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University Daily Kansan
Opinion
Tuesday, Oct. 8, 1985
Secretary of Education William Bennett recently revealed the ideological blindness that often strikes members of the Reagan administration. He took wild aim at the nation's 17-year-old bilingual education program.
His solution? Schools no longer would have to teach students in both English and the language they speak at home. Local school districts could decide how to best use federal dollars to aid children who speak little or no English.
Bilingual blind spot
Critics say this would gut bilingual education programs, leaving school districts with the money and the kids in the cold. They point to the past failure of English-only education and say Bennett's proposal would leave students who don't speak English to sink or swim.
Bennett charged that bilingual education had failed to help students, predominantly Hispanics, receive the education necessary to enter the U.S. mainstream.
They say dramatic gains made by Hispanics in recent national test scores suggest the program has been successful.'
In results released in late September, average Scholastic Aptitude Test scores reversed a long decline and showed a dramatic nine-point jump.
How sad that the sum of an actor's life can so easily be upstaged by the cause of his death.
But Hispanic students — Puerto Rican and Mexican-American — showed the largest increases. Puerto Rican students' scores increased by 14 points, and those of Mexican-American students went up 12 points. Test scores of white students, for contrast, went up 8 points.
Rock Hudson's career of more than 30 years quickly seemed to fade away after the first whisper of the word AIDS.
Conservatives have attacked bilingual education since its inception. They argue that English is the official national language, and schools should encourage those who don't speak English to learn it. They fear the United States might become a country with two official languages, like Canada.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS, of which Hudson died last week, received more attention after Hudson acknowledged his illness in July.
But Bennett and the ideologues are wrong, Spanish is not going to supplant English as the offical U.S. language. The only language that threatens to replace English is the muddy, deceptive tongue spoken by public officials.
The sum of a life
Hudson's unfortunate tragedy caused increased awareness of AIDS and attracted more money for AIDS research.
By establishing a foundation to raise money for research and contributing $250,000 to an anti-AIDS fund-raiser, Hudson added more than accidental support to AIDS research.
But in the talk about AIDS, a career seemed to get lost among the words.
nighttime soap operas, Hudson may best be remembered for his short role on "Dynasty" or for re-runs of "McMillan & Wife."
For the college generation weaned on cable television and
For our parents, Hudson was the matinee throbhroo who starred in several romantic comedies with Doris Day and won critical acclaim in the James Dean film "Giant."
Regardless of the medium through which we met Hudson, he made a mark on the American entertainment scene.
Starring and appearing in dozens of films, Hudson's acting career should be what he is remembered for. But for too many, Hudson will be remembered as the first celebrity to go public with AIDS.
Someone who spends his life excelling in a career deserves more than that.
An actor such as Hudson who reached excellence in his career deserves no less.
Ill-considered criticism
More important, it did not distinguish among the broad diversity of foreign students that attend college in the United States, and particularly on this campus.
In doing so, the editorial made several errors.
A letter appearing on today's page rightly criticizes a recent Kansan editorial that suggested foreign students bought term papers to earn high marks because they lacked skill in English.
The argument was based on an unsupported assertion by the manager of one California company that sells term papers.
Some foreign students have difficulty speaking and writing English, and the University of
But many students from other countries come to KU fully fluent in English.
fers intensive instruction to ease that difficulty.
Finally, the editorial wrongly suggested that foreign students attended KU because they could receive better educations here than in their home countries.
Foreign students come to KU for a number of reasons, and we should be honored they do. The diversity they bring enhances campus life, and the education they take back with them extends the reputation of the University.
Because of this, they shouldn't be made the target of ill-considered criticism.
Rob Karwath
Editor
Duncan Calhoun Business manager
John Hanna Michael Totty
Managing editor Editorial editor
Lauretta McMillen
Campus editor
Susanne Shaw
General manager news adviser
Brett McCabe Sue Johnson
Retail sales Campus sales
Megan Burke
National/Co-op sales
John Oberzan
Sales adviser
General manager, news adviser
Sales and marketing adviser
**LETTERS TO THE EDITOR** should be typed, double-spaced and less than 300 words. Include the writer's name, address and phone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University, include class and honors, or faculty staff positions.
**GUEST STORY** should be typed, double-spaced and less than 790 words. The footnotes.
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Lighting a fire under the deficit
WASHINGTON — A recent national poll disclosed that the public gives federal deficit reduction higher priority than tax reform.
Because many politicians have been saying that for a month or more, the poll results are not exactly shocking news, but the question can be asked in Washington. "Is anybody listening?"
Arnold Sawislak United Press International
The president continues to flit around the country pitching tax reform. The Treasury keeps reporting higher deficit figures and Congress, having passed a budget resolution during the summer, appears to be more interested in other issues, such as trade legislation.
The budget resolution is a blueprint in which Congress instructed itself to
take specific steps to reduce the deficit. There are a lot of people who think that Congress will find reasons to get around its own mandate, or that it won't make a significant dent in the deficit anyway.
There seem to be a number of reasons for this situation.
A recession or accelerating unemployment, might focus attention on the deficit, but repeated warnings that the rising tide of red ink will surely lead to one or both simply don't excite the capital.
First, economic conditions in the country are good enough, or at least not so bad, that the president and Congress don't feel the kind of pressure that makes things happen in Washington.
In Washington, it usually takes some kind of dramatic reality, such as an oil embargo, a Tet offensive or a terrorist attack to galvanize the government, although the practitioners of public relations have found
ways to create drama, as with months of daily anti-aparthid demonstrations at the South African embassy.
The White House tends to operate on policy assumptions. President Reagan embraced supply side economics in 1981 and continues to argue that those policies will take care of the deficit. That means, among other things, no new taxes, no matter how big the deficit becomes.
A second reason for inaction has to do with the nature of the presidency and the Congress.
Congress works differently. Its 535 members show up after every election with thousands of new and old ideas for solving national problems, but its system is carefully designed to kill off all but a few of them. Real differences of opinion about how to fix something that is broken commonly lead to deadlock or toothless compromises, as with the energy crises of the 1970s.
So the deficit problem seems to be caught in a kind of vacuum of leadership. There is, however, another way this airless bubble might be punctured. The voters, who gave Reagan a vote of confidence last year, could do it by shaking up Congress next year.
Some years back, several national organizations decided that the way to get a campaign finance reform was to demand that candidates for the House and Senate commit themselves unequivocably on the issue before the election. It took a lot of hard work and made a lot of politicians unhappy, but the process worked.
It is probably impossible for individual voters to make candidates sign a pledge to do whatever it takes to reduce the federal deficit. But groups of individual voters can do it, and if the issue is as important to them as they have told the pollsters, right now is when they should start.
Dwarf-tossing won't fly in Chicago
When I wrote about the Australian tavern sport of dwarf-tossing a few months ago, I wondered when it would spread to Chicago.
Well, it's here. Or it will be in here in November. A West Side bar has announced that it will hold the first dwarf-tossing contest in the city's history. It might very well be the first dwarf-tossing competition in American history.
For those of you who are not followers of this sport, it is simple enough. All you need is a dwarf who is willing to be tossed, a measuring tape and people silly enough to take part.
It originated in Australia as a contest among professional bouncers. The winning thug claims to have thrown a little fellow about 30 feet, but that record is unofficial because there is no international sports organization that sanctions dwarf-tosses.
The game spread from Australia to England, where a hulking truck driver recently won the British Dwarf-Throwing Championship with a toss of 11 feet 5 inches.
That, of course, is one of the problems with dwarf tossing. There are no real rules or guidelines as to the size of the person being tossed.
Mike Royko Chicago Tribune
which doesn't seem much for a world record.
With their typical haughtiness, the English are now claiming the world record. They say the Australian record is probably phony because nobody could possibly toss a real, 98-pound dwarf, which the English used, anywhere near 30 feet. They've even been hinting that the Aussies tossed an infant or a rubber doll.
And Chicago's dwarf tossing competition is not going to add anything to the formalization of the sport.
"Actually, you won't have to use a dwarf in our contest," said Chris Creswell, the owner of O'Sullivans Public House on Milwaukee and
The tossing will be held outside of the tavern on Sunday, Nov. 17. For the well-being of the tossee, a large, inflatable mattress will cushion his or her landing.
The catch is that each team will be expected to provide its own dwarf (or other small person) to be tossed.
That might make the results questionable, because the Australians used one dwarf, as did the English.
'Unless you happen to know a dwarf who enjoys being tossed, it would probably be difficult to find one. You can't very well walk up to some small person on the street and say, "How would like to be thrown through the air outside of a tavern on Milwaukee Avenue?" '
Grand avenues. "You can use anybody you want. Of course, if you choose to use a regular-size person, your chances of winning won't be very good."
Under the Chicago rules, all contestants must be consenting adults and must enter as two-person teams and put up $20 to be used as prize money.
The winner will get up to $200.
Anyone who beats the Australian record will receive a $500 prize,
And it might also make it difficult to enter. Unless you happen to know a dwarf who enjoys being tossed, it would probably be difficult to find one. You can't very well walk up to some small person on the street and say, "How would like to be thrown through the air outside of a tavern on Milwaukee Avenue?"
My guess is that the contest will never take place, even if people find consenting dwarfs.
That's because many people
both dwarfs and regular-sized — are offended by it and have protested in Australia and England. They say it is insensitive to throw another person that way.
Actually, the Australian and English dwarfs didn't mind. The Australian said it beat his regular job of acting in children's shows. He said he preferred flying across a barroom to performing before a horde of runny-nosed kids. And the tiny Englishman, who is known as Lenny the Giant, said being tossed wasn't nearly as degrading as working on an assembly line.
But in both countries, lawmakers have threatened to outlaw the tossing of dwarfs.
And after I first wrote about dwarf- tossing, I received many stern letters from dwarfs, friends and relatives of dwarfs, and people who are none of the above but enjoy a good crusade. And they all said that if anyone tried to throw a dwarf in Chicago, they would protest and demand that the authorities put a halt to it.
"I will go to my alderman and insist that it be made illegal to throw a dwarft," vowed one woman. "Chicago has a bad enough reputation without something like that being shown around the world."
And I don't doubt that the City Council would take action.
Why, some of our tiny aldermen would figure that if this sport ever got popular, the constituents might start tossing them around.
Mailbox
Drawing careless conclusions
A most interesting editorial appeared in the Kansan some days ago (Sept. 30) discussing the matter of cheating when writing term papers in order to get better grades.
Reading the editorial and being a foreign student, I suddenly found myself belonging to a group of potential cheaters — a group consisting of about 80 percent of the foreign students at KU
The editorial refers to an article published in the Kansan 10 days earlier (Sept. 20), where one student and one company discuss the matter of buying term napers.
Research Assistance Inc., Los Angeles, is allowed to say, without the presentation of any supporting figures and papers, that 90 percent of
the customers are foreign students. The fact that the manager explains that most of the orders come from California does not stop the Kansan editor from using the article in discussing students in general and students at KU in particular.
The editor presumes that the lack of English skills forces foreign students to cheat with their term papers. The editor also implies that the education offered here is better than in the countries of foreign students. This means — considering the range of foreigners at KU — most universities in the world.
I will not argue about the quality of education offered at universities such as Oxford, Sorbone or Upsala. But where I received my education as a journalist, one of the first things you learn is
You also learn to be very careful with conclusions when the number of persons interviewed is low — and to be even more careful when it comes to generalizing. In addition, it helps the reader if the article and the editorial appear closer in time.
to check your sources — and present them when writing about issues such as this.
Naturally I would not attend KUF if I did not believe that the education offered here is a good one. I know that these basic rules of journalism are taught here as well. But in this case, as in many others, it is a matter of the difference between knowledge and understanding.
Maria Ernestam
Uppsala, Sweden, graduate student