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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2004)
Newsroom: (541) 346-5511 Suite 300, Erb Memorial Union P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com Online: www.dailyemerald.com Tuesday, July 20, 2004 Oregon Daily Emerald COMMENTARY Editor in Chief: Jared Paben Managing Editor: Travis Willse El O iTO RIAL. ASUO Exec on right track to responsible financial term Whether it reflects smart politics or a genuine concern for student money, recently installed ASUO President Adam Petkun looks to be getting off on the right foot by distancing himself from the 2003-04 Executive's fiscal irresponsibility. At a July 8 Student Senate meeting, Petkun asked for more than $ 1,600 in transfers to cover office supply and telephone fund deficits left by the administration of former ASUO Presi dent Maddy Melton and former Vice President Eddy Morales. Senators bombarded him with questions about how the deficits came about. While Petkun said he couldn't answer the questions because he wasn't a member of last year's Executive, he said one of his goals is to ensure that overspending does n't happen this year. 'I am very committed to making sure that the ASUO Execu tive office is fiscally responsible and is an example for the rest of the ASUO," Petkun told senators. If Petkun and the rest of the Executive follows through, the student body will be in for a much-needed breath of fresh air. Petkun's administration has already succeeded in areas where last year's Executive faltered. 1-ast year, Melton and Morales failed to account for missing money on their campaign and expenditure forms. But Petkun and Vice President Mena Ravassipour submitted all of their cam paign expenditure forms, and the numbers added up.Petkun also pulled off the difficult task of finding law students— while the law school is out of session— to appoint to open Constitu tion Court seats. He missed the 30-day June 25 deadline, but with help from the president of the Student Bar Association, he appointed two justices within two weeks of the deadline. Last year, Melton failed for more than half a year to find a Constitution Court justice, prompting the court to summon her and call her "unfit for office." Admittedly, it's still too early to say how well this year's Exec utive will face the challenges of the school year, but if the first two months are any indication, Petkun and Ravassipour's ad ministration might be the first responsible one that students have seen in a long time. EDiTORlAi.BOARD Jared Paben Travis Willse Editor in Chief Managing Editor Erik R. Bishoff Online & Photo Editor ONLINE POLL THIS WEEK'S POLL RESULTS The Oregon Country Fair: Love it or hate it? (28 votes) 1. Love it! - Art, music, culture and community galore! 46 percent 2. Hate it!-It's dirty, dusty and disjointed ... and the people are, too. 25 percent 3. Hate it! - It's been hijacked by capitalism. 18 percent 4. Love it! - Let your hair down and free your mind. 11 percent NEXT WEEK'S QUESTION Which summer movie have you most looked forward to? Visit www.dailyemerald.com to vote. • "Anchorman" • "The Bourne Supremacy” • "The Clearing" • "Fahrenheit 9/11" • "I, Robot” • "Spiderman2" • "Super Size Me" Aaron Sullivan Illustrator Education reform bill is misguided Cheaters never win. Or at least that's how the old adage goes. But what happens when a paltry piece of legislation serves to place such an egregious burden on a per son or group that cheating becomes a ne cessity at some point? Fox News reported that some 200 teachers in California were caught help ing students cheat to perform better on the newly required standardized tests. This problem wasn't isolated, and experts claim that the No Child Left Behind bill has placed an enormous amount of pres - sure on GUEST Ka;hheT,e COMMENTARY such be -— h a v i o r must not be tolerated, sometimes, when the amount of insubordinate behavior is this great, there is a need to investigate a possible source aggravating this problem. The NCLB bill sailed through both hous es of Congress, gamering a majority of sup port. Now that the implementation phase has ventured into the spodight, problems have arisen, eluding that this piece of legis lation is doing the exact opposite of its in tended purpose. Not only is it leaving chil dren behind, it is destroying endre school districts and their integrity. The bill expands the federal govern ment's role in education. That is, if states opt to take federal dollars to aid public schools, strings are attached. For example, annual tesdng that places significant emphasis on math and reading is required, with an overall goal of bring ing all students up to the state-set profi ciency level by 2014. Such is a task that Forbes Magazine dubbed "insane" because "no amount of accountability, incentives and super duper teaching can possibly get all kids in any sizable school up to 100 percent proficiency by 2014." This also means schools that have a high level of students not only passing the tests but scoring exceptionally well, can still be labeled as failures even if five per cent of the students fail. A school failing to meet the require ment two years in a row must offer stu dents the choice of attending other pub lic schools. Schools failing the requirement three years in a row must provide private tutoring to students, and schools perpetually failing face a governmental takeover. Rightly so, the bill also requires every teacher in core content areas to be "highly qualified" in the subjects that he teaches. It doesn't matter how "highly profi cient" a teacher is. He could be a miracle worker hold a doctorate degree in the subject he teaches and still a portion of students would fail the standardized tests. Should such failure signify a teacher is not doing his job effectively? No, but un der the NCLB bill it does. Instead, it should illuminate that many children these days, especially those unfortunate few from lower socioeconomic classes whose parents could care less about their child's success, have no desire to perform well on these tests. Why should they? Without proper parental guidance they will continue on the same dilapidated path leading to a disenfranchised life. Teachers cannot be required to instruct uninterested students and assume the role of quasi-parent to ensure that test scores rise. As it is, teachers are underpaid for their la bor, and many already dip into their own salaries to ensure their students have the proper supplies to complete their lessons. If an education bill stacks the deck against teachers, something must give. When test scores are the gold standard in measuring success and the requisite for allocating school funding, the measurement will usually be met. If that means breaking a few rules along the way, that's precisely what will happen. So before subjecting these busted teach ers to jail time or hefty fines, perhaps the media should focus on the bill fueling such debauchery. This affront to the education system dis plays one thing: Americans need states men as representatives, not self-interested power-hungry actors willing to pass legis lation, without reading it fully, simply be cause they long for another chance to get their name or face on TV. Nicholas Davis is a columnist for The Battalion (Texas A&M University). LETTER TO THE EDITOR ‘Book smarts' remain most valid in evaluating students The system used in educational institu tions today to grade students has been questioned greatly by teachers, parents, and students alike. I am referring to the very raw form of rating students against their peers based on certain criteria. The system is being questioned because good grades are detrimental to students' fu tures, making their accuracy very impor tant. Students believe that the grading could be skewed toward students that are favored, and others feel that it should be changed to not be so book-smart orient ed, and be more based on character and other qualities. I believe that the grading system that we have should not be changed away from book smarts, because that is the most efficient way to monitor and document a students abilities. Students, parents, and teachers may find the grading system that we have now to be inconsistent. Because students can persuade teachers, or that it is too easy to cheat. But, before they jump to conclu sions, they must understand that these students are not getting ahead in their education, but that they are hurting themselves by not doing the full work and taking shortcuts. In the "real world" employers are not going to let these people who try to get by the easy way just get by. It will be harder for these students to get and or hold a job if they think that they will be able to sway the "boss man." The grading system is not to blame for this; it is on the student that takes those shortcuts. Even though some will still see this as a fault it really is not. The saying that "cheaters will never prosper," holds true here and the grading system that we have today is the most efficient way to teach our youth how to follow directions and how to respect and handle authority. That is why the grading system should not be changed to lean more in the direction of character. It needs to stay based on book smarts so that students can learn these valuable lessons for their future. Jeremy Scheid sophomore, business
