. H.Res. 139 is a non-binding resolution, and does not carry the force of law, but it does indicate the political will of Congress -- which is to work toward getting education dollars back in the classroom where learning takes place. The resolution also draws attention to the bureaucratic waste in federal education spending (estimates indicate that 40 to 60 percent of federal dollars are siphoned off by the bureaucracy) and also raises questions about why we filter our education tax money through Washington, D.C. in the first place. Pitts' resolution could lead to the passage of other measures that would return money and control to the local level. Current Status: The House Committee on Education and the Workforce passed H. Res. 139 on 6/25/97 and it will be introduced on the House floor in the next few weeks. A bill may be introduced in September which will attempt to make the resolution law. [ed facts, 6/27/97]PARENTS' GUIDE TO BILINGUAL EDUCATION . . .The Center for Equal Opportunity has distributed copes of CEO's "Parents' Gudie to Bilingual Education". The Center reported that bilingual education is being used to segregate Hispanic children in the country today, including cases of kids being taught in Spanish for 5-7 years before being taught English. Call 800/819-2343 for a copy of this guide. [National Center for Public Policy Research, Issue 161, 4/30/97] |