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MYERS: The American public schools system neglects poor and minority students. Vouchers for private schools provide the remedy. See kansan.com for more opinions and Free for All comments
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2006 WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
PAGE 5A
》 OUR VIEW
University admissions process needs reform
The word "soft" comes to mind when looking at the admission standards for the University of Kansas. Current standards let anyone with a functioning brain into the University.
All it takes for an in-state freshman to receive admission is score a 21 or better on the ACT or 980 or better on the SAT. If you can't achieve that there's still hope. All you need is a 2.0 cumulative GPA and rank in the top one-third of your graduating class. Low expectations for a quality public university.
The admission standards, set by state law, are in need of change. New Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Richard Lariviere has sounded off on the ability for Kansas Board of Regents universities to decide their standards. For students to get added value to a degree from the University, more stringent admission standards are needed, and long overdue.
We certainly don't want to prevent Kansas residents from becoming future Jayhawks, but
more should be required to enter this nationally recognized University. Our friends to the east, in Columbia, Mo., have a little more rigorous admission standard: Incoming freshmen must score a 24 or better on the ACT or 1090 or better on the SAT.
Another highly recognized university, the University of Oklahoma requires in-state incoming freshmen to achieve a 3.0 cumulative GPA and rank in the top 25 percent of their graduating class. Freshmen can also be admitted with an ACT of 24 or higher or SAT of 1090 or higher, along with remaining in the top 50 percent of their class.
Admission standards are indicative of a university, and when they are low, expectations of students at the University itself are low. It may take some time and support from other state universities, but the state needs to address this issue to enhance all Kansas universities.
Louis Mora for the editorial board.
FREE FOR ALL
Call 864-0500
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.
--them all.
Hey, to the girl who found my phone: You should turn it in to Oliver.
You know how you can't take more than two finals in one day during finals week? Is there a policy for regular tests? Because I just took three and I think I failed
Someone please explain to me morning wood.
Jenny, this is Tom. Will you marry me?
图
Hey,mad respect to the guy on the tight rope by
I hate Mondays.
To whoever keyed my car in the Hash parking lot: Tharks.
--armed classmates, too bad.
Hey, loud guy talking on the cell phone: Go outside.
--armed classmates, too bad.
I guess guy friends who hang out together a lot shave their man regions.
Oh, hat guy. When you look at me my knees turn to kill O
A lot of help the writing center was. I still got a "C" on that paper.
To all the wannabe hippies smoking cigarettes at Hash:The man now owns your lungs
The Lied Center ticket office rocks.
To the guy who works at Oliver with long hair: Get a hair net, for everyone's sake
1.
Who doesn't know Dunkin' Donuts is open 24 hours?
I
Some guy just ran into a parked car.
I would have gone to K-State but I already know how to mow a lawn.
$2.99, are you out of your mind?
I got drunk and made out with a 56 year-old woman.
All I can say is: Thank God I was wearing underwear.
armed classmates, too bad.
--armed classmates, too bad.
ROCK OUT MUNCH SULK BE REALLY BLABBER SUCK READ
TO AN IPOD ON A DOUBLE LIKE AN TALL(DON'T AT CBLL FACE THE KANSAM
CHEESE BURGER EMOKID LOOK DOWN PHONE
Grant Snider/KANSAN
HOW TO AVOID ALL SOCIAL INTERACTION WHILE WALKING TO CLASS
COMMENTARY
Vouchers a remedy for broken system
The saddest part about the debate over how to fix Americas educational system is that no one really seems to want to make changes. We can all agree that the current system is inefficient and ineffective, yet we defend that system when anyone questions it. Our current system is a failure, we admit, because it leaves poorer and minority populations behind; because teachers are underpaid; and because our test scores compare poorly to test scores from other countries. And in response, our best prescription is increasing funding to public schools.
If only insufficient funds were the extent of our public schools' problems. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released a report in 2003 saying that the US spends more money per student than any other country in the world — over $10,000 per year. Yet our test scores are consistently near the middle of the pack. If the problem isn't due to funding, then the problem must be structural.
The biggest problem is that the American public school system functions as a monopoly. Each school district monopolizes education in its own geographical area. Students within that area are either forced to attend the schools the school district tells them to attend, or they must pay thousands of dollars in annual tuition to transfer to a private school. Obviously, most families — particularly poorer families, and thus disproportionately minority families — cannot afford to send their children to private schools. And if the school they are being forced to attend features low expectations, incompetent teachers and
BY VINCE MYERS
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINION@KANSAN.COM
A perfect example of this problem is sitting just to our northeast, in Wyandotte County. In Wyandotte High School's 2005 Adequate Yearly Progress report, only 10.3 percent of Wyandotte's 10th-graders received scores of "proficient" or better on the school's math assessment test (the state average was 51.6 percent), and only 36.8 percent of 11th-graders scored proficient or better on the reading assessment (the state average was 64.4 percent). Faced with a dire learning situation, students at Wyandotte High School would probably be best served to transfer to a different school — but at a school where 76 percent of students are classified as "economically disadvantaged?" that seems unlikely.
Many economists, most notably Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman, have advocated a system in which students can receive vouchers from the government and use them to pay for private school tuition. Such a program, known as a "school choice" or "school voucher" program, would force schools to compete for students the same way that businesses compete for customers — by giving them the best product for their money. Schools would have to use their money more efficiently than they do currently,
or their students would transfer to better schools. Good teachers would be valued more highly because they would attract more students (and thus more funds). And lower-class and minority students would be able to attend the same schools that the wealthy attend, thereby helping to remove themselves from the cycle of poverty.
The major argument against a school choice system is that it would take students (and thus funds) away from the public schools. As Joseph P. Viteriti pointed out in his essay, "Definiti Equity: Politics, Markets, and Public Policy," this argument rests on the assumption that students, given the ability to leave public schools, would do so, and in large numbers. Students stay in public schools, then, only because they have no other option. As Viteritti says, "Public education may be the only sector of the economy in which the providers' lack of confidence in their own product is used as an argument against offering an alternative."
Unfortunately, school choice programs have been slow to gain political traction. Many are uneasy with such dramatic reform, and scare tactics have been employed by teachers' unions that would be hurt by allowing students to choose private schools. Until we change the system, we'll keep pouring funds into underachieving public schools, and we'll keep finishing in the middle of the pack.
Myers is an Oatlete junior in economics and political science.
Forget the iPod pay attention
BY STEVE NICHOLS
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINION@KANSAN.COM
COMMENTARY
You are driving your car close to campus and doing your best to avoid the pedestrians trying to cross the street. Most of them at least look before they cross, so it is easy to avoid hitting them. However, all of a sudden a guy walks directly in front of your car and you slam on the breaks, just missing him by inches. He doesn't even seem to notice and continues on his way, oblivious to the fact that he was almost hit. As you lean out your window to scream profanities at him, you realize it would do no good. Is it because this person is deaf? No. It is because you see the tell-tale white cords of an iPod running from his ears.
Personal mp3 players are becoming more prevalent as people feel the need to tune out reality while they are walking to class. That means more people are becoming less aware of their surroundings, with dire consequences. Don't get me wrong. I love my cheap SanDisk Sansa Player, but is it really necessary to have your favorite music playing constantly while you are out in public? Cell phones are bad enough, but at least you have one free ear to detect the sound of screeching tires heading in your direction. With mp3 players, you are almost totally immersed in the music. Deprived of the sense of sound, you are down to only four senses to guide you through your day and are effectively deaf to the rest of the world. I have nearly hit several people in my car who were simply too engrossed in that overplayed Gnarls Barkley song to look both ways.
It isn't just on campus. The other day I was at the gym and I saw a guy nearly got his foot crushed when someone tried to lift a weight that was too heavy and dropped it to the ground. The person barely noticed because he was simply too interested in his music to give a damn about what was going on around him. In a room full of weights and exercise equipment, you would think that being aware of one's surroundings would be a top priority. If you are running or using a cardio machine, then it is hard to see what danger an mp3 player would cause unless someone started using a 45-pound weight as a discus, but you get my drift.
It also isn't just college students. Commuters on subways and buses love the fact that they can break the monotony of the daily trip to and from work with a little music. Pickpockets love it, too. I know that this is probably a lost cause, but sometimes it pays to be aware of your surroundings on your way to class, work or wherever, even if it is just a little more boring than listening to "Crazy" for the millionth time.
Nichols is an Overland Park senior in psychology and American studies.
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Jonathan Realing, Erick R. Schmidt, Gabriella Souza, Frank Tankard, Drive Ruigh, Steve Lynn, McKay Stangler and Lois Mora
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