OPINION
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED DAILY SINCE 1912
TARA TRENARY, Editor HEATHER VALLER, Business manager LINDSEY HENRY, Managing editor MARA CRIST, Retail sales manager PAUL EAKINS, Editorial editor JUSTIN KNUPP, Technology coordinator TOM EBLEN, General manager, news adviser DAN SIMON, Sales and marketing adviser
Wednesday, July 9, 1997
Paul Eakins / KANSAN
Editorials
Abstinence education program not cure for teen pregnancy problem
Virgin may not be a dirty word, as billboards in Maryland say, but to expect teens to abstain from sexual intercourse as a solution to teen pregnancy seems a bit daft.
This is the goal of part of the welfare law passed by Congress last year, which will provide $250 million in abstinence education grants to states. The stipulation: For every $4 in federal money received, states must match it with $3 of their own. This means nearly $440 million could be spent in the next five years not educating teens about safe sex, but simply no sex.
It's not that abstinence is an ineffective solution; on the contrary, if all teenagers practiced it, abstinence would be the perfect solution to the teen pregnancy problem.
But, let's face facts. Teens are going to have sex. According to a 1995 ten survey cited in a Laurence Journal-World article on Sunday, 66 percent of teens have lost their virginity before graduating from high school. An abstinence education program may slightly reduce these numbers, but there is one thing over which education simply cannot win: hormones.
Teens are more likely to have sex than not,are better off having safe sex education
When teens are in their developmental years, having strong sexual urges and exploring their sexuality with their partners, few may stop to think about what they learned during their abstinence education class. They may still be aware of risks such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, but
the money would be better spent on teaching these risks, stressing birth control and protection, rather than preaching abstinence.
Many states have accepted the federal money, but luckily, most intend to continue their other sexual education programs, such as in rural Arivaca, Ariz. There, teens are told where they can get birth control, because the nearest city is an hour's drive away.
Many states also have after-school programs to boost self-esteem and keep teen girls from thinking that they need a baby to give them purpose in life. Although the Federal government may have good intentions, the states know the truth of the matter.
In the heat of the moment, a teen is better off with a condom in his pocket than the knowledge of the "benefits" of abstinence in his head.
PAUL EAKINS FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Pathfinder makes "friends" on Mars
So, we now have friends on Mars.
It was another Independence Day in the remaking as the Pathfinder finally docked on Mars on July 4, 1997; a whole planet waiting and wondering what it may stumble upon in its findings.
Thankfully, it did not stumble during its landing. As crash pillows or giant air bags cushioned its landing, the $200 million get-to-know-you well gift from Earth already was doing what good neighbors do — making friends.
Never mind the fact that they are only rocks. Barnacle Bill, Yogi and Casper are household names now. And as the rover "shook" hands with Barnacle Bill and proceeded to "sniff" it later, a milestone had been reached in space science. We were finally on Mars.
Probe opens up possibilities of space exploration colonization and life
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration should get a thumbsup for not only launching and homing a relatively inexpensive operation without glitches but doing a successful public relations exercise aimed at making space science accessible to the people.
CNN reported that NASA's Pathfinder web page had seen a record 100 million "hits", or internet user log-ons, since July 4, forcing it to set up 20 mirror "pages" around the world to beef up its transmission network.
A little popularity does not hurt, especially in these days of Republican financial conservatism when big bucks are allotted with tight smiles and tighter expectations.
The vast, open intriguing backyards of a space scientist's work and imagination slowly are becoming the world of the people as well.
As ordinary people debate about the possibility of life, or living on, Mars, a colony of future space dwellers already is being conditioned.
Science is about opening the mind to the immeasurable possibilities that can be unleashed once the seeming impossibilities are destroyed.
It is only the beginning now
KANSAN STAFF
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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 hometown if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
All letter and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansas newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansas reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Paul Eakins at 864-4810 (opinion@kanas.com).
**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.
"Man, if you have to ask, you'll never know."
— Louis Armstrong (when asked "What is jazz?"）
Columns
Successful crop, love thrive when cut back
Once alfalfa successfully is planted, it must grow continually. Relationships that stop growing, likewise, also won't be healthy or productive. When a field of alfalfa is established, it can weather a storm or a drought, just like a strong relationship can handle disagreements — or summertime separations.
But the thing that struck me most about the alfalfa as I sat there in a stranger's field in almost absolute darkness is that cutting it back makes it stronger. When the new alfalfa crop is cut back, the roots develop since the stalk no longer requires as many nutrients. Then, after a good rain, the field starts to regenerate, producing the fragrant fields so familiar to Kansans. The more alfalfa is cut back, the better it grows, the healthier it becomes. I realized that being apart from Laura was simply the first cutting of our relationship. It was the time for our roots to grow, a time for the plant to recharge. Sitting in the middle of the hayfield, I knew that this break was a good thing in disguise. I thought of the past five months and was assured that the roots were strong and the plant was healthy. Even though it was temporarily cut back, soon it would start to grow again, even stronger than before.
As I drove south toward Ottawa, I was excited to breathe the unmistakable smell of freshly cut alfalfa. I rolled the windows down so the car would fill with the sweet aroma that hung in the thick, humid air.
I walked a few yards into the field and sat in the silence, the total quiet found on farms, and my mind turned to my girlfriend, Laura.
I stopped the car at a field where the farmer had left his swather. The field was neatly cut and raked into
It was unmistakable, a sure sign of summer.
neat rows. The rows would bask and cure in the sun before being baled. The sun was taking its final bow, giving a break from the heat of the day.
We've been dating for about five months. She has gone to Maine for the summer to be a camp counselor. It's a good summer job for her, and Maine is a pleasant place. But we both have been a little taken with how much we miss each other. No matter how good with words you may be, a letter just can't replace a few minutes with someone you love. I sat there, both pleased by the smell and a little melancholy at her absence.
And my mind turned to the hay.
I know a little about alfalfa. It's a common crop in Kansas, especially in fertile bottom lands. It's basically a grass that farmers let grow until it heads out in millions of little purple flowers. Then they cut it back and bale it. The bales keep nicely for livestock to eat as well as being a good cash crop for farmers. A good summer with agreeable weather can yield five cuttings, often enough to feed a herd of cattle for a winter.
It grew dark. The bugs left me alone with my thoughts.
Summer walk through alfalfa field prompts thoughts of girlfriend
I thought about how a good stand of alfalfa is a lot like a healthy relationship. Alfalfa is expensive to plant, and it's difficult to harvest for its seed as well. Both take time, patience and skill; both are a bit of a gamble. A new relationship is a gamble too, one that certainly takes time and patience.
I put a handful of alfalfa in my pocket.
I got back in the car and drove away.
Andy Obermueller is a Liberal, Kan., senior in Journalism.
Mars Pathfinder an historic exciting step in space age
I woke up on Friday with a feeling of anticipation.
I didn't feel this because it was the fourth of July, and I was looking forward to the oh-so-exciting Lawrence Jaycees fireworks show. Nor was I extremely excited about the prospect of unleashing my own barrage of rockets, flaming balls, and small explosives upon the world.
Don't get me wrong, I love
fire and destruction as much as the next American. But frankly, after 21 Independence Days, it just isn't as exciting as it used to be.
But this Fourth, there was a new element: Mars
If all went well with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Mars Pathfinder, there would be a probe on Mars that very day sending back pictures from the Martian surface for the first time since 1976. This was certainly one of the most important space-age events yet in my lifetime. I didn't intend to miss it.
As the actual probe began its descent, I waited with a knot in my stomach, hoping that this would not be another NASA failure, like the 1993 Mars Observer. I could only imagine what the engineers, planners and scientists who had spent countless hours dedicated to the Pathfinder must have been feeling.
I turned on the television and waited. Even though I had read about how the Pathfinder would land, I was still amazed to see CNN's computer simulation. The simulation showed the probe with large balloons inflated around it as the probe bounced as much as 50 feet above the Martian surface.
Finally, a signal was received. The Mars Pathfinder had successfully landed and was transmitting.
When the first pictures were broadcast from the lander, I was more amazed. True, the pictures only showed some rocks and hills, nothing too exciting. But, this was Mars we were looking at! A planet about 120 million miles away at the time, one little point in the vast emptiness of our solar system and the galaxy. Yet we were able, for the first time since the Viking missions of the '70s, to land a probe on Mars and keep it working. If all went well, the Sojourner rover also would be deployed as the first autonomous rover ever to land on another planet.
"Iincredible!" I thought. "We're on Mars!"
Considering all of this, it is not surprising that I was dismayed to hear some friends complain Friday night about the dull and boring view transmitted from Mars. I was flabbergasted.
What did dissatisfied viewers expect to see when the video footage was released? A few Martians standing around, waving at the camera?
UFO abductees? Elvis?
People unhappy with the view of Mars should note the significance of the probe's mission
Although the folks in Roswell, N.M., may have expected some of these possibilities, most people did not.
Rover scientist Henry Moore called the Pathfinder "the robotic equivalent of Neil Armstrong on Mars."
I doubt that too many people on that fateful day in 1969 were complaining about the scenery.
This mission signifies a new step in American, and human, science, exploration and expansion. We've made it to the moon. Now we're looking to Mars. NASA scientists intend to put humans on Mars by 2012, following what they call a veritable "feet" of probes, of which Pathfinder is the first.
The mass of knowledge that scientists will be able to accumulate from this mission, such as geological history, composition and evidence of life, is just the tip of the iceberg. Just being on Mars at all has many philosophical and historical implications.
Named after the Greek god of war, the planet has been one of the dominating elements of the skies since humans and their ancestors first achieved self-awareness. How many billions of people have looked into the sky wondering what all of these points of light were? How many stories have been told around a campfire about the origins of the stars? How many different gods have been named after the celestial bodies and their constellations?
And one distant, distinct light, differentiating itself by its red hue, shown down upon the natives of Earth.
Could any of them have guessed that we might one day glimpse the surface of it? That a machine of our own making would be wandering the surface? That one day we might set our sights on sending humans to the surface and would have a realistic chance of succeeding?
The Mars Pathfinder is an important and exciting mission, of which everyone, regardless of their opinion of the video footage, should understand the significance.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to turn on CNN and check out the newest pictures from Mars.
Paul Eakins is a Lawrence senior in Journalism