The University Daily Kansan emphasizes the First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
COMMENTARY: More and more people are going to college. Yet employers complain that applicants are getting dumber. See kansan.com for more opinions and Free for All comments
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2007 WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
PAGE 5A
》 OUR VIEW
Celebrity obsession endangers politics
The obsession with celebrity has permeated the bowels of every medium, influenced daily rituals and has now filibustered politics. Celebrity endorsements of candidates are common place. To get attention—particularly with a younger voting bloc—political parties need to make celebrities out of their front runners.
Former President John E. Kennedy was the inventor of the celebrity politician. He was the George Clooney of politics during his time. He had the swagger, the good looks and knew how to appeal to his fan base, or voters. President Bill Clinton took this celebrity politician idea to the stratosphere. From discussing his underwear preferences on MTV to playing the saxophone on popular nighttime talk show "Arsenio Hall". Clinton made a name for himself. He had personality and emulated a cool that was lacking in politics at the time.
This same sentiment has recently erupted with the captivating Barack Obama. This Democratic senator from Illinois would be on the cover of "Entertainment Weekly's" "TT List" issue if the magazine focused on politics. Obama has
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To our bowling TA: We think you're really cute.
Voters need to research the candidates in the 2008 Presidential election. Find major platform points that are important to you. Examine a politician's voting history.Before openly supporting a candidate on your Facebook page, make sure that candidate represents you in the same way that you want your favorite music section to describe you.Jumping onto a cultural phenomenon, such as celebrity status, is difficult to avoid. Just remember that at one time people believed the world would end in the year 2000, supported Sen. Joseph McCarthy and believed the "Macarena" was cool. Those same people are probably embarrassed by their lack of individuality and research skills.
appeared on talk shows, which,
thanks to Clinton, is now mand-
atory. He has graced a majority of
highly circulated magazine
covers, "Cosmopolitan" excluded.
He's promising much-needed
changes and delivers speeches in
a powerful, yet personal manner.
Everyone who is in touch with
society should vote for him, or
so he seems to want.
Tasha Riggins for the editorial board.
My arms look like beastly hams.
Hey Beta, next time you have a party, make sure there's enough alcohol to go around.
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I feel like I lost two pounds just walking to aerobics this morning.
$1.25 sodas are bull dollar-sign, exclamation point, asterisk, ampersand.
To all the frat brothers who stole my blue heels, I want them back.
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To the girl who lost her KUID over by Lindley, I turned it into the Union.
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Every time you wear a pair of Uggs, a puppy dies.
I used to wear my letterman jacket. And then I popped on it!
醒
图
Consider habitat in all issues
COMMENTARY
The environment is not partisan. It has no hidden agenda and no moral motives. It does not discriminate. You might not like freezing rain pelting down and turning everything into a treacherous ice patch, but you probably won't go out and protest against it. The environment is not an issue. It is our habitat, the context in which we live; the source of our food, our water, our shelter and even the particles that make up our bodies.
A common misconception today is that the environment is something "out there;" that people are separate, and things are only natural if humans are absent. This couldn't be further from the truth People and the environment have developed together, shaping each other for as long as people have existed. Consider the native prairie that is the picture of Kansas' natural environment; it would disappear without periodic burnings initiated by people.
We are, in fact, tremendously adept at changing the environment to suit our needs. Human ingenuity has developed incredible technology to control the environment: light bulbs to conquer darkness, climate-controlled housing to combat the weather, irrigation, vaccinations, ter-
BY GIANNA SHORT
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINION@KANSAN.COM
tilizer. The list is endless and these controls have undoubtedly improved our quality of life.
According to John Muir, the first president of the Sierra Club, the problem with controlling the environment, however, begins when we overlook the fact that "when we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."
For this reason, identifying something as an "environmental problem" is misleading. Think of the hot topic today: global climate change. As people release more and more carbon into the atmosphere, the greenhouse effect intensifies and the earth warms. The warming is problematic because, among other things, it intensifies storms, melts ice and threatens to extinguish islands and costal cities.
Regardless of whether you think that people have contributed to the global warming trend, you will have
to deal with its consequences. These could range from economic effects if lower Manhattan floods, to health issues of an increased mosquito habitat—increased malaria—to the agricultural nightmare of shifting climate regimes, to polar bear extinction if arctic ice continues to melt.
Therefore, I propose that, starting now, we cease thinking of the environment as an issue to be debated. Instead, we must realize that we are imbedded within it and that it affects every aspect of our lives.
Taking care of the environment means taking care of ourselves. The environment should not be the issue; it should be considered in every issue.
So next time you are walking through the icy mess on campus, let your mind wander to those polar bears that have to continue swimming because they can't find any ice to climb. Then remember what Muin said and how it applies to the situation. We are hitched to everything. If we let the polar bear's Arctic habitat melt away, then our habitat will eventually flood. It is not just an "environmental issue."
Short is an Edmond, Okla., junior in environmental science.
COMMENTARY
Lax standards, grade inflation lead to weak minds
In a world where some schools consider getting rid of athletic competition, the honor roll and red ink for fear of hurting children's feelings, one has to ask: Are we breeding a generation of wimps?
Completing a degree should be a pinnacle of education reserved for the driven few, regardless of their class or wealth. Too often now, it's an excuse to spend four years—or five, or six—slacking. Even graduate school is becoming an excuse to prolong the inevitable period before unemployment. Is this what college is meant to be?
More and more people, both in America and in Britain, receive college degrees. Are we better educated, or has everyone fallen to the same low standard?
In Britain, A-Level scores—simi
lar to our AP exams—have consistently risen during the past several years. The vast majority of students not only pass, but a quarter of all students receive an A. Britain's younger generation claims to have gotten smarter through the years, while Britain's older generation points to easier tests and a lower pass threshold. In some cases, it's possible to pass with a 35 percent. In America, are rising SAT scores evidence of a smarter generation?
Whatever British and American students say, there's really no empirical evidence to suggest, despite rising test scores, students are any smarter than their parents and grandparents.
The BBC did a report on the rising A Level scores, and found that employers in Britain were frustrated
at new graduates' inability to do basic math and writing. At least some of these same students must have scored well in their math and writing A Levels to qualify for a college degree. As for American students, ask the average American teenager to find Iraq on a map and you'll have your answer.
Testing and college admissions seem to have failed students while they claim to help. If a quarter of students receive As, how are we
BY KELSEY HAYES
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINION@KANSAN.COM
to know who among that quarter really understood the material and who simply benefited from lowered testing standards?
If an employer has 10 job applicants and they all have the exact same English degree, how should the employer differentiate between the best and brightest if our governments have mandated that everyone must be the best and the brightest? Eventually, a bachelor's degree, once prestigious, will be little more than an expensive piece of paper, even for those who did put tote effort.
Not every student belongs in college 1 tutor British 13 year-olds in math and can tell even now which ones are genuinely into learning, and which ones are there because they have to be. By saying that a degree is the only choice, it takes
prestige away from those for whom a degree is a sincere mission. It also attempts to trap students who might not want to go to college—or who might not be able to do the work—by saying that if they don't complete a degree, they've somehow failed. That isn't the case.
Our educational systems have a choice to make. We can either push the self-esteem, egalitarian agenda at the expense of tomorrow's workforce or we can finally admit that, while everyone should be allowed the same opportunities, everyone shouldn't be expected to use the opportunities equally.
Hayes is a Lenexa sophomore in journalism and political science. She is studying abroad this year in Reading, UK.
First-day games don't show enough
》 COMMENTARY
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINION@KANSAN.COM
I suffer from this first-day-of- class fear that increases the heart rate right after I tell the rest of the students what my major is and what I want to do with it.
I don't fear not knowing what I want to do. I am told by my adviser and countless other students we go to college to find that out.
"They make you tell your name, where you're from, and your major. And they always ask what you are looking to get out of the class. As if the name of the class didn't give that away."
Mehlsauab thinks as soon as teachers start demanding generalities, such as your favorite movie, you put up a front. You have to carefully select the film that gives the best first impressions. "Donnie Darko" is a solid answer.
But at the end of the day, after all the favorite ice cream flavors and actors are named, Mehlstaub and I both dread that first day for the same reason.
"I'm afraid of sounding superficial," he said.
"Are you superficial?" I ask him. "It sounds like it"
I ask him what his favorite movie is and he laughs. This might be the first time anyone has asked him that and not wanted to know his name and where he is from.
"The problem [with the first day of class] is that teachers assume you aren't social." my friend Max Mhelistaub, says while sitting at his desk still enrolling in classes. He assures me the delay isn't to avoid any awkward introductions.
I do know what I want to do after four years, but as the kids around the room declare doctor, lawyer, pre-law or engineer; I suddenly think that what I'm about to say doesn't fit in.
Now it is his turn. He asks me what I want to do with my English major. I tell him I want to be a high school English teacher.
"Memento."
》 TALK TO US
Gabriella Souza editor
864-4854 or gsouza@kansan.com
Nicole Kelley, managing editor
864-4854 or nkelley@kansan.com
Natalie Johnson. associate opinion editor 864-4924 or njohnsonilkansan.com
I think it's a well-intended pursuit to spend the next 40 years reading "Gatsby" and in those 40 years seeing if Fitgerdal is still common to the curriculum or if he is replaced by a more contemporary Cormac McCarthy or Phillip Roth.
Patrick Ross. managing editor
864-4854 or pross@kansan.com
Lindsey Shirak, business manager 864-4014 or lshirak@kansan.com
But I don't get to say this. All that represents me on this first day are the words that come out of my mouth after my name.
Jackie Schaffer, sales manager
864-4462 or jschaffer@kansan.com
Courtney Hagen, opinion editor
864-4924 or chagen@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson, general manager, news adviser
864-7645 at malcolm.gibson.com
When I sat at my desk and the teacher asks a simple getting-to-know-you questions like "what is your major" and "what do you want to plan on doing with it," all I can say is English and then I feel too preachy and too "noble" and to actually tell the class what I want to be when I grow up.
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Jennifer Weaver, sales and marketing adviser
864-7666 or jweaver@kansan.com
Dykman is a Westwood freshman in English.
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Stangler
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