4A the university daily kansan
opinion
monday, November 10, 2003
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Free for All
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com
What are with all of these liberals? We need more Republicans on this campus.
I am from New Jersey and it is soda, not pop.
The Family Guy is cooler than The Simpsons.
Louise Stauffer needs to mind her own business. I like the Free For All, so keep on printing what you are printing.
Best movie ever? Two words:
Suburban Commando.
I got a Bible on campus today because some old guy is insecure with his religion.
Screw KU. I am going to transfer to Nebraska so I can major in corn husking.
Having a smoking section in a restaurant is like having a peeing section in a public pool.
letter to the editor
International understanding key to winning war on terror
As KU community members who believe that international exchange holds out the best hope for a more harmonious world, we regret the promulgation of a call for the full-scale invasion of the Muslim world in the hate-filled letter,"United States, University must confront terrorism,"in The University Dally Kansan's Oct. 29 issue. Through international exchange, we have the opportunity for people-to-people understanding, which is what will eventually change the world, not venomous letters. We urge the Kansan to use its power of the press to present all sides of this complex and important issue.
To our Muslim friends and colleagues, we would like to express our sincere regret for this message of hatred by one member of the University community. We can only imagine the pain seeing these vile words in print must have caused you.
Diana Carlin
Graduate School and Office of International Programs
Susan Gronbeck-Tedesco director Office of Study Abroad
Joe Potts director International Student and Scholar Services
Chuck Seibol director Applied English Center
sack's view
Steve Sack for KRT Campus
perspective
Take charge of your tuition: Figure out what you can do to change University's price
COMMENTARY
Nationally, tuition at universities is increasing.
At the University of Kansas, this is not quite true. Here, tuition is skrovetting.
A
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that tuition at the University has increased 114 percent in the past 10 years. That is right, folks: In 10 years, tuition has doubled. You may wonder how this compares to other universities
Travis Weller opinion@kansan.com
the national average increase in tuition at four-year public universities is about 85 percent.
Instead, University Relations issued a statement describing how much cheaper housing is at the University. This is important information, and I am certainly happy that housing is cheaper in Lawrence than it is in other college towns. But, the University should have
Articles describing this ran in a number of Kansas newspapers while we were all enjoying fall break. The Garden City Telegram, the Lawrence Journal-World and The Hutchinson News are just a few of the papers that picked up the story. What was the University's response? One would expect a calm, rational press release from the University describing how the increased tuition money was being spent and why exactly so much money is needed.
released this information as part of a broader response.
As students, we are left asking some serious and important questions:
1. Why is tuition increasing here so much more rapidly than it is at other universities?
2. Who decides how the money is spent? Is there student input? Are student voices being considered?
3. How much longer will these dramatic tuition increases continue at the University?
We know part of the answer to the last question. We are currently in year two of the University administration's grand plan of tuition enhancements. There are three more years of planned tuition increases.
Sebelius, your state senators and representatives and ask them the hard questions. Ask them why there are so many tuition increases and so little state support. You can find your elected officials' contact information at www.state.ks.us. Contact the Kansas Board of Regents. Here in Kansas, the Board of Regents is the group that has the final say in decisions at our colleges and universities. They are the ones who ultimately approve tuition increases. Find out more about the Board of Regents at www.kansasregents.org. Contact your representatives and your president at the national level, too. Express to them your concerns about rising tuition costs and urge them to support higher education.
It is important that we hold those in
Finally, take it to the state and national levels. Contact Gov. Kathleen
The next responsibility level is the University administration itself. Contact Chancellor Robert Hemenway (rhenenway@ukans.edu) and ask him why tuition is being increased so much each year. Ask him why the University's tuition is increasing so much more rapidly than other institutions. Tell him what you think he should spend the money on. Is it safety? Student services? Advising? Smaller classes? More professors?
power accountable. There are a few levels of people you should contact. First are your elected student body president, Andy Knopp, and student senators. Student Senate is beginning work on an informational panel about the tuition increases. Contact Knopp (knopp@ku.edu) or find your specific senators at www.ku.edu/-senate, thank them for their work in the past and encourage them to stay with the issue in the future.
Ask them to work with the administration to organize a way that all students can share what they think tuition money should be spent on. Ask them to direct the Student Legislative Awareness Board to step up activities in Topeka so there is more state support for higher education.
There are lots of individuals who can change the price of the University. There are people here at the University and people at the state and national levels who can influence how much you pay for taking that English or psychology class. But ultimately, the most important individual is you. It is up to the students of the University of Kansas to ask the difficult questions and demand answers.
Weller is a Garden City senior in sociology.
perspective
Apparently, a clue.
Effort to achieve fluency in second language abroad humbling, frustrating, worthwhile
I'll admit it, I was a little cocky coming into this semester in Costa Rica. I expected difficulty, but I felt prepared. I had taken Spanish classes since 8th grade. I'm majoring in Spanish. I received the Telemundo cable channel in my home. What more did I need?
I didn't fully understand that there are different levels of language understanding, like proficiency and fluency. I had non-Spanish speakers, namely my parents, tell me not to be bashful and admit that I was almost fluent in Spanish.
Everyone in my family believed that after five months I'd come home fluent. I tried to explain that it was highly unlikely, that it wouldn't be that easy.
COMMENTARY
I had even studied abroad before, in perpetually rainy yet charming England. I had already battled culture shock and homesickness.
Though I didn't fully appreciate the "use of two when one will do" spelling rules (like the two m's in programme) and calling objects by different names, the English still spoke English.
Alexzia Plummer opinion@kansan.com
Four months into my Costa Rica
experience, I realize how far I still have to go to achieve my dream of Spanish fluency.
Learning a language here has been the ultimate ego assault. "Humbling" doesn't describe the following feelings: never understanding what's going on, receiving blank stares from native speakers after trying to say something, having people underestimate my intelligence because of my Spanish skills. Silly me. I've been taking it personally.
It's especially frustrating because my comedic timing is off. The sense of humor is the first thing lost in translation and the last skill fully mastered. I walk around with all these funny ideas
in my head, but I can't get them out quickly enough.
I have mastered the art of laughing at the right time. At the beginning of the semester, I would just watch the reactions on my host family's faces for the cue to laugh or grin. In my classes it's much easier; I do what I call time-lapsed laughing: coming in on the second wave of laughter, still not getting the joke.
Learning a language feels like you're wearing handcuffs. You can communicate but it's restricted. With handcuffs, you can still walk, but you can't do everything you want. And as you struggle to break out of the handcuffs, you look silly. As you stumble over verb conjugations and pronunciations, you sound strange. It seems like everyone else can move about freely. They can say anything they want, and they sound natural. Everyone but you. People politely ignore that you're jerking around wildly with your wrists behind your back. They politely ignore your terrible accent and talk to you as if you're a fully functional member of society.
As in so many other parts of life, effort counts more than knowledge . The will to keep trying must triumph over the fear of making mistakes.
For example, I'm taking a phonetics class in which I'm learning exactly how I've been mispronouncing almost every Spanish word I have ever said. But if I don't try to incorporate what I've learned, if I don't slow down to say things correctly, the knowledge is useless.
And then one day, you figure out how to slide your wrists out and break through. But it takes a struggle. When you started out, you thought you'd be handed the key. But it was the struggle that gave you the skill to overcome.
Every day I wake up knowing I will make mistakes. My only hope is to not murder the language as badly as I did the day before.
I'm still amazed anyone has learned another language. The existence of the people who have gives me hope that it's possible.
Plummer is a Bellvue, Neb., senior in journalism.
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