Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Jodie Chester, editor
Gerry Doyle, Managing editor
Ryan Koerner, Managing editor
Tom Eblen, General manager, news advisor
Marc Harrell, Business manager
Jamie Holman, Retail sales manager
Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser
Justin Knudd, Technology coordinator
Monday, November 9, 1998
Editorial
Cultural understanding is difficult to teach in University classrooms
The idea that each student can graduate from the University of Kansas with a better understanding of different cultures within the United States is a wonderful ideal.
But in reality, it will be difficult to foster cultural understanding in a classroom setting.
That is what a contingent of people would like to see happen at the University.
The Committee on Undergraduate Studies and Advising is reviewing a proposal that would add a U.S. Diversity class to University curriculum. Under the proposal, all students seeking bachelor of science or bachelor of general studies degrees from the College of Liberal Arts and sciences would be required to take a course that meets the diversity requirement.
This is a lofty requirement. Even though teaching people to accept other cultures sounds impressive, there are many problems to overcome and answers that need provided before the committee can accept such a proposal.
Description of what type of course this would be are vague. Still in question are: What cultures are included and which are left out? What type of curriculum is taught? Does the background of the teachers matter? Do
A KU committee is reviewing a proposal that may make a diversity class a requirement.
instructors have to come from specific cultures?
These are just a few of the numerous questions that need answered.
The bigger question is, can a class about diversity teach people to be more tolerant of others? Some say yes, others say no. But it is legitimate to ask if a group can learn in a classroom to accept another culture.
Although those students probably could learn about different cultures, therefore understanding customs and not finding them odd, it is unlikely this automatically will make the world a better place. Especially if the class is not properly taught and the curriculum is weak.
Another concern is the teaching of stereotypes. The committee, while reviewing the idea, must ensure that the class does not teach stereotypes. There are many that exist concerning cultures and if the curriculum used is poor and reinforces those stereotypes, then the class could cause harm.
Making the class a requirement is
also too much to ask. Increasingly, graduating is becoming difficult as more requirements continually are added. If the University wants to offer this course, then it should. But it should not be required.
The University also must ensure that whomever teaches the course must make it interesting and exciting. Dennis Dailey's Human Sexuality in Everyday Life is the most popular course on campus. This isn't just because of its content, but primarily because Dailey makes the class interesting and easy for people to relate to. If a U.S. Diversity class does not have an instructor who can do the same, then the class may not be effective.
Wanting everybody to have a better understanding of cultures that comprise the United State is a wonderful idea. But if not done properly the class could fail. Diversity cannot be taught in a classroom with books and overheads. It must be taught in environments, such as roundtable discussions and social settings, where cultures can come together and educate one another. If the University can create a setting where that happens, then it will have found a way to foster cultural understanding.
But the proposal on the table will not get the job done.
Spencer Duncan for the editorial board
Feedback
Laws against guns won't help situation
The recent summary of politicians indicates that The University Daily Kansan editorial board has some concern about gun control and concealed weapons. I want to address those. We have various incidents of violence in which
Weapons will still be readily available, offering more opportunities for a criminal class to make a profit selling them. Hasn't the board learned anything form the
assault weapons are used. They are already illegal. If we make another class of weapons illegal or include categories such as concealed weapons is this going to change the situation?
drug situation?
Drugs are everywhere. They were everywhere 20 years ago. If we have no way of stopping drugs, which are illegal, why does the board believe that a more restrictive gun policy would make any difference?
Kansan staff
John Garson
Ann Premer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editorial
Tim Harrington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Associate Editorial
Aaron Marvin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . News
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Matt Friedrichs . . . . . . . . . . . Sports
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Marc Sheforgen . . . . . . . . . . Campus
Laura Roddy . . . . . . . . . . . Campus
Lindsey Henry . . . . . . . . . Features
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“To confess a fault freely is the next thing to being innocent of it.” — Syrus
Broaden your mind! Today's quote
find in each thing to be beyond of it."
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.
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-Flimt 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 Harrington (tharrington@kansan.com) at 864-4810. If you have general questions or comments, email the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4810.
Perspective
E-mail communications may leave no evidence
Spencer Duncan
spinion@kansan.com
f Mesopotamians had e-mail, history would have a different look.
Writing that was left on caves, rocks, tombs and pyramids have helped historians
piece together times when writing was limited. These writings help researchers understand different civilizations and have made it possible to trace the advancements of the human race.
But imagine if the Mesopotamians, instead of tracing on walls, had sent messages via e-mail.
Written letters, memos and private messages have divulged historical secrets and shed light on the world's greatest moments and figures.
Private letters written by Martin Luther King Jr. offer greater insight into his personality. President Lyndon B. Johnson was an extremely private man. After his death, when many of his private letters and memos were released, a more emotional side of him was revealed.
Sitting on his clay seat, one inventor writes to another, "Hey Bob, I just invented the wheel."
History's holes often are filled with writings discovered years later. Thomas Jefferson's letters, discovered decades after his death, hint that he may have had an affair with a slave. Memos by Richard Nixon give insight into how Watergate erupted into the mess that it became.
In a digital age where e-mail is the rage, tracing history is more difficult. Had Bill Clinton sent his notes to Monica Lewinsky via e-mail, she could have read them and then deleted them. Kenneth Starr would not have been able to submit them to Congress in his investigation.
E-mail is fluid. It can be sent and delivered with a speed that a letter and memo cannot match. But it also can be disposed of easier than any written document. For history's sake, let's hope that people continue to write things down.
invented the wizard
Bob, sitting in front of his new iStone computer, sees the message, writes back,
"Wav to go!" and deletes the message.
The wheel may exist forever, but the evidence of its creation has been erased forever by Bob. No stone walls will remain thousands of years later to tell when the wheel was created. With just the touch of a button, the record is gone.
Unlike written documents, personal letters and stone tablets, e-mail is less permanent. One hundred years from now, e-mail love letters will not be found in an old shoe box of Bill Clinton's. E-mail messages are less likely to be discovered in a file cabinet or among the papers of a famous American
As wonderful as e-mail is, connecting friends in different countries and allowing parents and children to talk coast to coast without boosting the phone bill, it possesses an interesting challenge to history.
when e-mail messages come, they can be deleted instantly, and, increasingly, people
are not printing them out. They are getting rid of them or putting them on hard drives and disks that probably will not be accessible as the years go by because of technology changes.
A Macintosh disk that can be accessed today will not be compatible with technology 50 years from now.
Duncan is a Topeka senior in journalism and English.
In the television bottleneck '90s pop culture seems flat
There are some things I will never understand. Granted, I have tried to,
but, as hard as I try, I just may never see the reason behind numerous pieces of
today's world. For instance: Levi's Hard Jeans. OK, let's think about this for just a minute. Hard jeans. Jeans designed to be — you guessed it — hard as a rock.
Why? The commercials depict the jeans as virtually indestructible in many scenarios. Is there really a need for hard jeans? And are the commercials true; is there really an ongoing threat
Ryan Zimmerman Guest Columnist
I would pay to see that. That's what the show needs to add some zest. Don't let the stars humiliate themselves by trying to answer fourth-grade questions. Put them head-to-head in an all-out brawl. Maybe a Battle Royale between the cast of *Family Ties* and *Charles in Charge*. Scott Balo vs. Michael J. Fox — now that is pay-per-view caliber!
I also don't understand the new Hollywood Squares game show. What better place to go and see television's finest has-beens make complete fools of themselves? The show is overflowing with high-class talent, such as Kim Fields, a.k.a. Tootie from The Facts of Life, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Theo from The Cosby Show. What was that, "washed-up week?" How about having a special drug-offender week: one with Todd "Willis" Bridges and The Partridge Family's Danny Bonaduce?
or being shot in the pants by a cannonball? Call me old-fashioned, but, when buying a pair of jeans, I look for silly things such as comfort and quality. I don't look forward to tearing off the epidermal layer of my knees when getting dressed in the morning.
And was this show so popular when it was the "old" Hollywood Squares? Is it really
Last but not least: Tickle Me Elmo. Hey, tickle me. After a long night of drinking, I will laugh for you and even talk in that cute Elmo voice.
necessary to have a comeback show or is the 6:30 time slot just really hurting right now?
And I'll do it for less than $19.95.
I still look forward to and enjoy watching award shows, especially the MTV Video Music Awards. But why can't an award winner walk to the podium, say thanks to his or her mom and dad and shut the up? Every time someone wins, he or she has to bring up every problem in the world:
Zimmerman is an Overland Park senior in journalism.
"Wassup y'all! I am Vanilla lace, I don't write my own music, I don't choreograph my videos, but, yo, hear me out. Peace in the Midwest . . . Word!"
Are they really getting anything done by doing this?
Will the president of Ethiopia be watching and saying to himself, "Hey, those Hanson boys are cultural icons. You know, I think I will try to end hunger in our country, what a good ideal"
Does Jesse Camp, the annoying VJ on MTV, exist to show all the homeless people that they too can make it to the top? How are they going to notice if they don't have television sets?
Meredith Brooks and Chumbawamba, hear me out—it may be your only awards show ever, so make the speech about something you know about, such as being a one-hit wonder.
Cancer article helps readers
- Jerry Springer wrote a check to a prostitute. Now he ridicules people for being prostitutes?
Random items:
Random Items.
■ Ricki Lake, who once portrayed poor, trashy and overweight women in films such as Hairspray, now criticizes poor, trashy and overweight women on her talk show. Coincidence?
Feedback
I felt compelled to write to the staff of The University Daily Kansan, specifically Jule Sachs.
The Kansan reporters are often harshly criticized for their stories, but I wanted to express my thanks for the article about the cancer survivors. I was diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer at the age of 18.
The tumor was removed, but another reappeared in
the same vicinity a year and a half later. After going through two extensive surgeries, I can report that I am healthy for now. Granted, I did not have to endure lengthy chemotherapy sessions, but the scars on my face and neck are daily reminders of my ordeal.
It is wonderful that Amy Laughlin and Richard Barbuto survived their battles and felt compelled to share their stories. Thanks to the Kansan for deeming this article worthy of the front page.
Cancer and death are not two subjects that many of my friend relate to. I am encouraged knowing there are other young people around who have faced cancer and won.
These stories prove that each on of us should be proactive about our health because cancer does not discriminate.
Erin Sohorn
Olathe junior