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University Daily Kansan
Opinion
Thursday, Sept. 19, 1985
Risky business
The report released Monday by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching should not surprise anyone who has spent one day in a college classroom. Especially the first day.
Frank Newman, the author of the report, says that colleges and universities foster passivity in students. "It's not a system that puts a high premium on creativity," he says. "It's not a system that encourages risk-taking in any way."
The fear of taking risks shows up on the first day of class. The rare questions are aimed at discovering the number of acceptable absences or whether the professor grades on the curve. As the semester wears on, few students venture beyond the confines of the syllabus. Most view with dread each impending trial-by-exam.
Newman names several causes of the problem. One, the excessive loan burdens that students are forced to bear, has a touch of truth to it.
Students now rely more on loans to finance the increasing cost of a college education. These loans then become a
weight they must carry for five or 10 years after they leave school.
But the prospect of repaying these loans also weighs on many students while they're in school. Career success becomes not only a desirable goal, but a practical necessity. Few are willing to jeopardize this success by taking any unnecessary risks, even in the classroom.
But it's the willingness to take chances, Newman says, that's necessary to succeed in a changing world. "Innovate or bust" is more and more the byword.
U. S. society no longer offers the wide-open opportunities of the past. Established businesses are stagnant or in decline. Prospective employers demand imagination and flexibility instead of servile devotion to procedures.
This eventually will require changes by the whole society. But higher education can take the lead. To do so, university classes need to end their reliance on passive instruction and instead challenge students to reach beyond themselves — risks, failures and all.
The British and the Soviets are having a tiff, which is being called spy wars. It's another lesson in the ways of nations.
Spy vs. spy
The British last week announced the defection of Oleg Gordiewski, a Soviet spy and KGB chief in London — and a double agent for more than a decade. Using information he provided, they proceeded to expel 25 Soviet officials as spies.
It gave the Soviets a rise, and they retaliated by expelling 25 Britons. True to character, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher has expelled six more Soviets — and the end is not in sight.
Defections, captures and expulsions are reminders of the nature of international relations. Espionage is practiced and defended as essential to national security and maintenance of the balance of terror.
The defection of Gordievski has become very much a public play. It is being treated as a sort of coup for the West as the superpower summit in November edges closer. See the Soviets for what they are, the line goes.
Thus, news of espionage is a sort of reality therapy, and it's enough to bring tears for a world of distrust, hostility and waste.
However, using Gordievski as a propaganda tool fouls the atmosphere of the summit. The episode is another exercise in stockpiling verbal ammunition in anticipation of November.
Undoubtedly the Soviets are the worst abusers of regular diplomatic, trade and journalistic channels for spying. They deserve condemnation for fouling those channels that carry the hope of understanding and peace.
A victory for Big Bob
Three large bright stripes.
This was what was at issue last week in Lawrence Municipal Court — whether David Elyachar, owner of Big Bobs' Used Carpets, 738 New Hampshire St., had to repaint the front wall of his building.
A Municipal Court judge threw out much of the city's sign ordinance, and fortunately Big Bob's won its fight against City Hall.
The Commissioner originally had granted him permission to paint the wall in April.
The city said the stripes formed a sign that violated its sign ordinance. Elyachar made no moves to repaint the wall after the City Commission ordered him to do so in June.
But the commission changed its mind because, it said, the colors were not art. In fact, this summer, David Longhurst, a commissioner, said the stripes were "enormously objectionable."
Some people do not consider the stripes ugly; indeed, some Massachusetts Street buildings look as bad or worse. The city, apparently, thought it needed something to do — something or someone to regulate — to look efficient.
And it decided to hinder Elyachar's right to express himself through his business. Commissioners should have found something better to do with their time.
Rob Karwath Editor
Duncan Calhoun Business manager
John Hanna Michael Totty
Managing editor Editorial editor
Lauretta McMiller
Campus editor
Susanne Shaw
Brett McCabe Sue Johnson
*Retail soles* Campus soles
General manager, news adviser
Megan Burke
National/Co-op sales
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Sales and marketing adviser
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Sunken StudSen dispute surfaces
New reports are clouding the waters of controversy around the proposed raising of the USS StudSen. That historic vessel, you will remember, was discovered recently $2\frac{1}{2}$ miles below the surface of Potter Lake.
To get the in-depth story, I talked to my friend Bends "Sharkbait" Bivalve at the Institute for Undersea Research and Basketweaving in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Bivalve said that people did not understand the difficulty of raising a large vessel from such a depth.
"We've never discovered a ship so deep before," he said. "It points out what an obsession this is. They've
looked all these years and they still don't know how to raise the thing."
Dan Howell Staff columnist
But he quickly added that he didn't think it was pointless to trv.
"They say there's nothing of value on board, but they don't really know," he said. "Look at those exterior photos.
"No one can explain the presence of two white bikes on the boog deck. How can they say there are no jewels in the cabins?"
But bringing the StudSen to the
surface would require specialized equipment and lots of time and money, Bivalve said.
"With the equipment we have right now," he said, "there is no way to raise the ship in toto."
Besides, he said, the great pressure 13,000 feet down may be helping to preserve the vessel. It could fall apart on its way to the surface.
I knew that Bivalve, an old hand at reading murky waters, would have the inside dope on the infighting about whether to raise the StudiDen.
"The opposition folks are still a minority, but they're a close-knit bunch," he said. "They call themselves & Davy Jones Too."
Bivalve said he wasn't sure about rumors that opponents had infiltra
'You know how folks are when they get their hands on a wreck. They think it's their own private show.'
led the crew of the search ship, the USS Ahab, and tried to sabotage its mission.
"The word is that the navigator, 'ol Skypiot Smith, signed on intending to practice disorientation." Bivalve said.
"But I don't know," he went on. "You know how folks are when they get their hands on a wreck. They sorta think it's its own private little show. They could well be exaggerating.
"Still, something's going on. People are quitting left and right and saying the work atmosphere stinks worse than a week-dead whale."
He said that somebody had mailed him a little handbook telling why the StudSen should be left in its watery grave.
"I didn't understand a word of it," he said. "I said we can be crass and commercial and raise the ship, or we can choose instead to raise our minds to a higher state of consciousness; Beats the tar out of me."
Legislators water down toxic site bill
I asked Bivalve whether this antagonism could make a salvage operation especially dangerous.
"It could but it probably won't, we said. "There are rules for how to salvage a ship. It's too obvious when someone isn't trying to help."
"Naw, the Studsen is a legend," he said. "It belongs to everyone. But I'm against this talk about putting a McDonald's on board."
I wondered, too, whether an old sea dog like Bivalve didn't cringe a little at the idea of making the StudSen a museum in the New York harbor.
It's a cliché, but it remains true. When we're in an election year, the legislature will draft bills to meet the demands of those they represent. But when the voting's over, the bill is modified to satisfy big business.
That's what happened to the Superfund, or Dingell-Broighill, bill dealing with the clean-up of toxic dumps. The bill will be voted on as early as mid-September by the U.S. House of Representatives.
According to Sierra, a Sierra Club publication, legislators last year took into account that 93 percent of the population worried about the dangers of toxic wastes. A strong Superfund bill resulted which reflected the concerns of the people rather than the cost to big business.
But chemical- and oil-industry lobbyists started a high-powered campaign to convince the members of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Transportation and Tourism not to issue the original bill. Their efforts paid off.
On June 20, the subcommittee rejected the original Superfund bill, and substituted a bill submitted by
Reps. John Dingell, D-Mich., and James Brohill, R.N.C.
Both bills authorized the allocation of $10 billion over five years for hazardous waste cleanup, but the new bill has three serious flaws which make it ineffective.
The first flaw is that the bill doesn't set the number of toxic waste dumps the Environmental Protection Agency would have to begin cleaning up each year.
Sierra said there were hundreds of dump sites the EPA has classified as toxic waste sites but still needed to study before it could begin the cleanup. And there are hundreds more added to that list each year.
Without a schedule for cleanup, the number of dumps cleaned up by the EPA will always be vastly outnumbered by the number of dumps needing attention.
Sierra quoted James Florio, D.N.J., subcommittee chairman, as saying the bill would perpetuate the agonizingly slow pace of cleanup the nation had endured for the last five years.
The second f:aw in the bill concerns
Kathy Flanders Staff column
Staff columnist
the standards for cleanup proposed by the Dingell Browhill bill. They are not strict enough for effective cleanup of the sites. There are 129 pollutants regulated under the Clean Water Act which are not covered by the new bill.
A strong bill would require the EPA to bring the dumps up to the minimum requirements set by other health, water quality and waste disposal laws.
The third and most appallying aspect of the Dingell-Broyhill bill is that it prohibits citizen suits in federal court to require immediate cleanup of toxic dumps when they threaten public health. It only allows suits to force the EPA to abide by the requirements of the bill.
That goes against the existing law, which allows for citizen suits. Instead, the bill gives immunity to the
owners of abandoned or closed dumps.
After disasters such as Love Canal, citizens should make their voices heard so legislators know their votes are being scrutinized by their constituents, even in a non-election year.
There's a second cliche that's equally true. Legislators监听 to their constituents. We can do something about the watered-down bill.
Rep. Jim Slattery, D-Kan., is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He voted for the right to file suits against polluters, but against the other two aspects of the bill. There is still time, for him to work to change the bill before it is voted on.
Big business can't win again in the battle for our health. The bill must be strengthened and passed to protect our natural right to a safe environment.
The polluters in big business may have the 'dollars needed to employ lobbyists for their cause and may have weakened the bill, but the final vote isn't in yet.
Rock music excesses need warning label
Although Frank Zappa might not mind his children learning about masturbation, sex, drugs and violence at an early age, his actions suggest that he wants his views imposed upon other parents nationwide.
Recently, Zappa has chosen to defend rock performers who dress like convicts or circus clowns and preach profanity.
His support of such action is being opposed by a number of concerned parents who want commercial record producers to include a warning of a record's contents on each label.
Two groups, the National Parent-Teacher Association and the Parents Music Resource have joined forces in an effort to promote the labels.
First of all, the word censorship seems to stir fears of authoritarianism in liberals like Zappa. This is only because they have the tendency to view it as an absolute. Labeling records would be only a minor form of censorship because banning censorship would be banning the records.
However, Zappa, a rock and avant-garde musician, referred to the labels as a form of censorship. He said that if people don't like rock 'n' roll, they shouldn't purchase it.
The labels would tell people who don't want vulgar records what they're buying. The labels would help buyers decide what records to buy. It wouldn't prevent them from buying, which entrée censorship would do.
People like Zappa argue about the concept of the open marketplace of ideas. All ideas, they say, should come out in the open. The good ones would be discovered, and the unsatisfactory ones would fall out of public favor.
The concept had two purposes: to
Evan Walter
Staff columnist
expose all ideas so they can be judged fairly without oppression, and to discover truth in the vast sea of falsehood.
Now, if rock 'n' roll contains truth,
it must be hidden well. The market-
place of ideas was meant for
sophisticated ideas about government,
science and philosophy. Rock 'n'
roll, however, isn't based on
complex ideas for intellectuals to
study. Rather, it's a form of
entertainment for young people.
As for exposing ideas, rock 'n' roll has been exposed enough. It hasn't guided the world towards truth but rather towards decadence. It persuades young people to dress savagely, take dangerous drugs, rebel against the establishment, hate their parents and teachers and regurgitate vulgarity in the streets. Enlightening, it hasn't been. Destructive, it has.
Again, the record labels would be only a mild form of censorship, one similar to movie ratings. It would scant the overexposure of vulgarity taught to children by rock performers.
Extreme censorship would amount to tyranny of the censor board, which would pose a danger to the public. Its opposite, freedom of expression, would be just as dangerous when taken to extremes, producing total decadence and anarchy.
The market should avoid extremes at either side. It must draw a line somewhere in the middle. The record labels accomplish that.
Setting America back
Mailbox
“Bringing America back” was the slogan used by President Reagan on his campaign trail in 1980. A very patriotic slogan, which I question often, “back to what?”
In the light of the policies of Ronald Reagan, one can see many areas of controversy. Most of the arguments seem to be between the liberal and conservative activists.
The University Daily Kansan columnist, Victor Goodpasture, leans heavily on the use of the term "liberal" when talking about the basis of evil behind the issues with which he disagrees. I would like to make a point, not only to Mr. Goodpasture, but to the rest of the Kansan readers. The point is that not only do the liberals oppose the conservative point of view, but many people oppose the conservative and liberal policies instituted in the government today.
What reaction are you going to have toward these people when they begin to voice their opinions?
Thus the problem does not lie with the liberal population only, the so-called problem lies with the group as a whole who opposes Reagan and his policies.
' Will you just pin another label on their backs and throw them into the stockpile of "degenerate un-American youth movements?" If so, Victor, your attitude and the attitude of many other citizens, including the president, is just as oppressive as any "communist regime."
So when Ronald Reagan, "in the tradition of Rambo," presses the button and lets the missiles fly, remember the Reagan, America Rack.
Greg Thonen
Olathe freshman
Math 101 complaints
I believe Math 101 and its Self Instructed Mastery Plan is simply asinine. Several points back my assertion. The textbook provides answers to approximately half of the problems assigned in the syllabus. Therefore if one is to obtain the correct answers, he must ask one of the tutors to check or work the remaining half of the problems. This could take up valuable time that should be used in helping a student who has a genuine problem with the material. To make matters worse, there are rarely enough tutors to provide adequate help and many of them have not been properly trained to teach — they merely work the problems for the student. I have seen students get up and leave after having their hands up for ten minutes because there are no enough tutors. The math lecture each Thursday night is a great inconvenience because most students study at night. Why can't the math lecture be given at the same time during the day that the 101 class was scheduled for on the first day of classes?
I have no numerical proof, but I believe many of the Math 101 students agree with me because they expected a real class with a real teacher.
Brad Taylor
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Kansas City, Mo., freshman