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University Daily Kansan, March 1, 1963
Opinion
Finally, prep guidelines
The Board of Regents has finally broken its silence about just what preparation is expected of high school students who enroll in Regents universities. A new recommendation calls for four years of English, three each of math, social studies and natural sciences, and two years of foreign language.
It's time something was done to cut down on the amount of remedial instruction that goes on in most entry-level classes, work that is frustrating for professors and a waste of time for those students who are prepared for college.
Kansas Legislature are hesitant to expand this year's budgets. On the other hand, what small schools lack in numbers of teachers, they should be able to make up in the amount of personal attention they are able to give students.
It's important to remember that quality of education does not depend merely on numbers. Students who receive solid instruction in English and who understand the basics of grammar and structure should not be overwhelmed by foreign languages in college.
The importance of the Regents recommendation is not that it points out shortcomings in small schools but that it gives official direction to students sorting through advice from counselors and to administrators evaluating programs.
The highest stakes
As the people of Times Beach, Mo., and other towns and cities across the nation struggle with dioxin contamination, another kind of battle is going on in the corridors of power in Washington D.C.
The battle involves Anne Gorsuch Burford's job. President Ronald Reagan's prestige and the outrage, as well as some grandstanding, on the part of some members of Congress.
The political stakes are unquestionably high.
It is early in the president's second term. Added to the heat over presidential appointments and other administration officials, the loss of Burford could harm Reagan's reputation.
And some of the legislators - also
politicians — on the half-dozen congressional committees investigating the EPA are certainly staking a piece of their political futures in being able to topple an official at Burford's level.
But that battle and its outcome will also have a direct bearing on the people who have been exposed to dioxin, and other residents, in other places, who are endangered by other chemicals and toxic wastes. Indeed, it will have a bearing on all of us as the issue of environmental cleanliness, or the lack of it, looms larger.
What too few of the people in Washington seem to be looking at is the agency itself, and how the governmental posturing and infighting will affect the EPA's ability to protect us.
TV ads trivialize the serious
Why shouldn't people talk openly about tampons, hemorrhoids, divorce and death? None of these subjects are dirty or obscene, so why do they then they pop up on television commercials?
Although I am not a prude, I think some subjects should be treated with more dignity.
Television commercials make serious subjects trivial and tastelessly portray matters of personal hygiene. And they have worsened in the past decade because of too personal or too sensitive for a commercial no threat.
Why can't advertisers develop better ways of advertising products without offending anyone?
JEANNE FOY
sometimes necessary in a civilized environment. A typical conversation on a TV commentator is
"Hey Mom, what'd you do with my deodorant tampons?"
"I decided to buy a new brand of feminine pads, Susie. They're really much more absorbent."
he had just bought some more life insurance. We can still take that trip to Florida."
"Gosh, thanks Mom. I just love it when we have these mother-daughter talks. Some families never communicate. By the way, where's dad? I haven't seen him since yesterday?"
"Dad was always so thoughtful. What's the bike doing out? Did you actually ride today??!"
"Yes, isn't it great? I can actually sit again. The suppositories did a wonderful job on my hemorrhoids. But now I've gotten feminine itching."
"You can borrow my medicated douche, Mom."
*Thanks, honey. You're a good daughter.
Have you talked to your brother recently?*
"I saw Bob yesterday. He sent away for the budget camera he saw advertised on TV."
"Well, if he and Julie are going to get a divorce, no reason why it should cost an arm and a leg. I told that girl that if she kept scratching her head, Bob would leave her. He never could stand dandruff. How are you and your boyfriend dozed?"
"He died yesterday at work. But fortunately,
"You'll find someone soon enough. Have you considered changing your toothpaste? That always does wonders for attracting men. Hmmm, maybe you should buy some panyhose with built-in underwear. I can see the panyline in your pants a mile away."
"We broke up. He said he loved me, but I made bad coffee, so he didn't think our relationship was over."
So much for good taste and discretion. No one expects commercials to reflect reality. But then again, no one expects to be offended by them either. It's hard to say whether the evening soaps such as Dallas and Dynasty are any sleeker than commercials.
I hope advertisers stop making such tasteless and offensive commercials. If they do not develop some semblance of propriety, the commercials of the future will be for sperm banks and surrogate mothers, institutions for the mentally insane, vibrators and cemeteries.
Student Senate does not want toensure any
student group. Last, Ashner, student body
protection should be given.
Senate should foster discourse
Well, if that is so, the Student Senate sure has a strange way of showing it.
In case you have not been following the Senate's recent tango with free speech, here is a summary.
Earlier this month, Latin American Solidarity turned in a form to Terry Frederick, Senate treasurer, so that the Senate would print its pamphlet on human rights violations in El Salvador. The members of LAS, aware that $300 of their Senate funds are allocated for printing and that the only Senate regulation restricting printed student groups' literature deals with those who have been surprised when Frederick said he would have to break the rules about printing student literature
Frederick then checked with the University General Counsel about the pamphlet because, he said, he was worried that the Senate could be liable for its content. According to a Feb. 4, Kansan article. Frederick reported at a Senate Executive Committee meeting that Ron Broun, a lawyer for the Council, told him the Senate could not prevent LAS from printing its pamphlet.
Frederick said he asked Brou whether the Senate could best remove its liability for the pamphlet by refusing to print the pamphlet or by printing a disclaimer on it.
After talking to Broun, Frederick decided to write a disclaimer for opinionated pamphlets stating that the views of the pamphlets did not necessarily reflect the views of the Senate or those of KU students. Meanwhile, Jim Cramer, student body vice president, said some students were being convinced that their student fees paid for a pamphlet supporting ideas they might disagree with.
Frederick's new disclaimer would have replaced the old Senate disclaimer which did not
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Bill to punish defaulters goes too far
That's what Kansas State Representative Lloyd Pond, R-Vermillion, is saying to those who default on student loans. Pond proposes scholarships or tuition grants to defaulters.
A curse on you and your offspring
This would be a good idea, but the representative goes too far — a whole generation too far. Pollson's bill would also prohibit defaulters' receiving state money for their college education.
We need to get tough with student loan defaults. The David Stockmans of this world must be made to repay their debts. The feeling prevails that society owes a person a luxurious lifestyle, that responsibilities are not to be taken seriously and that it's OK to rip off society because everyone else, including the government, is doing it. The student loan default problem is just one symptom of this disease that has infested the nation.
A college student should be intelligent enough to know the difference between a loan and a gift. When a student accepts a National Direct Student Loan or a Guaranteed Student Loan to help him finance a college education, he signs a contract which obligates him to repay the full amount, plus interest. The subsidized interest rate is set at a level below the market rate. This subsidy is the government's gift to the student.
The state should have the right to refuse any further aid to *99ose who are already in its debt*
But when the student signs the NDSL or GSL contract he does not sign away his children's name.
and who ignore their payment obligations. The denial of tuition grant and scholarships is fair to students.
Polson's proposal is similar to ancient practices in which a peasant who was deeply in debt to a rich lord had to slave his life away in vain to work off the debt. A lifetime of menipal
This idea, that the sins of the parents will be placed as burdens upon the lives of their children, is abhorrent and ruins an otherwise sensible bill.
JON BARNES
labor by the lowly debtor was rarely enough to pay off the full value of the debt to his master
In this way, debts were passed on from generation to generation. A new class of people emerged. Generations were born into slavery with no hopes for freedom because the interest on the debt mounted faster than any slave was able to work.
We know where your children are. "Poisoned in
saying," saying, "so you sense better enough up
the dough."
Still, it makes sense that the state should refuse these people any more aid if they have not paid the government what they already owe and are able to do so.
Of course, removing this aspect from Polson's proposal would greatly limit its effect. The number of students that default on loans and then reapply for state aid is probably very small.
Polson's reasoning for refusing aid to defaulters' children is probably based on the fact that many college students' tuition is paid for by their parents. If the students are denied aid, they will be defaulted and have to pay the past, the parents would be the ones who would have to make up the difference.
But let's not make children pay for their parents' mistakes.
This argument would be more relevant if loans were being refused to children of defaulters. But student loan programs are federal programs. Most state aid is in the form of grants and scholarships that are based on financial need or other factors. Students who benefit from state aid are those who otherwise would not be able to attend college and who have demonstrated superior ability in school.
The children of the well-to-do defaulters, presumably the targets of Poison's bill, would probably not be eligible for this type of state aid anyway. The bright but poor students who should be guaranteed a chance for a college education would be discriminated against by the proposal.
mention KU students. LAS said they found the new disclaimer insulting because by saying that the views of their pamphlet did not necessarily reflect the opinions that LAS members were not KU students.
The whole episode came to a head two weeks ago when Ashner said, after a StudiEx meeting, that the Senate administration had rescinded the new disclaimer in favor of the old one and proclaimed that it is not the job of the Senate to act as censors.
After wading through two weeks of muck, LAS finally got their pamphlet printed. But the
DAN PARELMAN
episode raises questions about the conduct of the Senate.
Cramer's questioning of whether Senate funds should pay for ideas students may disagree with is fraught with a disregard for diversity of opinion and free speech, as are Frederick's attempts to see whether the Senate could prevent the LAS pamphlet from being published online. The same pamphlets printed by the Senate do not necessarily represent the views of KU students.
Recently, Cramer said he felt strongly that a university needs diverse and extreme opinions.
Well, Jim, the Supreme Court has ruled that the protection of the First Amendment goes a lot farther than merely protect a group that charges a US-supported government, that has killed civilians, with killing civilians.
In fairness to Cramer, the right to free speech is different from financing groups who have that right. And the Senate is now reviewing its rules for financing groups when setting the criteria for financing student groups.
But should the Senate start basing their financing of groups on whether they represent the majority of opinion at KU? It seems ludicrous that an organization elected by 8 percent of the student body should determine what represents KU students.
Maybe someone should hang a disclaimer on the door of the Senate office stating that the views promoted within do not necessarily reflect the views of KU students.
What people who wear Izads and funny-looking baseball caps think constitute the views of the majority may not actually constitute the view of the majority.
At any rate, who cares that student money finances groups whose views not everyone agrees with. Ashner, when talking about problems with Senate rules regarding group financing, likes to point out that religious groups cannot be financed but groups such as the General Union of Palestinian Students are financed
Oh my God, the world's going to cave in because part of my $20.50 student activity fee finances the Palestinian student group I may not agree with most Palestinians' political views, but that does not mean I think it is a crime that they are financed by the Senate.
One of the reasons why groups like the LAS exist at a university is so they can make more popular unknown or unpopular views. If patriot editors had not been able to popularize their views, we may not have revolted against the British.
For a democracy to function, all views must be heard. A university should especially value the expression of differing views, including those that the majority may think are repugnant.
Let's hope the Senate outlines the interpretation of the First Amendment that it learned at Leauwoud Country Club and continues financing the programs that may not represent prevailing attitudes.
As John Blait, a member of LA's said, "We feel that the Student Senate should be facilitating dialogue among students."
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