Commentary
Parents should teach values
When I was in college, I had this great
professor whom I really admired. He
had a saying that went, "Values are
caught not taught."
With apologies to my former teacher,
1 think the mantra only partially applies
to our children and the use of alcohol. Al
cohol use among Oregon's youth is on
the rise, according to a state survey of
more than 18,000 students.
Teaching
our youth
about the dan
COMMENTARY
_ use does in
clude some
talking. It's not always an easy conversa
tion to begin, but the payoffs of early
parental intervention are enormous.
As your children progress through the
school years, dealing with peer pressure,
academic stress and social challenges,
you will have already established a sense
of values to help them when faced with
the tough decisions and temptations.
Even years down the road when your
children are not under your roof 24
hours, the messages you instill in them
early on will influence their choices later.
As a parent, I feel fortunate that my
children had a good set of values before
they left for college. 1 know that there are
some individuals who will never touch al
cohol. Others, however, may find them
selves going down a path they know is not
right for them. Again, it is early, consistent
and frequent modeling and messaging
that will get them back on course
You don't need a formal forum to get
the discussion going. Find something
that you and your child enjoy doing to
gether - jogging, rollerblading, cycling.
Talking with them during these relaxed
times will not only help to keep the
lines of communication open, but
studies also show that children who
have close bonds to their families are
less likely to use alcohol.
Don't wait until your children are in
junior high school to talk to them about
the dangers of alcohol. Set the rules early.
• Be an example: If you have a rule
about drunk driving, and you should,
make sure not to drive when you've been
drinking or get in a car with someone
who has. Children notice when their par
ents say one thing and do another.
• Recognize good behavior: Empha
size the things your children do right in
stead of focusing on what's wrong. When
parents are quicker to praise than to criti
cize, children leam to feel good about
themselves, and they develop the self
confidence to trust their own judgment.
• Be specific: Tell your children the rule
and what behavior you expect. For exam
ple, you could say, "The law says that you
have to be 21 to drink. Our family follows
the law."
• Develop consequences: If your chil
dren are old enough, they can help sug
gest appropriate and reasonable conse
quences. It may help to write up a list of
rules and consequences for breaking
each rule.
• Be consistent: Be sure your children
understand that the rules are maintained
at all times, and that the rules hold true
even at other people's houses. If they are
at a party where alcohol or illegal dmgs
are being used, they can call you for a ride
home.
That college professor who talked
about values being "caught, not taught"
was right about a lot of things. But the
harmful lifetime consequences of alco
hol are so great, we parents have to en
sure our kids are "taught."
Robert E. Nikkei is the administrator
of the Office of Mental Health and
Addiction Services
in the Oregon Department
of Human Services.
Death penalty remains wrong,
primitive way to punish crimes
If I were to ask you your opinion on
killing, what would you say? Would
you look at me in disbelief, stating mat
ter-of-facdy that "It's wrong?" Or would
you say it's a just practice and you sup
port it? I'm not talking about just any
type of killing here, in case you haven't
guessed yet; I'm commenting on the
routine execution of criminals in our
justice system — the death penalty.
Most people don't start talking about
It's just one of the things in this world
that is unpleasant to think about. By
some odd coincidence, two of my fa
vorite television shows last week both
dealt heavily with the death penalty
and the possibility of killing innocent
people. Unlike most opponents of the
penalty, I don't want to argue about
that possibility. Instead, I want to target
the root of the problem, the justness of
the penalty.
I feel that a penalty such as this is
GUEST
COMMENTARY
things as
dark as the
death penal
ty unless it
affects them
personally.
merely a primitive version of revenge,
only it's been legalized. Killing some
one who committed murder is like me
stealing something from the person
who stole my bike tire last month. Be
honest with yourselves, would my do
ing that make any sense or help make
the world a happier, safer place? So
how, then, do we justify to ourselves the
killing of those who kill others?
Let me make another example We at
tacked the nation of Iraq, completely
unprovoked. Our attacks killed inno
cent civilians and soldiers who were
likewise innocent because they had
done nothing to us. Does this give the
nation of Iraq the right to turn around
and attack our country? No. And by my
analogy, it doesn't either. However,
working within this analogy, Iraq would
have the power to watch as the United
Nations executed such an attack.
But when you think about this, none
of it makes sense, does it? But apply that
same logic to the death penalty. Neither
makes logical sense, but for some odd
reason we continue to practice the for
mer in many states. Remember the im
mortal words of Gandhi, "An eye for an
eye makes the whole world blind."
You can also look at the argument of re
habilitation. After a person has been reha
bilitated, if they ever are, they are not the
same person who committed the crime.
Even if you are able to justify the death
penalty, how could you justify killing
someone who has seen and corrected the
error in his life? I can't.
1 realize that many people will just read
this in passing and many won't actually care
about what I've written here. I hope, though,
that at least one person takes my words to
heart and thinks hard about the point I am
trying to get across. I don't intend to start a
national campaign to end the death penalty,
1 just want to get more people thinking on
the same wavelength so that, one day, such a
campaign might be possible.
Eric Mann is a junior studying physics.
Make a di-f-fev-eKde m
somebody s li-fe • • •
Do*aie blood^
Tuesday, May Z*5, llar*-1?^
Register m -tbe Taylor Lou^e, EMU
sponsored by
La*e Memorial Blood Ba*k
U0 Student AU»i Relations Board
JONES
continued from page 2
to teach the person a lesson. Actu
ally, 1 think I'll leave that up to the
creators of reality television. I also
don't remember signing a waiver
saying I would participate in an ex
periment on the psychology of un
ethical class assignments.
I'd love to believe Mr. Wieden's
intention was to teach us to stand
up to authority, but I honestly
don't. And if it is, well, his strategy
is very dangerous, because if I had
gone ahead and objected to a
marriage, I would have not only
failed at the "hypothetical" lesson
of the workshop, but also ruined
someone's wedding in the
process. I'm sure that wouldn't sit
on my conscience for long. I
mean, it was just a joke.
The problem is that this is a class
room environment, with Dan
Wieden serving as a mentor. George
Cox, a professor of public affairs at
Georgia Southern University, ad
dresses the issue students face inter
acting in an "artisan/apprentice" re
lationship. I le states, 'Those of us
who are far enough along in life to
discern the moral competence of
others will avoid collaboration with
questionable colleagues. Neverthe
less, we cannot expea student ap
prentices to be experienced and dis
cerning in such matters." While Mr.
Wieden might not be aware of the
principles surrounding teaching
ethics, the journalism school
should have realized the situation
students faced. Instead, the school
said it does not condone illegal or
unethical behavior, yet neither did
it provide students with a manner
by which to make ethical judg
ments. The school's reply to con
cerns about the class was that it was
not about the task, but the chance
to show how creative you are to
Dan Wieden.
The workshop, which was adver
tised as "an extraordinary opportu
nity for any advertising student," re
quired an application and selection
process. 'The students enter the
workshop feeling privileged just to
be there. So when one of the biggest
names in advertising tells them to
do something moronic and record
it on video, they don't question it,
but say, "Should I bring popcorn?"
Sometimes when we idolize people
we laugh at everything that comes
out their mouth and do anything
they ask us to do, whether it's get
them coffee or, as was assigned to
one student in this class, convince
your parents that you're gay.
Someone suggested this issue
was ultimately one I needed to
work out with Mr. Wieden my
self, but I'm not sure the stu
dent's role is to regulate the be
havior of her teachers. That's
where 1 expect the school to step
in and stand up not only for me,
but for all my peers. I do not
know if Mr. Wieden's intentions
were different from the ones he
stated at the workshop, but in
tentions aside, the effects of these
assignments could have been
very emotionally damaging or
even punishable by law.
We were told to continue to
face our fears on the second day
of the workshop by singing and
dancing in front of the agency's
employees. I guess I'm the fool for
paying $400 for a workshop that
treats me like a puppet, but 1 trust
ed that the journalism school
wouldn't offer a class in which the
instructors took advantage of
their authority in such a way.
Well, I've faced my fear of
speaking up against Dan
Wieden, talking to faculty and
making my concerns known to
the dean. Maybe 1 didn't need a
workshop on fear after all.
I know I should never have
been asked to do something eth
ically wrong for a class assign
ment. I should never have been
exposed to a learning environ
ment where the instructor seem
ingly took advantage of his au
thority for his own amusement
at the expense of the students. 1
may only be 22 years old with a
monthly income that barely cov
ers my rent and the utopian vi
sion that I can make the world a
better place, but don't sell my in
telligence and integrity short.
"Jump," you say? Mr. Wieden,
I'll pass.
Contact the columnist at
marissajones@dailyemerald.com.
Her opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.