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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1996)
VIEWPOINTS t PIT 0 R1A l S OPINIONS IHHHS TQ T Hf fOITOR Courts fail to mandate family communication ■ OUR OPINION: Most o! the problems with American families cannot be fixed by fudge and fury If you want to actually see the breakdown of the Amor lean family (instead of just hearing about it). take a look at the nation's family courts. lawt week in Oticago. a family-court fudge throat to fait a 15-year-old girl and bar 12-year-old limthur because they rafuMMi to visit their father The father said his rights are being violated Tne children say they would rather go to fail than give in. The fudge said the children arw in con tempt of court. Is this really going to mend the rift between par ent and child? "Iluinks for the lesson. l)«d How could I have mis judged your love for me?" More and more, this nation is turning its person al problems over to the judi cial system Rather than finding compromises or accepting that we ( annul control the actions of others, we take our loved ones (and ex-loved ones) to court We've liet’ii hurt, and we want court-mandated jus tice. The Chicago case illus trates an interesting paradox in American culture. Kver since the divorce boom of the DMM»s. thousands of fathers have disappeared from their children's lives. Sociologists have begun to define this country as a fatherless society. Yet. fur all that paternal abandonment, no court has required a father to visit his children So it's perplexm>> why th»* same judicial system would children »a ful fill their father*' right* and abandon their own. If the |«irent ha* a right to deter mine with whom he aaaod ate*, why shouldn't hi* teen age child? The 15-year old daughter *aid she i* mad at her hither for abandoning the family. As tui h. the court forcing her to m*> him i*n't going to rosolv* that issue or elimi nate her pain. In fact, it will amplify her anger. What the father t* Imrking for urnnot be dictated from the bench. Children distance them selves from their jrarenls everyday. Even living in the same house, teen-agers stop talking to their parents, dis regaril curfews and break rule*. This |**rt of growing up for most young adults cannot Ire resolved with tougher rule* or screaming matches. Crounding a teen who hates being physically restricted will probably cause them to sneak out in the middle of the night Most problems in families (and the world! are caused by either an inability or an unwillingness of people to listen to one another That's no surprise, but it seems to elude the wisdom of the court The court should require the children to attend indi vidual counseling and then family counseling with their father. This way, the chil dren will be able to resolve their hading* of abandon ment and Ire able to express their feelings to their father in a productive way As it stands, no one is get ting I he one right that is most important the right to be heard <tan*M *tf«l| *» WM> H Sa CM*** £»* I W1M MtMtmfe MS «WII»WMg I^HINiM l«M>ll«lVWMMNi •>l>«Mwi.«flM>Mt<l»gwUi •nun • Ihmmm • i •» Marntm om> wmwxiww»"«■■»««mtmmaw« — I maim ■«»**■*mn mtmmt* MW WMwmmM tkt IffiRaw • «MM»ini«K% «• 'tmmu mmm rntrn* tm*\ * rwiMa *, <m i Mar On* tot* HBiw mm«i a atmte turn te Mm >*m*% mw Matte* iwte ate1*! teat*,) team* l«r«MK tete K («■>»*# te*»M» teatea&te* teitefate ite team I* M» CMa* •*** tete Item teteme twtete ■■"lima iamaitem % s*t mm* **M* tecaat Ca* MMttl Mini ££m£MB£S 04CK IN TH£ SOj WC LOOKED To n4£ DAYS KUEn would B£ DOiMG All THE wok*? AMD MERE rwtv ARE! INK #| *%*># KS***v I, «9w till w<MO Wf *U ft A#a ft [ 0vrc**ow > Wage hike hurts needy, working poor W* *11 have them Bad day*. the blue* — and teat her* we just can't stand In one of my first classes, I met a professor I couldn't comprehend 1 learned a lot in hi* cl*u About frustration, about M’lt mlt*no>. but mo*t importantly. about how a curve out < hang* a dismal Sfi percent into a R« That * the thing about bell curve*; you are rated not on your performance, but on the }M!f formant e of your peer* t found this profe*M!t » grading policy <•*(*» dally maddening. If the cum c hallenged (mint* given on any particular <p>**tnm. he would give ail of u* all the point*. Basically, it went like this Oa*t "Hey. thu U the right answer * Prof* *No. it isn't* file** ‘ Ye*., it is.. ’ l»rof f ine, you all get ten extra point* Make thet a hundred No, a million Everyone get* a million evtr* points Happy r I'd look around the tl**i astonished to aew some fmm satisfied with a well fought battle Other* were nek au pleased An MCIWM in the minimum wage is a lot like that Proponent* of ihe minimum wage increase argue that it puls more money into the hand* that need it most the working pour They believe that giving all people earning only $4 75 an hour a whopping S® Ml an horn, gives thoee worker* a full *1 75 worth of extra buying pmm. Unfortunately, thu u where tin* term 'chain r*w»< turn* become* ail too applicable So. the low est paid worker* get 51 75 more an hour Many low paying fob* are in the service indu* try. ao employer* start looking at what i* really a needed* p>b Some g»b* would be almost Itnme diately terminated Remember usher* at movie theater*? Me neither They were considered unnecessary labor after a minimum w age increase l can only wonder what would be considered unnecessary labor now11 Maybe the fry cooker at McDonald's — automation could take over that People who work at skating rink*, concession stand* and the like aren't usually there because their employer want* to give them a boost, but because (heir fob* more efficiently done by humans than machines. But, they argue if the minimum wage was hiked up more than $2 above the Federal mini mum wage ($4 25 per hour), people would be able to afford to give up that second |ob. They would be making enough money to g»-t by on only one fob, Uh-huh. and Bill Gate* will start working at Taco Bell because they offer such great employ ee benefits So, where would all this money come from? I may be going out cm a limb here, but one thing ! have m it iced about business people is that they like to make money, nol lose tt. In order to make ihe **me amount of money, price* on service* and good* provided by people affected by the minimum wage increase would have to be increased Thii touches fust about everything from gas to grocene* If the minimum wage w«* ini rwa***l that much, that quickly (from $4 75 to $6 50 by 1909 — ODE. Feb 8), we would see almost a direct correlation tu'Uvwn the raise In wage and the raise in prices The percentage costs would stay the same and the Ciple employed by these low el fobs would only be hurt I suggest a more reasonable increase such as President Clin ton's proposal He propose* a 90 cent increase over two years to a federal level of $5,15 per hour ini* would only bo* 40 cent increase In Oregon. Iml 11 would insure that now! number* ol people would n.Jl come to Oregon Marching (or the higher minimum wage Whal Mare* me moti U the rhetoric that the minimum wage mere*** will get people off wel* iare and (educe poverty According to Hill Kesmi.h (The Oregonian. Aug 25. 1993). *At $4 75 an hour, even with food stamp* and the Earned Income Tax Credit, a three p’tson family with one minimum' wage earner live* below the poverty line A raise to $5 50 mean* $1,500 net year more in wage income, raising that family above the poverty line And nothing in more important to this country than reducing family and child poverty What he fail* to mention, it that due to cost inflation, the family will remain in the same dim need as before hut may lose tome assistance because they would no longer be considered poverty stricken The people making )us! above minimum wage (in the $5 OO $t> 50 range) would lose out as their employers would probably simply raise them to the state mandated minimum wage As any economics book would tell you. a sud den influx of money does not bring prosperity, but mass inflation When considering a wise of the minimum wage, it must bn enough to honest ly help the people receiving that wage, but not enough to place them right back went they were before — at the bottom As the minimum wage reaches I hi all time buying power low in close to 40 years, we must rectify the situation Hut a raise to $6 50 would only make the situation worse When the Minimum Wage Coalition comes knocking, tell them the truth — a minimum wage hike it a groat idea, but a $2 25 hike above the federal minimum wage will only hurt Oregon, starting with the state's poorest and most needy. Kay krmituhnd. a sophomore nuifonne in bkdo {y. it a columnitt for the Emerald e mail ayiMftladstane uoeeffon edu
