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Friday, October 2, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Lost in space
Sunday will mark the 30th anniversary of the launching of the Soviet satellite Sputnik, an event that inspired fear and even panic among some observers who saw the United States falling dangerously behind in the space race.
As a result, a massive educational push was mounted in this country to combat the Soviet edge.
Perhaps the best thing that could happen to the United States right now would be another highly visible Soviet success in space — another Sputnik.
Our schools are producing a large number of students illiterate in science and mathematics, a problem that seems to grow more severe with each passing year. The problem is not a lack of students with adequate potential; it is an inadequate commitment of resources to consolidate the gains made after Tsuikil.
What will it take to make our leaders see the need for improved science education? Our children are growing into a world even more technologically complex than our own. They play with toys that are a product of advanced science, but the principles that govern them are are not given sufficient emphasis in schools.
Though our educational standards have slipped, and though the United States is no longer the undisputed leader in the space race, we seem to demand a tangible symbol of our decay before we feel compelled to act.
On the levy
All children have the right to learn at decent schools, and U.S. District Judge Russell G. Clark should be commended for his dogged efforts to give Kansas City, Mo., children that chance.
Clark recently reaffirmed his order of a $1.95 increase in the school district's levy rate to pay for desegregation programs. He ordered the county Tuesday to levy the tax.
Hopefully, the necessary jolt will come before our educational system declines much more.
His taxation order was an unprecedented action for a judge, but action was necessary because of the district's woeful inaction.
In 1985 he issued an order including school improvement programs and magnet schools and ordered the district to seek a property tax increase.
Clark has been forced to lead the district by the hand all along. In 1984, he ordered the district and Missouri to propose remedies to the district's illegal segregation.
Last year, he ordered an increased budget for the programs and ordered the opening of magnet schools to attract whites.
and ordered the opening of magnet schools to act as wires.
The voters twice defeated proposals to increase the school levy
What choice do they leave the judge? Kansas City schools will not be desegregated without additional financing, and it is the responsibility of the taxpayers to provide the money.
The tax increases will be big enough to hurt. But children's futures have been hurt for years by substandard schools.
Desegregation will continue without programs to stop it. Clark is doing his best to stop the injustice.
Out of order
The Reagan administration may slam yet another door in the faces of the elderly and the disabled.
About 31 million elderly and disabled Medicare recipients may have to speak their minds on the telephone instead of in person if they have problems with benefits. Medicare is the federal health
In a move to make the system more efficient and less costly, the administration has proposed a plan to have appeal hearings conducted by phone instead of face to face. Recipients now go to courthouses and offices to appeal if they think they have unjustly been denied Medicare.
Under the proposed program, the Federal Health Care Financing Administration would establish a Medicare hearing office and conduct most of the work by phone.
Such a system would be unfair for those intimidated by the phone or hard of hearing or for those who just can't explain themselves over the phone. In addition, presenting information over the phone on complicated problems would be hard, if not impossible.
But that's not the worst part of the plan.
The government wants the Medicare agency to employ the administrative law judges who decide the cases.
How can judges maintain any level of objectivity if they have to decide cases for or against the same agency that signs their paycheck?
Editorials in this column are the opinions of the editorial board
News staff
Jennifer Benjamin ... Editor
Juli Warren ... Managing editor
John Benner ... News editor
Beth Copeland ... Editorial editor
Sally Streff ... Campus editor
Brian Kabellere ... Sports editor
Dan Riettmann ... Photo editor
Bill Skeet ... Graphics editor
Tom Eblen ... General manager, news adviser
Business staff
joannie J. Hardy...Business manager
Robert Hughes...Advertising manager
Kelly Scherer...Retail sales manager
Kurt Messermith...Campus sales manager
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David Derfert...National sales National sales
Angela Crutch...Classified manager
Ron Weems...Director of marketing
Jennie Hines...Sales and marketing adviser
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Kansas: The land of zzzzzzzz's Who imagined the wheat state could be so much fun?
Kansas. land of abs.
That's what the state bureau of tourism would like us and the outside world to believe. We've all seen the "Land of abs" campaign on television and a few billboards. When I first saw it, I thought it was just a sick joke to remind Kansians that we are indeed in a tourist and entertainment waste-
When native Kansans see old "Mad Max" flicks, the Australian outback looks painfully familiar. So what has prompted the state of Kansas to ask that tourists "linger for awhile" in this, our land o' fields and farms?
It is a question that is beyond reason and logic. Why would anyone in his right mind willingly come to Kansas for a vacation, or even slow down and "linger" on I-TOP? I have lived in the state for more than 14 years, and the aura of Dorothy and Larry has been there ever since we say, the thought of tourists lingering here is equivalent to the lingering odor of death and carnage at a 12-car pile-up.
Although very skeptical, I tried to imagine what a tour through Kansas would be like. I thought of a little boy named Tommy and his father taking the early summer to see some of the prairie. Tommy had already seen such great sights as Disney World, the Grand Canyon and Elvis' Graceland — where he purchased a beautiful
black-velvet painting of the great entertainer. He was truly a seasoned traveler.
when he and his father arrived in Kansas, the two starred almost immediately.
"Hey, Dad? Why are all of the fields black and on fire?"
"Well, son, the farmers burn them off before they begin planting again."
'Pete say, duu.
"Oh no, son. I'll tell you what. We'll pull over, and I'll teach you the proper method to smother yourself if you're ever on fire!"
Next on the touring agenda was seeing the first digital gasoline pump in western Kansas at Buck's Amoco.
"Well, howdy do? My name's Buck. Ain't she a beauty? I let my boy Virgil fill the pick-up when we got it so he'd be the first to use 'er."
"The stuff memories are made of huh, Buck? Oh. Buck?"
"Yessir?"
"Could you step back a couple of feet? You're spitting tobacco all over my son's face and he's becoming somewhat nauseated."
Finally, the man and his son went out looking for the real action in Kansas. This was the kind of fun that they had only read about. Buck had even mentioned it at the station. A night of cow tipping would make the day's tour seem almost bearable. How poetic. A father, his son and a field full of cattle.
"Hey, son. I'm really sorry. Are you sure you're not mad?"
not had?"
"It's OK, Dad, none of the ribs punctured a bone."
"Well, it was dark and I thought you were behind me a few feet."
The next day, Tommy and his father saw what they had been wanting to see since they had entered the state. This is what made the whole trip worth their while. It was tall and majestic, just standing there beside the roadway. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold, and it read "Colorado 15."
"It's not your fault, Pop. It wasn't very big cow anyway, I will be all right."
Jon Gregor is a Leavenworth junior majoring in political science and broadcast journalism.
K·A·N·S·A·N
MAILBOX
Peace and quiet
Thank you, Lisa Maloney, for what you said in your guest shot Sept. 28 regarding graduate living situations. You wrote the column I wanted to, but was too busy to.
As a graduate student living in Meadowbrook, I share many of Lisa's problems. I was told I was living on the "family side," but I soon discovered that my next-door and upstairs neighbors were undergraduates. I learned this after hearing parties at 2 a.m. and electric-guitar playing at 4 a.m.
At first, I made some complaints and tried to tolerate the lesser offenses. To my next-door neighbor's credit, he took an interest in my
quality of life and made some modifications in where he placed his stereo speakers, when he listened to his music and how loud he and his friends talked when they came in late.
My upstairs neighbors were a different matter. Only after three complaints and a talk with the landlord did I get some relief. These guys weren't going to change until someone other than me made them
My first point is: Why does Meadowbrook bother to make the differentiation? When I asked them, they said sometimes they had to move larger groups into the apartments on the family side when they ran out on the student side. That instantly destroys the differentiation. If they can't keep a clear-cut policy, they need to say so up front.
I purposefully avoided residence hall living because I was afraid of the noise. After living on my own for almost 10 years, dormitory living didn't seem for me. Now I feel like I'm living in a dormitory anyway.
My other point is: Why don't people care about how they affect others' lives? Doesn't it
bother them that they may be causing someone to lose sleep and as a result do poorly in class? I wouldn't feel comfortable knowing I was making someone else's life miserable.
But I've begun to wonder whether it has something to do with the value people place upon education. I worked for years to save for graduate school. Leaving the work world and moving across the country was no small decision. Perhaps those who are partying all the time wouldn't be doing so if they had to pay for their education themselves.
I've tried not to let this affect how I look at undergraduates. After all, I was one once, too. And they aren't all bad, nor are all graduate students good.
Barbara Joseph, Seattle, Wash.,graduate student
GRAMM-RUDMAN II
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed