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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 1989)
_EditoriaL Successor must confront growing education crisis Verne Duncan. the state superintendent of public <miiic afion. slops down (mm oific o llns wook. assuming a now post as tho dean of odui ation at the I 'niversilv ol Port land Dmii.m. who has hold tho job foi la years lias drawn hum h i ritic ism for tho budgetary problems far in;; the elementary anil secondary schools in the state which has caused many s«-bools to tall into the safety not prm iding back up Imam ial relief Through it .ill though. Hum an has done a good job living to provide the best school system possible toi the stale's i hildren Duncan, if nothing else, cares about students lie spends half of Ins lime going around the state and see mg what i an he done to improve education in the state lbs push for edm alional reform and higher glad nation requirements came at a time when they were sorolv needed lie will he best remembered for his push to bind schools through the controversial sales lav initiative, trying to get away from funding si bools through prop erly taxes Although the results weren’t smcessful. they were right on track The likely successor to Duncan is former secretary of state Norma I’aulus who laum bed .1 state gubernato rial bid opposite Neil Goldschmidt in l‘iMt> Gold schmidt will appoint someone to take Duncan s post soon, but whoever it is will likely face a challenge from I’aulus in the 10‘M) elec lion Despite whoever I.ikes over for Duncan, they will lai e growing problems in education that need to Ire looked at. dealt with and solved The biggest problem, as earlier stated, is financing the public sc hool system Quality means quantity, and to provide a quality education, the school systems must have the1 money to spend and develop a child's education The school systems also must come up with strict er graduation requirements to make for a better educa tion. Too often the schools are turning out students who cannot master reading a simple book or having the math skills to balance a checkbook. The growing education crisis that has hit the entire nation is unfortunately alive and well in Oregon. It’s not Verne Duncan’s fault. He did what he could. The fault lies with the state legislature and the voters. They are the ones who should be held accountable for their actions. Despite where the fault lies, it is the job of the new state superintendent of public education to do some thing to solve the worsening education crisis. r SO WE HAVE A FEW ACCIDENT...BIG DEAL. L J Navy becomes more than an adventure Il s nut |iist <i |ul). and it's becoming mure deadly lli.m am adventure lh.it am Mini' person would uant to lake part in. ( asi's in point • \uv 1 Three sudors an- swrpt from tlu• dci k of flu' ain raft carrier l\isrnlun\t'i One dins • \o\ 1 A firi' on the oili'i ship ,\/o/iom>u /ic/.i injures nmi' i rewmen • Nov 11 \ Nav) jet crashes into an apart limit complex in Atlanta The pilot manages to ejei t. hut two dm on the ground • Saturda\ N’avv jets mistakenly bomb a (ampsiti1 in California The six (.ampul's arc uninjured hut thumughlv surprised • Sundav The* destroyer Kmk.ml collides with a tanker near Singapore One sailor dies, four are injured •Tuesday An 1-14 fighter jet crashes oft kev West. Fla The crew is rescued, hut the fighter sinks and is lost • Also Tucsdav A fire on the ship huhnn injures 41 Add to this the 1(1 killed since Oct 7. and 47 killed on the battleship low.i when their turret exploded in April, and the N'avv looks less like an adventure and more like a had action flii k literally every day This prompted the N'avv on Tuesday to shut down normal operations mi land and in llir air and sea three davs. an unprecedented 'safety stand ilmvn Will this accomplish much? Hopefulh Hut it will mi doubt he too mm li to hope tor to expec t the \a\ \ to eliminate aci idents suc h .is the ones indicated above. In tact hoping fm a major improvement in the aci i dent rei ord would also lie unwise Although \av\ accidents have so far c laimed 102 lircs. it should lie1 remembered that (>7 ac ( idents have happened so far this rear, two less than lUHB’s record low of t>‘l mishaps, in which tit fatalities occ urred. The bottom line accidents happen. Na val training and operations take place in some of the harshest conditions on earth — thousands of feet in the air and under the sea It is extremeh hazardous to operate to day’s state-of-the-art ships, and to fly ad vanced tighter airc raft (much less land them on the' heaving slab of an aircraft carrier). While we hope the Navy locks down some of the admitledlv befuddling problems that have been plaguing it this year, it is im portant to remember that the armed forces are not the slick, rock n’ roll camping trips they claim to he on their commercials They’re hazardous as hell. _Letters_ Once again ()m i’ again. here we .nr again .illcr min' weeks of ago ni/.ing Oregon toiilli.ill l lii' ‘H*i Dill ks have Ii.iii linin' ups .mil (low us tli.in flu' spin i' shuttle The Ducks .ire loaded with some o! the best atliletes in the P.ii 10, ini lulling the best set of offensive skill players in the league, and a defense led by Dave (us,mo and pre season All American Chris Oldham vvluili is ranked third in the league I )espile this the I )tl( ks are 0 4 with three of those losses coining in games m whli h the Dm ks had legitimate opportu mlies to win Perhaps the proh lem is not the plavers. hut the 1 o.u hing staff Now . let us throw some mini hersat you "iH M! I And that's not today's winning lottery number, it's the win-loss re cord of coach Kh h Brooks, now in lus l.tth season at Oregon Maybe the programs should make some ( lianges in the coat lung staff After all I I sea Page 2 sons is .unplr lime tin ,i i imi h In t.iki- t <i lc 1111-< 1 plaveis .mil turn thi'iii into a v\ inning pro gram (.it IimsI 7 or H wins in onr sr.isim) This is something lli.il l ri.ii li Ifronks lias never done .it ()regon. We l»i*li*»vi* tin' players the Ians and tlu* I 'niversitv deserve more Tony Robinson Jason krernidas Anthony Parker Kugene Farewell With the death of Vladimir Horowitz, humanity lost one ot its brightest lights Horowitz and the musii he i reated repre sented that part ot human nn lure whii h aspires to things high and beautiful He was the very expression of a vanishing vx orlil W hoever i reated humankind also i reated a love of beauty in our hearts This love of beauty has lieen overmastered In the shadorv of fear and greed One might look at the hatred, the poverty (In* mindless destrui lion of our planet, and ion i i in It* hum,mils is wretched anil full} deserving of the ex tint titni that threatens 'l et I listen to Horow itz's mu mi and the pride in my human 11\ stirs ! am able to stand tall knowing I am part ol the same i iviliz.ation as this great anil gentle man And in his musit I feel the shadow of regret tor im people, who in their fear of darkness turn awa\ from beau tv and light farewell Vladimir, and lira vo Jeff Bernhardt law Nicer and safer In response to lake a sland i om: \ov 8) It occurs to not only myself, hut also mum other students ot this I'niversilv. that the tran sient problem has lieen quite prevalent on this campus for quite some lime. However. I think it is very shallow minded tor one to tlnnk this problem will simply Ko iiu.n il ignored Millions of people .ire homeless in Anion <:« I find this abhorrent when this country is the wealthiest nation in the world I too atn afraid to walk at night bv mv sell bee ause of the abundant \ ol transients and oild balls loitering on campus However, ignoring the fact that these people are homeless will not solve anything Most students that attend this school spend approximately be tween six and ten thousand dollars a vear One should real l\ he ashamed of themselves if tiles are above pitying a person less fortunate then themselves when tliev are fortunate enough to even have i nine this far Win not use vour inlelli gem e and edu< alion to help those less fortunate than your self? Why not do something productive7 (living them mon e\ is not the answer, you're right, but give them some kind of opportunity to better them selves — after all, they .ire hu mans too, and whatever there circumstances may have been that create there unfortunate lifestyle, we should always be thankful for what we have been given, or what we have nuyde ourselves It s time to make all of Amer ica "a nicer and safer place to be." (•race Wilson Jr. Student -Letters Policy_ Letters to the editor must be limited to no more than 250 words, legible, signed and the identification of the writer must be verified u'hen the letter is submit ted. The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or style.