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Thursday, May 4, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
By shirking responsibilities elections board sham to KU
The habitually low voter turnout in KU's student elections seems to be rubbing off. That was demonstrated Tuesday when the Student Senate elections review board reviewed the complaint against the Common Cause coalition.
On Tuesday night, the seven-member board made an important decision affecting the entire University: It fined Common Cause $150 for violating the Senate campaign spending limit.
Unfortunately, only two of the six voting members and the non-voting chairman showed up to make the decision. Members of the elections review board are appointed by Student Senate. And it's the Senate's responsibility to make sure the people they appoint to such important panels carry out their duties.
If the board had ruled against Common Cause, how fair would it have been for only two students to boot the coalition out of office? Just about as fair as it was for those two students to decide to fine the coalition.
The elections review board sets a poor example for Student Senate when only two of its voting members care enough about their jobs and the future of the University to show up and decide the fate of many recently elected senators.
Common Cause members should take this lesson as a valuable learning experience. When they appoint students to Senate committees and boards, they should make sure those people are committed to serving the students of the University.
Julie Adam for the editorial board
Drastic changes are needed in failing education system
What is new is that the government has poured increasing amounts of money into its education system with few tangible results. Spending for each public school student has risen from $3.756 last year to $3.977.
Our nation's education is plummeting. But that is nothing new.
The sixth annual State Education Performance Chart reported a decline in the national high-school graduation rate and in college entrance examination scores. Missouri and Kansas ranked above average on both counts.
Despite tunneling more money into the system, the quality of education continues to go down. Obviously, money is not curing this ailing system.
this among system.
Our nation must become competitive with other nations.
Currently, even though we greatly outspend foreign countries, we lag far behind them in quality of education. That discrepancy translates into our inability to complete effectively on the world market. Our system is in dire need of reform.
First, education must become a priority, and not just in the government's budget. Schools, teachers and parents need to rethink their functions and take them more seriously. Teachers are viewed as laymen and often earn as much. They need to be paid more, but more important, society must give them a higher value and more power to do the job they are capable of. Also, standards to enter the field must become strict, ensuring that only the best and brightest students become teachers.
that only the best and/or most able. More sweeping changes must be made in the structure of our education. To be competitive in the international market, we must learn from successful foreign school systems. Like other countries, we must teach basic and complex concepts earlier. Foreign languages, grammar rules and math beyond simple arithmetic must be taught in elementary schools. Many U.S. students go off to college without mastering such subjects.
Our present system too often nurses students along, spoon feeding them a poor education. We must become competitive within our schools to produce students who are competitive internationally. Tough schools yield top-notch students.
nternationally. Though Reagan administration was hopeful about its ability to improve the quality of our education. But pouring money into a system full of maladies benefits no one. Restructuring must begin soon before our graduation rates and test scores drop further.
The flurry of money being thrown at the problem has only obscured it. It is time to step back and take a clear look at more long-term, lasting solutions.
Grace Hobson for the editorial board
Nowe etaff
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Society did not create all violence
have to enter a plea of innocent of any complicity in the nightmarish wolf pack rape and beating of a female jogger in New York's Central Park.
Although no formal charges have been placed against me, various New York civil rights leaders have implied that you and I and the guy next door were somehow responsible.
as the tue. Herbert Daugherty, of Brooklyn said, "All of us must share the blame. This is a violent society. We are all equally guilty for creating it, and we must work to eliminate it."
No, Rev. Daughtry, all of us must not share the blame. If you want to, fine. Tear your hair, beat your breast, flog yourself. But I'm not joining on any guilt trips.
the 30 teenage barbarians who went on a rampage in the park, attacking strangers for the fun of it. range in age from 13 to 17.
I have to assume that anyone in that age group knows that it is wrong to crush someone's head with a pine, to stab and to rape.
If the Rev. Daughtry is trying to say that social conditions prompted this savage behavior, I can't agree.
According to the New York Times, these youths were not at the bottom of the social, economic and educational scale. The "underclass." as it is called.
Several lived in apartment buildings that had doormen. One got $4 a day in allowance from his father. They went to reasonably good schools and were viewed as normal by teachers and school mates. So it doesn't appear that poverty and ignorance can be blamed.
The Rev. Daughtry is right in one respect. This is a violent society. But most Americans aren't
For example, the young professional woman who was beaten and raped, and will probably spend the rest of her life with a damaged brain, wasn't the violent type. Why should she share in
Mike Royko
Syndicated columnist
the collective blame? Because she jogged through a park and became a victim?
No, the blame for violence rests with those who commit the violence, not with the frightened masses who look over their shoulders and hope to avoid being clobbered.
If we want to blame all of society for mindless violence, why stop with the Central Park maul
We can look back to the Howard Beach disgrace in New York. White youths chased and beat blacks who had stopped in a local pizza shop before be killed while trying to escape on a freeway.
We could make the argument that it really wasn't the fault of the young Howard Beach thugs, because they had grown up in homes and a neighborhood where racial bigotry was an accepted culture. So can they be blamed for attacking white strangers into their neighborhood?
If I were a judge, and they gave me that excuse, my response would be：“Lad, just because your dad and neighbors talked like boobs doesn't give you the right to hit some stranger on the head with a baseball bat. Off to the slammer with you.”
And what about Ted Bundy, the monstrous killer of dozens of young women? Before he was executed, Bundy came up with the cop-out that reading pornography made him do it. Clever creep that he was, he knew the anti-porn crusaders would leap on this phony excuse, thus lending
some redeeming social significance to his vile life.
But if you believe that dirty pictures made Bundy slaughter dozens of women, then you must blame society for permitting such publications to exist. And that means society was to blame for all those murders, not Ted Bundy, so he should not have been put to death. Spare me, please. I saw my first smutty eight-pager when I was about 12. But I haven't stabbed anyone yet.
There are crimes for which the criminals can't be held responsible, those who are clearly and
And there are crimes that can be forgiven and understood. If a desperate, jobless, nonviolent man shoplifts some bread for his hungry family, should he be thrown in jail?
But if someone walks into the same grocery store, cleans out the cash register, then shoots the grocer for the sadistic joy of it, don't tell me society made him do it.
I don't know why the Central Park wolf pack did those terrible things. But what is known is that they were not hungry, not living lives of animals. And the dogs they resided in were not added by drugs, and not after money.
And from the police say, those who were arrested showed no remorse or sympathy for them.
This society has flaws. It always has. But I don't know of any policies, official or informal, that encourage young men to hide in bushes and mutilate innocent women.
So if it all the same to the Rev. Daugherty,
this member of society is going to hold himself
blameless. If I carelessly let my dog out of the
yard and she bites someone, I'll accept respond
But that bunch of mad dogs in Central Park came out of someone else's yard.
■ Mike Royko is a syndicated columnist who writes for the Chicago Tribune.
Foreign student reflects on life at KU
T this is a very emotional time for me, not only because finals are just around the corner, but because graduation is as well. I feel weak with relief and happi
ness that it is finally my turn to walk down Mount Oread. But there is also a tinge of sadness. After graduation, I will be leaving KU and Lawrence.
Because this is "celebrate diversity semester," it seems apt to take a look at the graduation of a foreign student, one of many who are filled with cultural knowledge in learning language and cultural hurdles to get a degree.
Before leaving home, I was riddled with doubt. My head was bombarded with questions that began with "why"? Why did I do it? Why did I cause my parents to cry silently at night as the date of "losing" their daughter drew near? But I never really knew the answer.
Once I started taking KU classes, though, I plodded on with my studies and pushed myself to the limit. In Spring 1988, I nearly pushed myself to the edge of sanity when my thirst for perfection began. When I learned that I had emotions to digest, I got my first B. I then got on a plane back to Malaysia and cried my heart out.
Because of rules requiring foreign students to work on campus, I couldn't become a professional burger-flipper. I chose the ultimate alternative: a residence hall food-service worker. I learned a lot about American food, the value of local foods, and residents could be more nauseating than the food.
Janet Neo Guest columnist
My days at KU now are dwindling. In retrospect, the past three years have been a bitter-sweet experience for me. As I have been fortunate to receive membership in unfamiliar honor societies with Greek names such as Kappa, it looks like I am. But like a marathon runner who has tape at the time, I feel more fatigue than elation at this point.
this point:
I worked hard not only for my future, but also for my parents and other minority students at KU. As I walk down the hill May 21, with a school banner in hand, I hope to show that success reflects one's hard work, regardless of
age, sex, race or background.
Soon, I will board a new flight toward a new destination and new challenges. But no matter where I go, Lawrence will always have a soft spot in my heart. I will miss treading on crisp leaves during autumn and fresh snow during winter. I will miss skipping classes for no reason and putting on an apron that reaches my ankles for work. And I will miss coming back to the serenity and warm embrace of this tiny town after a physically and financially exhausting holiday at a polluted big city. But most of all, I will miss the people.
A grateful and heartfelt thank you is extended to all these people for hoisting a student to the pinnacle of academic achievement in a foreign country; my parents and to everyone who knew me.
Once a Jayhawk, always a Jayhawk. I will remember memories of a wonderful American experience.
Terimakasih dan Selatam Jalan! (Thank you and goodbye!)
Janet Neo is a Johor Bahru, Malaysia, senior major in journalism.
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed