(Not printed at Government expense)

  

United States
of America

 

ongressional iecord

PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 884 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION

 

 

 

 

A Massive Attack on Reading

SPEECH

Or

HON. JOHN E. FOGARTY

OF RHODE ISLAND
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Monday, April 6, 1964

Mr. FOGARTY. Mr. Speaker, I am
convinced that a comprehensive assault
on. reading is needed to develop the most
valuable tool that education can offer—
reading. It must not be a minor effort,
handled by amateurs, if we are to have
any hope of success. In the following
speech I have outlined a proposed ap-
proach which I believe is both practical
and possible. Iam sure that many of my
colleagues will want to help in the job of
developing literate human beings who
can effectively participate in our soci~
ety—to elevate literacy upon which our
democracy depends.

Following is an address which I de-
livered before the Conference on Read-
ing for Educators, at the University of
Delaware, Newark, Del., March 7, 1964:

ADDRESS OF CONGRESSMAN JOHN E. FocarRTy,
or RHODE ISLAND

I welcome this opportunity to meet with
the men and women who are providing pro-
fessional leadership for developing literate
individuals in our society. You share with
your colleagues throughout the Nation a
heavy responsibility. In this era of great
change, new demands of both quality and
quantity are being placed upon American
education. Today, as perhaps never before,
there is no higher calling than that of the
educator. It is to you and to our schools
that the Nation looks for the structure and
shape of our future.

As masters of reading skills you face a spe-
cial challenge of inspiring and stimulating
both teachers and students to the full at-
tainment of their potentials. Those among
you who are serving our elementary schools
provide the foundations upon which the
whole house of education rests.

I would like to talk with you today about
a job begun—and a job yet to be done in

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American education. This job is to develop
literate human beings who can effectively
participate in our society—to elevate literacy
upon which our democracy depends. ‘You,
as the experts, must provide the leadership
for undertaking this. task; I, as a Representa-
tive in Congress, wish to seek ways to help
you.

My appearance before you today reminds
me of a classroom tale which was recently
related to me:

An extremely nearsighted schoolteacher
was rapidly losing his temper, because many
of his students apparently neglected their
lesson. “You at the back of the class—-what
was the date of the signing of the Magna
Carta?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well then, can you tell me what the
Gordon Riots were?”

“T don’t Know.”

“T assigned that yesterday. What were
you doing last night?”

“I was out drinking beer with some
friends.”

The. schoolteacher gasped, and his face
went almost purple. “You have the audacity
to stand there and tell me that. How do you
expect to pass your examination?”

“Well, I don’t. I’m an electrician, and
I just came here to fix the lights.”

Like the electrician, I may be ill prepared
to answer specific inquiries. But perhaps,
like him, I can help to repair the lights, to
cast illumination on a subject that concerns
us all. This is the role the Federal Gov-
ernment can play in helping to solve the
problems related to reading and literacy.

Historically, the Federal Government has
been an active participant in research and
development activity in a variety of fields.
Modern agriculture, of course, is deeply in-
debted to Government research aid for many
of its present-day accomplishments. Gov-
ernmental research and development was
greatly accelerated during and after the
second World War and with astounding suc-
cess—especially in the medical, physical, and
space sciences. Now, governmental leaders
are beginning to look at the educational,
sociological, and economic problems of our
society in a similar way. People in Wash-
ington are asking what the Federal Govern-

ment can do to translate sensible ideas in
these fields into sound and effective action.

Your vital and continuing interest in the
development of literate individuals has
bridged the progress accomplished since the
days of the Hornbook and the McGuffey
readers to the acute need for progress that
lies ahead. Popular publications reflect the
complexity of your task in the controver-
sial aspects of reading.

Can Johnny read or can’t he? we are asked.
Is he a better or poorer reader than. his
forefathers? Should teachers use a “look-
say” method, a phonics method, or some
combination of both? I continually encoun-
ter words and phrases like “phonics,” “pho-
netics,” “phonemics,” “the augmented Ro-
man alphabet,” “the Bloomfield~Barnhart
approach,” and so forth. If there is some
confusion in the public mind, perhaps this
is understandable. There is, I hear, some
question among the specialists themselves
over the best phonics approach—and how
to use it and when to use it.

Now what can the Federal Government
contribute toward solving this sort of prob-
lem? What is its proper and effective role?
One example of a federally supported pro-
gram which brought significant changes to
our high schools was the physics program of
the Physical Science Study Committee. For
this program, the National Science Foun-
dation provided funds which enabled an
outstanding group of physicists and edu~
cators to focus their attention upon high
school physics. After materials were de-
veloped by this group, teachers were trained
to use them in workshops and institutes
around the country. The total cost of this
venture was approximately $14 million. The
net result-—is that this program is currently
being used by nearly 75 percent of all stu-
dents receiving high school physics instruc-
tion in the United States. In a brief span
of years, the teaching of physics was brought
up to date, up to the potentials of modern
knowledge and teaching skills and student
capability.

Although there is at present no under-
taking of this magnitude in reading, some
notable accomplishments are underway.
One of my congressional committee respon-
sibilities brings me in close contact with the
2

cooperative research program of the Office of
Education. This program has provided funds
for a number of basic and applied research
undertakings pertaining to reading. For
example:

One researcher is studying the effective-
ness of beginning the formal teaching of
reading in kindergarten. Although some
educators have argued for years that many
children can be taught to read at earlier
ages than they are now taught, no research
has been conducted either to prove or dis-
prove it. The results of this study could
be of great significance to reading instruc-
tion.

The structure of children’s language was
compared with the language used in text-
books in another study. The researcher
found that the oral language children use
is far more advanced than the language of
the books in which they are taught to read.

In a third study the language growth of
children is being studied over the span of
the elementary school years and through
junior and senior high school. A longitudi-
nal study of language development such as
this has never been conducted before and
will give us for the first time a picture of
how language and reading skills grow.

In a fourth study, the investigator is at-
tempting to determine what communication
barriers exist for the culturally deprived.
He will then attempt to develop ways to
evaluate these differences.

A fifth study has focused upon the prob-
lem of teaching illiterate adolescents how
to read, If this researcher succeeds, he may
contribute materially to reducing the num-
ber of students who drop out of school,
And, he may well provide some vital clues to
attacking the overarching problem of adult
illiteracy.

A sixth group has undertaken an explor-
atory study of reading patterns among high
school students. These researchers seek to
determine whether specified training in
reading will result in significantly better
reading ability within various technical
areas,

In addition to these six exploratory stud-
ies, the cooperative research program is
also supporting 11 curriculum study centers
within the framework of its Project English.
Since the purpose of these centers is to
develop curricular materials, the impact of
reading upon each center’s activity is of
immediate concern. One of the centers, for

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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD

example, is developing reading and language
materials and teaching guides which will
be used in junior high schools serving chil-
dren from poor and culturally disadvantaged
areas. Emphasis has been placed here be-
cause educators have found that available
materials are usually unsuccessful with
these children. Another center supported
through Project English has as a major ob-
jective the development of a series of films
on methods of teaching reading in the sec-
ondary schools. These films will be used in
the training of teachers.

These studies, in which many of you are
involved, form a firm basis for advancing our
knowledge about reading. As many of us
know, plans for further studies next year are
also impressive. The Office of Education in-
tends, first, to support a number of field tests
of first-grade reading programs in various
parts of the country; second, to establish
a study group which will investigate needed
basic research in reading; and, third, to re-
late activities in reading to current develop-
ments within the various behavioral and bio-
logical sciences. Hach of these efforts is di-
rected toward an evident problem in read-
ing.

These are the types of studies in reading
which are being or have been supported by
Federal funds. They also typify the kinds
of projects which receive support from pri-
vate foundations or colleges and universi-
ties.

At this point, it would be well to evaluate
the nature and extent of the research now
underway in reading, to ask whether the
present decentralized attack on reading
problems is accomplishing enough, whether
our current research ventures in reading are
of sufficient magnitude to bring about de-
sired and widespread improvement.

In weighing these questions, in finding a
perspective on the magnitude of the task,
we may recall that the National Science
Foundation spent about $14 million on a co-
ordinated program to develop and strength-
en the teaching.of physics in high school.
This effort was vastly successful. But we
might also reflect that physics is often nei-
ther a required course hor even a course of-
fered in many high schools, that many stu-
dents have no contact with it whatever.

In. teaching our children to read, however,
we are speaking of a central enterprise of
education, involving every child who at~
tends our schools. We are speaking of the
need to open doors to the written word,

to develop what is surely the most ‘valuable
tool that education can offer.

The need to expand our reading skills, to
elevate America’s literacy is so comprehen-
sive that I cannot imagine how the present
research, worthwhile as it may be, can pos-
sibly be enough. As one who was involved
in the development of our present high level
of medical research, I am compelled to say
that. the educational community needs to
initiate a comprehensive assault on reading,
that such an effort abundantly calls for sup-
port and that the time for this effort and
support is now.

It cannot and must not be a minor effort,
handled by amateurs if we are to have any
hope of success. The best minds in our
Nation should be brought to bear upon it.
It presents, in my judgment, a classic op-
portunity for schools, colleges, universities,
publishers, and Federal agencies to join
together in a project aimed at developing
literacy as expeditiously and as effectively
as our resources will permit.

Five or ten years ago, few people would
have considered a Federal agency as a source
of funds for such a project. Today, it
would be eligible for funds from several Fed-
eral sources. The Cooperative Research
Branch of the Office of Education, as one ex~
ample, might well place its staff and re-
sources behind a massive research approach
to reading. But, however it is supported,
research on reading cannot move ahead with-
out expert leadership. You and your col-
leagues must provide that leadership

Is our meeting today a proper place to
set a project cf this importance into mo-
tion? If it isn’t, where shall we find a more
likely place?

Now, what might result from the massive
study which I have outlined? Generally, I
would hope for a highly Hterate populace in
the years ahead. Specifically, I would hope
that as our young people become adults
they will be equipped to share responsibility
in the democratic process, trained to criti-
cally analyze issues in today’s complex, fast-
moving world, and prepared to take a proud
part within the business and professional
and cultural spheres of our society.

Are these goals beyond reach of our Na-
tion, a nation which is about to put a man
on the moon?

I think not. I think that our opportunity
is now at hand to construct the sturdiest of
foundations for American education, and
that this is the time and the place to begin.

B.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1964