EDITORIAL
Campbell’s tax plan
offers no solutions
House Speaker Larry Campbell has finally made his
plan public for fixing Oregon's budget problems. In a
word (or two) — it's bad.
Campbell spent the past year derailing Gov. Barbara
Roberts' tax proposal, which she devised after several
meetings with Oregonian* across the state. Campbell,
meanwhile, devised his plan after meeting with, well,
nobody.
Campbell refused to allow Oregonians even the
opportunity to vote on Roberts' plan. No doubt his plan
will find its way onto a ballot somewhere.
Campbell's plan does little to relieve the crunch of
19!K)'s Ballot Measure 5 and actually may worsen the
damage. Like Measure 5, Campbell's plan is an attempt
at a quick fix. an attempt to dupe voters into believing
someiuutg is inn n g
done about the prob
lem.
The proposal would
generate a budget that
covers only one year,
instead of the usual
two. Since the House
only meets every other
year, a special session
would be required to
create another budget
in 1994. The special
session alone means
increased operating
costs for the House,
which is one of the
very issues taxpayers are angry aooui.
(Campbell's plan would cut between $450 million and
$500 million from the budget, but it offers no clue as to
what programs will lie cut or to what degree their bud
gets will be slashed.
In an attempt to mimic California's disastrous Propo
sition 13, Campbell also proposes limiting increases in
property assessments to 2 percent per year. This pro
posal would sot artificially low tax rates and seriously
reduce the ability of counties, cities and school districts
to retain local control of their operations.
In a poor attempt at appeasing educators, Campbell's
plan would allocate state lottery funds to K-12 schools.
However, lottery funding is very unstable and would
provide schools with a fluctuating source of income,
preventing them from planning morn than a year or two
in advance.
The plan does contain at least two positive points.
One is freezing property taxes at 2 percent of assessed
value, rather than the 1.5 percent mandated by Measure
5. This would save the state $1.5 billion in 1995-97.
Also, the plan would dedicate beer and wine taxes to
education, research and treatment for alcohol and drug
abuse programs.
Oregon doesn't need a quick-fix solution to its bud
get woes. It needs lawmakers who are not afraid to take
political risks and make unpopular decisions.
Like Measure 5,
Campbell's plan is
an attempt at a
quick fix, an
attempt to dupe
voters into
believing
something is
being done about
the problem.
Oregon Daily
Emerald
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COMMENTARY
Language isn’t fun, but needed
By David Wemgarten
often wonder if our freedom
which we are most proud
Xof in this country — will be
our tragic flaw, eventually lead
ing to the complete collapse of
our country.
Plato believed humans were
inherently good — that “evil"
people were actually just
deceived about what was good
Machiavelli, on the other hand,
believed people were, by their
very nature, evil and selfish
Today. Americans are divid
ed into two such factions One
group, frequently termed the
"far-left wing" or "anarchists,"
seem to believe that, if left to
their own devices, people will
generally do what is right and
good, both for themselves and
for ot hers
The other group, respectively
termed the "far-right wing" or
"fascists," recognize that people
do not usually do what is best,
hut rather what is easiest or
most immediately gratifying.
Given that I am a registered
Democrat who is vehemently
pro-choice and strongly against
"unnecessary" legislation. I
hate to associate myself with
any sort of conservatism. But in
the case of higher standards for
American education. I'm afraid
1 must
The editorial in the |an. 2fi
issue of the Emerald ("No clear
mandate for requirement") is
just plain ridiculous. The Emer
ald editors should ask them
selves a couple of questions
First, how many high school
students did they know who
actually liked going to school
every day? How many people
did they know in high school
that took classes because it was
"an easy A" or because they
"need it to graduate"? The aver
age U.S. high school student is
about as far from motivated as
humanly possible.
When 1 was in high school. I
only took "hard" classes if I had
to. I took AP classes only
because they were more inter
esting, not because I was trying
to become better educated. I
pulled a 2.3 cumulative GPA. I
was an average student.
In my first two-and-a-half
years of college, I came to the
realization that. damn. 1 didn’t
know a thing. 1 wished some
body had pushed me harder. I
wished somebody had made me
take more history. 1 wished
somebody had made me pass
algebra and go on to calculus. I
wished somebody had made me
take two years of Latin I wished
somebody had made me take
physics.
Instead. I, like most of my fel
low classmates, took yearbook I
took two P.E. classes per year. I
circuitously avoided my
school's foreign language
requirement by taking art class
es. (Yes, lielieve it or not. art
was a valid substitute for lan
guage at my school )
When I talk to people in other
( outlines (which I do frequent
ly. thanks to the InterNet. a
computer service that, by the
way, all University students can
access), I am almost embar
rassed to tell them I am an
American.
Below the university level.
America has one of the worst
educational systems in the
industrialized world. Our stu
dents. on the whole."speak no
language other than English
.Many cannot perform simple
day-to-day mathematical func
tions without a calculator, let
alone process complex calculus
or algebraic functions
Most do not even understand
the workings of their own gov
ernment. nor of global econom
ics or international relations
The second most common ques
tion I get from foreigners is:
"Are Americans as stupid as we
hear?”
To say we cannot require for
eign language because math and
English skills are poor is a non
sequitur of grand proportion I
failed English in eighth grade,
but received a B-plus in my first
term of Latin at the University.
For that matter, it was not until
I had taken Latin and Creek that
1 understood terms like "indi
rect object." "participle phrase"
or "subordinate clause " Too
bad they didn't teach Latin in
seventh grade.
The supposition that if a stu
To say we cannot .
require foreign
language because
math and English
skills are poor is a
non sequitur of
grand proportion.
dent doesn't want to go to a
post-secondary school, she
should not tie required to take a
foreign language, is absurd.
Hav ing lived in New Mexico for
two years (for those of you who
didn’t take high school geogra
phy, no. it wasn’t a foreign
exchange program), 1 know for a
fact that speaking Spanish can
frequently be the deciding fac
tor in whether or not you get a
job.
In the Northeast of the Unit
ed States, French fluency is the
"big plus” on a job application.
This need for language fluency
is becoming increasingly neces
sary in many states around the
country.
Yes, students should want to
take foreign language. They
should also want to take histo
ry. algebra, calculus, physics,
chemistry, biology, economics,
writing composition and litera
ture. if for no other reason than
to broaden their horizons
The problem is. they don't.
They want to play sports or go
dancing They want to sit at
home and watch TV or go out
and get intoxicated
Perhaps the state Board of
Higher Education's new
requirement is not worded per
fectly. Perhaps it leaves out
some necessary clarity Perhaps
it needs to be changed. I don't
know. Because I only have sec
ond-hand reports of it. 1 have
not read the actual documents
But from the sounds of it. nei
ther has the Emerald s editorial
board Regardless. 1 have little
doubt that the OSBHK made the
right decision, for a change.
David Weingarten is a Hug
e/ie resident