You Must Remember This
Bailey, Duane W.
You Must Remember This by Duane W. Bailey President Clinton is very keen these days on national testing of school children in the subjects of reading and mathematics. This is probably a good idea;...
...Just as in reading and mathematics, once we have sound evidence of the nation's memory, there will doubtless be calls for improvement, perhaps a national curriculum to encourage memory or a Program 2000 to ensure that our students have the best memories in the world...
...they had a dreadful time remembering even the approximate number of these files...
...It is reasonable that parents at least know where their students stand on a national scale...
...Most of them would probably settle there and lead lives somewhat similar to those of the board members...
...That argument cannot be made today when a majority of students will probably find livelihoods outside their home towns, perhaps in industries and technologies unimagined by local school boards...
...There are exceptions, of course...
...The testimony of former chairman Donald Fowler before the Thompson committee might be considered in some circles as conclusive evidence of incompetence ("I have no memory of any conversation with the CIA," "I have in the middle of the night, at high noon, late in the afternoon, early in the morning—at every hour of the day for months now—searched my memory about conversations with the CIA and I have no memory of any conversations with the CIA...
...I have no memory of it...
...The Democratic National Committee has a serious memory problem...
...His "few" seems to have been over 40, and he has completely forgotten that a portion of the money raised was spent on his own campaign...
...In the meantime, perhaps we need to consider a third test—a national memory test...
...It is a paradox that, as the price of computer memory declines, the price of human memory steadily increases...
...They couldn't remember that the subpoenaed files on the 1996 campaign were, of all places, in the filing cabinet of the Democratic finance director, Richard Sullivan, until after he was called to testify by the Senate investigating committee...
...Vice President Gore has a particularly weak memory for small numbers ("I may have made a few calls...
...one cannot help observing that, in recent years, public officials have been flashing "Out of Memory" signs at every turn...
...much better in fact than does Mr...
...But this is, as we say, the case that proves the rule...
...I just don't remember...
...Clinton, who "may have met her" but really "doesn't recall...
...Clinton, once thought by many to be the smartest woman in the world, can't remember much about her experience at the Rose Law Firm or about its files...
...Duane W. Bailey is William J. Walker professor of mathematics at Amherst College...
...I just don't recall it...
...Whole collections of people are memory-challenged...
...The least that we might hope for is that the Truman Foundation, which makes fellowship grants to prospective servants of the public, will establish a memory threshold of somewhat more than 20 minutes...
...Robert Torricelli, of New Jersey, who can even remember events that occurred before his birth...
...a hundred years ago it could be argued that the local school board in a rural town knew best what education was appropriate for the children in that town...
...There is also Sen...
...I don't say it didn't happen...
...Shouldn't the scores of candidates for public office on a national memory test be an important part of their qualifications...
...Mrs...
...Not even the highest offices in the land can attract people with half-decent memories...
...President Clinton, who as a candidate was touted as a Rhodes Scholar and a quick study on everything, can't seem to score above about 425 on an SAT scale for memory...
...Nobody at the White House can recall who hired Craig Livingstone, the former security director who engineered their collection of FBI files...
...There is a low-level Arkansas employee who claims a recollection of an encounter with former governor Clinton down to the finest "detail...
...though he shows a remarkable grasp of "controlling legal authorities...
Vol. 3 • October 1997 • No. 4
