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EDITORIAL: Democrats and Republicans alike should both be held accountable in new Congressional season. See kansan.com for more opinions and Free for All comments
FRIDAY, JANUARY 19,2007 WWW.KANSAN.COM
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
PAGE 7A
》 OUR VIEW
Current politicians ignore opportunity
As students return from winter break, we are greeted with the dawn of a new year that brings the aura of promise and potential to our nation's capital. With the annual reset of the calendar year, our elected leaders gain a new chance to set aside partisan concerns and truly work for the betterment of Americans.
Unfortunately, early indications point to our leaders squandering yet another opportunity to work together, which is an especially disappointing development in light of the current military sacrifices. Nancy Pelosi, the much-heralded first female Speaker of the House, has already devolved into a sad caricature. Her ceremonial elevation to the post focused mostly on surrounding her with dozens of children in an attempt to burnish her母权ly credentials and dispel the stigma of the San Francisco Liberal Feminist.
If the Democrats put as much effort into a coherent war policy as they did into a publicity parade, perhaps we could have more hope for the upcoming legislative term. The Democratic leadership has already planned "symbolic votes" on the President's Iraq policy, which may be the very definition of time wasted.
President Bush has done no better with his second chance. In a sickeningly sweet Wall Street Journal column, the President detailed his bipartisan hopes and dreams for the upcoming year, and began an early effort to shift expectations across the aisle.
So who — if anyone — can students look to for hope in Washington before all attention turns to the 2008 elections? The answer may be Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who was tapped by the President to serve as bipartisan ambassador-in-chief, Paulson, who cultivated close contacts with Democrats, private sector elites and foreign governments during his time leading investment bank Goldman Sachs, is the ideal candidate for voice of the administration. His free-market training leads him to instinctively find the best and most efficient path to success, regardless of partisan concerns.
Not surprisingly, he soon resumed his flippant posture and declared an increase in troop levels — a move transparently described as a "surge" to avoid comparisons to Vietnam-era "escalation" — essentially a continual doubling of a bet on a far more significant scale. In choosing to override the voice of the Iraq Study Group, his leading generals and the American people's stunning rebuke of his policies in November, the President signaled that he is no more willing than Speaker Pelosi to put political calculation on the back burner.
Such skills will prove invaluable as Republicans and Democrats attempt to tackle substantial policy challenges in 2007. Students should not hesitate to hold members of both political parties accountable for upcoming successes and failures.
— McKay Stangler writing for the editorial board
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FREE FOR ALL
not white, not red, not orange,
not yellow. They wear blue!
It would only take Jack Bauer one day to solve all of our problems in Iraq.
How many freaking handicap spots does Wal-Mart need? Are there really that many people in wheelchairs driving to Wal-Mart? Usually it's people who are, like, 500 pounds who have the handicap spots anyway.
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To the guy who — at two oclock in the morning — came and helped us push our car out of the snow: Thank you.
not white, not red, not orange,
not yellow. They wear blue!
Real fans wear Kansas blue.
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So, I'm coming back to Lawrence and I realize I'm finally here when I see a guy dressed up as the Statue of Liberty aimlessly waving. Gotta love it.
Grant Snider/KANSAN
So, I'm leaving the Mizzou basketball game, which is great. We won. And the guy in front of me has a frickin' Powercat on its license plate. Seriously, where does your loyalty lie?
Did anybody else notice the MU players and coaches walking off before the National Anthem? That is ridiculous and the NCAA needs to suspend them or punish them somehow. That was embarrassing to watch.
trade engine manuals for a class on Western civilization.
Liberal arts lead to informed public
COMMENTARY
As college students we struggle from time to time with thoughts of the future. We know what we want to do: be happy, have enough money to be comfortable and have a great family. We just don't know how to get there.
This is difficult to explain to our parents' generation. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, less than half as many people attended a postsecondary institution a generation ago as do today. So it makes sense that admitting to a communications major draws the inevitable: "What are you going to do?"
A liberal arts education is not for everyone.
A liberal education sys
going to do with that?"
BY LUCAS LUX
KANSAN COLUMNIST
OPINION@KANSAN.COM
People who ask this question, however, fail to understand what college is about. The University is not — and
should not be — a vocational school. The English department should not replace Shakespeare with business memos any more than a vocational school should
tem does not make engineers or doctors irrelevant. Doctors need dense knowledge particular to their field, knowledge no patient would want them to lack.
No engineering feat or medical miracle can create liberty or democracy.
Today's liberal education system equips each student with a set of intellectual tools and the knowledge to use them. The skills to perform a particular task can always
Nor does the need for vocational degrees signal the irrelevance of liberal arts degrees. Neither is better than the other; rather they complement each other.
be acquired; the ability to acquire these skills, sometimes independently, is more important.
In a way, liberal arts students specialize in being generalists. A liberal educa
tion creates proficient, well rounded and independent thinkers schooled in critical thinking.
The importance of creating well-rounded and independently thinking citizens goes beyond a pay check. Aristotle wrote in "Politics" that "there is a certain kind of education that children must be given not because it is useful or necessary but because it is noble and suitable for a free person." It is both a product and prerequisite of a functional democracy to possess a liberally educated population.
Research demonstrates that college graduates are more likely to participate in their communities than non-graduates. The knowledge acquired from a liberal arts education, as well as improved civic participation, is not a product solely of one's class, but is a personal accomplishment.
Finally, liberal arts institutions promote the progression of ideas. Although not a physically useful tool, the character "V" in "V for Vendetta" was right when he said "there are not enough bullets in the world to stop an idea." The freedoms we possess today are, after all, products of ideas. No engineering teat or medical miracle can create liberty or democracy. Ideas, although not a replacement for vocations, are just as important. Thinking is powerful. And a liberal arts education teaches students to think.
So the next time someone asks you what you're going to do with your major, remind him or her to thank liberal arts majors like you for the liberties the arts have created. Or just grin and remind yourself that, according to the U.S. Department of Education, those with college degrees earn twice as much as those without.
Lux is a Topeka sophomore in German and economics.
» LETTERTO THE EDITOR
"Muck Fizzou"T-shirts keep students off camera during coverage of KU vs. MU
On Monday the heated rivalry between the Kansas Jayhawks and Missouri Tigers was reignited inside Allen Fieldhouse. The gates opened and the students poured in, decked out in their crimson and blue, and filled the highly-sought after student sections to the brim.
Meanwhile, in the 53-foot long high-definition production truck for ESPN's first night of "Student
As has become the custom at the University of Kansas, countless students donned their royal blue "Muck Fizzout" t-shirts, reflecting their hatred for the Tigers. And, while ESPN may be on cable, it still has standards for what it will and not allow on the air. The T-shirts
Spirit Week," temperatures rose beneath the collars of some of the telecast's production personnel.
The result: Director Ken Dennis and his team of camera operators must be constantly vigilant to keep the shirts off the air. No matter how brilliant the paint job is on your face, if your torsion is covered in a "Muck Fizzon" shirt, don't count
did not make the cut. As is often the case — given the Fieldhouse's TV-unfriendy layout — the school won't change, so the network must.
on getting any air time. Because the game is in high definition, Dennis must be aware of the wider frame that HD allows, and rule out even more shots.
Think about it. ESPN comes to one of the most storied arenas in all of college basketball to kick off a week dedicated to student spirit, and it can't even show most of the students in the crowd.
Reporter Holly Rowe had to ask a student wearing one of the shirts to move out of the shot before she did an in game report from the student section. The lajhayk faithful go crazy when they're on television. Why, then, would students sabotage their own efforts to be shown on TV and, perhaps more importantly, a director's attempts to capture the tremendous atmosphere that epito-
mizes the very essence of jayhawk Basketball? As cameras panned Allen Fieldhouse, Dennis said one of fan, "You'll never get on the air with that t-shirt, Sparky!" Maybe fans will remember that the next time they're searching through their closets to choose an outfit for the game.
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Scott A. Winer Atlanta junior
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Galby Sosa, Nicole Kelley, Patrik Ross, Courtney Hagen, Stainley Johnson, Alison Keeler, Tasha Riggs and McKay Staniger
.