University Daily Kansan, January 28, 1983
Page 3
Federal spending freeze idea suspect to some profs
By ANDREW HARTLEY Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
Some university professors are skeptical of a conservative Republican proposal to make an across-the-board freeze in federal spending.
Yesterday, congressmen called for a tree that would include defense officials.
But Charles Levine, Stene distinguished professor of political science, said the assumption that all programs could be treated equally was incorrect.
As soon as different groups see the
possible effects of an across-the-board freeze, he said, they would lobby Congress to make special exemptions.
"AND THAT WOULD build the across-the-board logic all to hell," he said.
The congressional proposal conflicted with a freeze proposal outlined by President Reagan Tuesday night in his State of the Union address.
Reagan said Tuesday in the address that he wanted to exempt defense spending from a proposal that would freeze all federal spending, salaries and retirement benefits at 5 percent above the present level.
Melvin Dubnick, associate professor
of political science, said it would be difficult for Congress to go along with the across-the-board proposal because of intense lobbying by special interest groups, government employees and servicemen in particular.
He said that once one group became exempt from the process, every group would expect similar treatment.
HARRY SHAFFER, professor of economics, said he disagreed with any freeze that involved social programs because the real problem in the country
Proponents of the freeze argue that a freeze in the level of federal spending
Shaffer said that the deficit and national debt, which passed the $1 trillion mark this year, were only 31 percent of the country's gross national product.
would hold or decrease the budget deficit.
He said that a rising deficit could lead to an increase in the inflation rate but that the higher unemployment rates in recent months justified such an increase.
Shaffer said that a freeze in defense spending would create more jobs than a freeze on social programs. He said military hardware required a more
technically trained labor force and was assembled more by machine.
DURNICK SAID he thought Congress would lean toward a freeze of military expenditures because defense spending was controlled easier.
He said that Congress would have an easier time cutting whole defense contracts instead of social programs and social factors were harder to predict.
Malcolm Burns, assistant professor of economics, said that without considering the recession factors, he was not opposed to a freeze in government spending but that he would prefer an overall reduction in federal spending.
He said the reduced need for federal revenue brought about by the freeze might create more jobs because the government would not take as much in income taxes, leaving more disposable income to wage earners.
Allan Cigler, associate professor of political science, said he thought Congress would tend to favor the blanket freeze because it would allowademonstrum to appear to give no preferential treatment to any interest group.
He said he thought it would be the least costly political move for Congress and the president.
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A RESPONSE TO REVEREND JESSE JACKSON
The NCAA—an organism well-known for its inability to digest anything more substantial than greet—really convened in San Diego, California and almost succeeded in pushing its porridge aside when it imposed stiffer entrance requirements for athletic scholarships. With this move these accomplished apologists for the amateur athletics lautynity faculty acknowledged that the primary purpose of an educational institution is to educate. There were, however, some members who noted that the NCAA's action was actually just another expression of a now discredited idea. One of this quite dissatisfied group, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, had this to say about it:
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While literacy tests were used to distranchise black people, the NCAA's new standards will be required of each individual seeking an athletic scholarship. Standardized tests, which are designed in this case neither to eliminate nor elevate but to designate those prepared for college work, are much better predictors of success than high school grades because all testees are measured by the same standard.
Reverend Jackson went on to claim that high school grades are better predictors of success in college than standardized tests and that these tests are designed to eliminate rather than elevate.
The ruling they passed last week was shortsighted and mean-spirited. They used literacy tests to deny us the right to vote. Then they want to use standardized tests because white boys are inferior athletes to blacks.
Reverend Jackson's reaction is "shortsighted and mean-spitful" because of both its inflammatory phraseology ("white boys") and its failure to recognize the importance of a good education. In a book based on studies done by a panel of educators for the U.S. Office of Education for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and published in 1986, James S. Coleman of Johns Hopkins University had this to say about schools and standard achievement tests:
The schools bear many responsibilities. Among the most important is the teaching of certain intellectual skills such as reading, writing, calculating, and problem solving. One way of assessing the education opportunity offered by the schools is to measure how well they perform this task. Standard achieve-ment goals are listed in Table 28.1.
These tests do not measure intelligence, nor attitudes, nor qualities of character. Furthermore they are not, nor are they intended to be, "culture free". Quite the reverse; they are culture bound. What they measure are the skills which are among the most important in our society for getting a good job and moving up to a better one, and for full participation in an increasingly technical world. Consequently, a pupil's test results at the end of public school provide a good measure of the range of opportunities open to him as he finishes school . . .
If Reverend Jackson's viewpoint in this unfolding controversy prevails, black America will increasingly bear, in the words of this year's National Urban League survey, "a disproportionate share of . . . (our national) hardship".
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