EDIT ORIAL
Business school
sees slow change
Business in the United States is going global; howev
er. business In the management program at the Univer
sity business school is running a few steps behind.
As the world continues to grow smaller and the busi
ness interest in it becomes a global one. there are many
changes taking place. One of the changes is the reduc
tion of big business in the United States. The global mar
ket is saying. "Cut back and compete ... or else.”
In order to compete in the global market with scaled
down international companies. U S. companies havo
had to tighten their belts. The interest, for many com
panies. is in the same pie — but there are only so many
pieces to go around.
The cuts, and they are nothing new. are coming from
middle management. The old triangle structure of top
level management resting on middle management with
lowor-level workers filling the space at the bottom of the
triangle is becoming a thing of the past. No longer has
the global market made it possible for top management
to be buffered by middle management. The buffer, for
most companies, has already been cut or needs to be.
Keeping up with change is vital to tho competitive
ness of tho University business school. Unfortunately
change at the University isn't keeping pace with the
changes in the business world. The management pro
gram at the l Inivorsity would be a good one if the world
were like it was 20 years ago — the years when big busi
ness was coming to tho University with hopes of filling
middle-management positions.
Although tho teachers are dynamic, the program is
in need of change.
So what if you are a student in the management pro
gram? The movement for the business school to reposi
tion itself seems to have been made, and courses like
international management are a good start. But even
though as the wheel is being turned, it will take some
time for tho ship to follow.
For students in tho management program now. future
employment opportunities are going to befew and far
between. Preparing for the marketplace now means
preparing for the global marketplace. Qualified people
are wanted if they qualify for jobs.
Students come to the University to receive an educa
tion that prepares them for the working world. Students
are making an investment in their education and. in
return, education is investing in them. That education
must be worthy and competitive in the modern business
world.
The changes in the business world are exciting and
hold the potential for many great careers. As technology
continues to link the world together, the opportunities
continue to grow. But the University needs to continue
its move to link the students to the business world. The
opportunities may not bo apparent today, but neither are
the changes that the future brings. For those with a
watchful eye and the ability to bo flexible, tho future can
be an exciting one.
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COMMENTARY
Only humans can destroy Earth '
By Kevin M Nakamura
h, the arrogance of
humankind! David Thom,
in his recent opinion col
umn [ODE, |an 12). authorita
tively declares that humans are
"superior to all other forms of
life." I'd hardly dare to challenge
such wisdom. os(M*:iallv consid
ering some of the undeniably sol
id scientific evident* he presents.
Who would dare to argue with
the logic, for instant.e, that pot
bellied pigs didn't plan the A|kiI
lo missions?
Of course 1 understand that
Thorn is only being sarcastic
when he makes such remarks,
and his sense of humor is
at know lodged The question is.
therefore, how seriously are we
to take hiill’’ Does he honestly
believe that atn particular form
of life is more valuable than
another' Apparently so
Thom's insistent* that humans
art; superior comes from his dis
agreeing with a bumper stit ker
that simply reads. "All forms of
life are equal " He goes on to say
tfiat this claim "just doesn't hold
up to any serious scrutiny."
The problem here is that Thom
is evaluating this statement from
a purely human set of values
Human beings, whether we like
it or not. tend to interpret value
in terms of economic s: A whale
is more valuable than a microor
ganism because it is larger, more
complex and exists in greater
scarcity.
The fact of the matter is that
these human-created rules of
determining value simply do not
apply here.
There is a balance of life on
planet Earth, a balance that can
lie easily disturbed, but not eas
ily restored Unfortunately, we
as humans cannot readily per
ceive this intricate network
through which all living things
are connected
We fail to foresee the conse
quences of widespread defor
estation, the hunting into extinc
tion of rare animals and the
human-induced degradation of
our planet's natural habitats You
see, whenever you detrimental
ly affect a single population of
organisms, you tend to affect the
entire community that that organ
ism inhabits.
Thorn seems convinced that
small organisms ere less valuable
than largo. In truth, Earth's
oceans are teeming with micro
scopic organisms that are impor
tant and even critical to many
larger animals, including people
The oxygen that wo breathe is the
result of more than three billion
years of photosynthesis. A good
fraction of this can be attributed
to autotrophic: marine microor
ganisms. Clearly they are quite
valuable.
So why. asks Thorn, when he
uses antiseptic mouthwash,
should he not be "punished" for
"murdering" millions of micro
scopic life forms7 Besides the
obvious reason (morning breath),
the answer is strictly one of sta
tistic s: Simply put, you cannot
help killing microorganisms
because the probability of acc i
dentally doing so at any given
time is essentially one (as in 100
perc ent) Does this mean that
amoetws are inferior to hamsters?
No. it just means that you are
more likely to step on or swallow
a protozoan than you are a three
toed sloth.
And so we c ome to the ques
tion of intelligence. Does
humankind's ability to under
stand "cause and effec t" make us
any more essential than our fel
low animals? Does the applic a
tion of intelligence make us so
cial?
Thorn claims that zoologists
have failed "to determine con
clusively whether animals under
stand ’cause and effect.' " If
you're looking for the word
"proved.” then don't hold your
breath. True science will never
prove anything What it c.un do.
however, is disprove. So. essen
tially. it has not been disproven
that animals cannot understand
causality. The American psy
c hologist B.F Skinner found that
rats could learn to press a bar to
receive food, and studies of chim
panzees have found that the act
of using sticks to extract termites
We are currently
the most intelligent
species on Earth.
With such
intelligence,
however, comes a
tremendous
responsibility.
for food is a learned (ns opposed
to instinctual) behavior. Is this
not an application of intelli- ^
genes? ■
I would not assume to chal
lenge the notion that humans an* ,
the most intelligent form of life
this planet has ever produced.
The fai t remains, however, that
our intelligence, our ability to
process larger amounts of infor
mation, is little more than an evo
lutionary advantage randomly
bestowed (read: mutation) on our
ancestors some 500.000 years
ago Homo sapiens are not supe
rior. Just lucky.
We are currently the most
intelligent st>ocies on Kurth. With
such intelligence, however,
comes a tremendous responsi
bility Although he does not con
demn it, Thorn expresses annoy
ance at environmentalism, which
he seems to feel suppresses our
own animal instincts:
"No other animal is expected
to curb its own consumption in
order to save the planet: animals,
left by themselves, will eat entire
species into oblivion, and not feel
a shred of remorse. If they are
capable of destroying the envi
ronment. they probably will. And
no one would consider it
'immoral,'"
In fact, there is only one ani
mal capable of destroying the
environment as we know it And
I'll tell you one thing — it's not
the pot-beliied pig.
Kevin M Nakamura is a gen
eral science major at the Uni
versity