Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Jodie Chester, Editor Marc Harrell, Business manager Gerry Doyle, Managing editor Jamie Holman, Retail sales manager Ryan Koerner, Managing editor Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser Justin Knupp, Technology coordinator
Thursday, November 12, 1998
Robert Novak / KANSAN
Editorials
High school's security cameras are both unnecessary and costly
Lawrence taxpayers soon may pay to monitor more high school hallways.
Lawrence High School already has installed one camera, which it purchased last week.
Lawrence High Principal Dick Patterson said the camera cost less than $1,000, but Assistant Superintendent Craig Flegel said school board members were discussing the purchase of additional surveillance systems. He said most systems range from $12,000 to $15,000.
Why is the school district even considering the purchase and installation of such equipment? Both Patterson and Fiegl admitted that Lawrence high schools have not experienced significant vandalism, theft or other security threats.
Lawrence High employs security supervisors, and both high schools have employees who work almost 24 hours a day. Additional security measures have been taken, such as requiring visitors to check in at the office and training teachers to spot unusual activity. Some staff members carry portable
radios for communication in remote areas of the building, and each classroom is equipped with an intercom connected to the front office. Many classrooms have phones with outside lines.
Patterson maintained that the installation of a camera at Lawrence High was another preventative measure. But his decision seems to lean more toward a lavish use of discretionary funds that would be better spent on technology or other academic resources.
Not only is there no need for additional security, but a few cameras would only pacify fears, not solve the real problem. Lawrence High, for example, has 38 entryways. It would be far too expensive to monitor each entryway in addition to other parts of the building.
The lone camera in Lawrence High
does not serve much of a purpose. The camera is in plain view and covers a small area of the building. A vandal or thief could simply avoid the monitored area.
The camera, although supposedly a preventative measure, is not hooked up to a monitored television screen — it only records for later playback. If something happened, no one would be able to prevent it.
Also, most of the national incidents that set a precedent for stepped-up security at schools around the nation occurred outside the building, not inside.
Before the school district moves to purchase costly camera equipment, it should decide if the Lawrence taxpayers should pay to ineffectively monitor high-school students, or if they should pay to enhance students' educational opportunities. In a relatively safe, crime-free school district, educational funds would be put to much better use through the purchase of additional educational tools, not an elaborate surveillance system.
Nadia Mustafa for the editorial board
Glenn's mission bursts stereotypes
As NASA sent a 77-year-old astronaut into space, some wondered whether John Glenn's return to space was worthwhile. Although there were questions about sending Glenn on a space shuttle, the mission should have a positive effect on American attitudes.
Since the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into flight in 1986, Americans have given little thought to the space program. People used to crowd around the television to watch a flight; now, they hear of it only in passing.
Sending Glenn to space sparked new interest in the space program.
It is possible that sending Glenn into
space was somewhat of a publicity stunt for NASA to capture the public's attention once again. Glenn has been an American icon since he became the first American to orbit the earth in 1962.
for the past 24 years, he certainly has more pull than others who might have been eligible.
Hopefully, Glenn will play a part in changing stereotypes and attitudes about older adults. The 77-year-old senator is an example of an older person who is healthy and productive, contradicting the stereotype of older people as ill and no longer active in society.
It also is unlikely that Glenn would have been sent into space again unless he had requested to do so. A senator
It is important for many to re-evaluate their views on the elderly. Glenn's mission and safe return and might have accomplished this.
Erinn R. Barcomb for the editorial board
Kansan staff
Ann Premer ... Editorial
Tim Harrington ... Associate Editorial
Aaron Marvin ... News
Gwen Olson ... News
Aaron Knopf ... Online
Matt Friedrichs ... Sports
Kevin Wilson ... Associate sports
Marc Sheforgen ... Campus
Laura Roddy ... Campus
Lindsey Henry ... Features
Bryan Volk ... Associate features
Roger Nomer ... Photo
Corie Waters ... Photo
Angie Kuhn ... Design, graphics
Mellissa Ngo ... Wire
Sara Anderson ... Special sections
Laura Veazey ... news clerk
News editors
Advertising managers
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Brandi Byram ... Campus
Micah Kaffitz ... Regional
Ryan Farmer ... National
Matt York ... Marketing
Stephanie Krause ... Production
Matt Thomas ... Production
Traci Meisenheimer ... Creative
Tenley Lane ... Classified
Sara Cropper ... Zone
Nicole Farrell ... Zone
Jon Schlitt ... Zone
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Matt Lopez ... Zone
Brian Allers ... PR/Intern manager
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
How to submit letters and guest columns
**Letters:** Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and home-town if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
"Love — a grave mental disease." Plato
Guest columns: Should be double-
spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Ann Premer (premer@kansan.com) or Tim Hartrington (tharrington@kansan.com) at 846-4810. If you have general question or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 846-4810.
Days of processed papers soon coming to an end
Having spent nearly 16 years of my life in one learning institution or another, I now find myself in an all-too-familiar situation: Staring blankly into
Perspective
the flat-white glare of a computer screen trying desperately to write something original.
Yes, I know, originality isn't expected of me. Not at this level. Maybe not ever. I find myself wishing to do something different. Why write the same bland, boring, formatted essay paper that I've always written?
H.C.
Miller
opinion © kansan.com
Standard introduction.
Place name of author and
title of work here. Regur-
gitate specified statement from instructor's lecture notes. Explain broadly what will be specifically detailed in later paragraphs as preordained by the Modern Language Association hand-book purchased as a freshman.
Body paragraph quotes should be pulled from the previously underlined source material, preferably those lines reiterated by the instructor and underlined twice. Any semblance of opinion should be carefully organized along lines of thought deemed worthy by outside sources bearing instructor's approval.
Conclusions should be tidy, with fresh transitional statements preceding the final repetition of ideas expressed in previous paragraphs.
Have I made my point yet?
Have I made my job easier?
This is what college has trained me to do. I don't brush my teeth with as much efficiency as I write a paper.
Interpret a poem? O.K., are there any words repeated twice? Yes — then it's golden. 1,500 words? Do they all need to make sense? No, just make sure each sentence has at least one comma in it — got it.
Thesis statement. Check.
Proper internal documentation. Check.
Fairly scattered but not too obvious use of thesaurus. Check.
All systems go. Let's go throw back some cold ones.
Yeah, I enjoy a relaxed learning environment that encourages me to express my own ideas and individuality, just so long as I don't do it in the hallowed pages of academia.
I don't know. Maybe it's senioritis. Maybe I've spent too many hours of my life "interpreting" the works of long-dead authors who no longer have authority over their own material. Or, maybe I just want that slip of paper that says I survived 124 credit hours of the will-crushing educational system. And I'm ready to enter the work force to continue this regurgitation and reinterpretation of facts in a way that will allow me to sustain my own existence.
Yes, I am worn out with school. My eyes have glazed over the faded pages of ancient textbooks one too many times. I have put enough No. 2 pencil lead to poison a small horse upon enough scantron pages to make up a large forest. I have watched the seconds of my life tick away one at a time while some poorly coordinated individual fumbled with the many gadgets of a multimedia classroom.
And it was all for the sake of an education. All for the ability to more fully express myself, my thoughts and my opinions. All for an opportunity to take on the world with the knowledge that I am a more fully developed individual than I was four years ago. And I am.
And I am.
I don't deny that college has given me more depth of character than living with mommy and daddy ever could have. I'm ready for it to end. A point has been reached where my own education takes a back seat to my own survival in the classroom, a point where my individuality has been given up for the greater good of graduation.
I learned early that my ideas would have to be put through a blender and sprinkled sparingly across the multitude of assignments handed to professors. Although many different opinions and observations have been presented to me during the last four years, my own thoughts and interpretations have remained bottled up to pass more smoothly through the machinery of enlightenment.
This is student number 646050, and I'm ready to move on to something more.
Miller is a Hutchinson senior in English.
Brazilian student learns about being a minority
I only began noticing the word "minority" recently. I had heard it many, many times in Brazil, but just really began paying attention to it when I became an
the university of Kansas. There's a good reason for that.
I did not pay too much attention to minority groups until I was part of one. Most of my best friends in Brazil were either black or from low-income families, while I had always been the bourgeois member of the group, they would say. I'm from a middle-class, white family. I finished school and went to
Diana
Victor
Guest Columnist
college — this is not typical for young Brazilians. After all, I was going to study in the United States. "How chie," everybody said
Since my first week here I have had to fill out tons of forms. All of them have the same section — race. I never know what to write down.
White? Not really. Many Americans have told me how dark my skin is, which was surprising. Brazilians have always called me "milky white."
Hispanic? Well, I don't speak Spanish
Other? That's my usual choice.
I just can't help but wonder why a country that's so worried about political correctness would continue to use these same racist forms. I am not an "other."
Don't take me wrong, sometimes the race sections of these forms are in my favor. There is always a good side to being a minority, especially in this country. The government, universities and other American institutions reserve several awards, scholarships and grants especially for minorities. This does not exist in the country I'm from. I'm glad to know many people here understand the importance of diversity.
Some people have a hard time understanding I'm here simply because the school is good. They commonly think international students use this opportunity to become immigrants. Some do, but not everyone can be classified this way.
Many of my American friends have broadened their horizons the same way I have. One of my best friends was surprised to find out it's summer in Brazil when it's winter here. "We will never have to go through winter again. Let's just hop around the countries," she said. We loved the idea.
There's always something to be learned from someone else, especially if he or she has a different cultural background.
On the other hand, "life is not always pink," as we would say in Portuguese.
When I start a conversation with an American, they always ask the same question: "So, are you planning on working here after you graduate?" I understand some people are interested in my aspirations, but the question says everything. I usually say that I want to work as a correspondent, in Brazil."
But I know people confuse my student status with that of a potential immigrant. I try to explain I'm here to study, not to make money — I actually did not have to worry about paying the rent, the water or the electricity at home. I do here and it's not fun.
The teacher of my favorite and most challenging class this semester told me: "I'm sorry, I can't understand you. Your accent is so thick." I froze for five seconds. I'm sure a lot people know the "everybody-is-looking-at-me" feeling. I repeated the question and got my answer.
It's not easy to be an international student. Whoever has studied abroad knows the feeling. But is it worth it? You bet.
Victor is a Rio de Janeiro, Brazil junior in journalism.
Feedback
Coke, Commerce shouldn't be issues
It is time for the writers of the Kansan and other campus groups to move on. The constant berating of the University contract with Coke and Commerce Bank is uncalled for. When the Kansan's attitude toward Coke seeps its
way into the only article about homecoming, it is time to say enough is enough. When was the last time you have been in a restaurant and had a choice between Coke and Pepsi? It just doesn't happen.
This is the way of life in the United States, and the University's job is to prepare us for like outside campus. Get over
the obsession with Coke and move on to issues that can make our lives much better. Such as the campus littering problem, the hundreds if not thousands of cigarette butts that pollute Wescoe Beach, or the dilapidated state of classrooms on campus.
Chris Pettigrew
Shawnee junior
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