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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 2004)
Oregon Daily Emerald Monday, December 6, 2004 NEWS STAFF (541)346-5511 JEN SUDICK EDITOR IN CHIEF STEVEN R. NEUMAN MANAGING EDITOR JARED PABEN AY1SHA YAHYA NEWS EDITORS PARKER HOWELL SENIOR NEWS REPORTER MORIAH BAUNGIT AMANDA BOliilNGER MEGHANN CUN1FF KARA HANSEN ANTHONY LUCERO NEWS REPORTERS CLAYTON JONES SPORTS EDITOR JON ROETMAN SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER STEPHEN MILLER BRIAN SMTrjJ SPORTS REPORTERS RYAN NYBURG PULSE EDITOR NATASHA CHILINGER1AN SENIOR PULSE REPORTER DAHV1 FISCHER AMY LtCHTY RYAN MURPHY PULSE REPORTERS DAVID JAGERNAUTH EDITORIAL EDITOR JENNIFER MCBRIDE AILEE SLATER CHUCK SLOTHOWER TRAVIS WILLSE COLUMNISTS ASHLEY GRIFFIN SUPPLEMENT FREELANCE EDITOR GABE BRADLEY NEWS FREELANCE EDITOR/ DIRECTOR OF RECRUITMENT DANIELLE HICKEY PHOTO EDITOR LAUREN WIMER SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER FIM BOBOSKY PHOTOGRAPHER NICOLE BARKER PART-TIME PHOTOGRAPHER ERIK BISHOFF PART-TIME PHOTOGRAPHER BRET FURTWANGLER GRAPHIC ARTIST KIRA PARK DESIGN EDITOR ELLIOTT ASBURY DUSTIN REESE BRIANNE SHOUAN DESIGNERS SHADRA BEESLEY JEANNIE EVERS COPY CHIEFS KIMBERLY BLACKF1F.LD PAULTHOMPSON SPORTS COPY EDITORS AMANDA EVRARD AMBER LINDROS NEWS COPY EDITORS LINDSAY BURT PULSE COPY EDITOR ADRIENNE NELSON ONLINE EDITOR SIADE LEESON WEBMASTER BUSINESS (541)346-5511 IUDYR1EDL GENERAL MANAGER KATHY CARBONE BUSINESS MANAGER REBECCA CRITCHETT RECEPTIONIST NATHAN FOSTER AIBING GUO ANDREW LEAHY JOHN LONG MALLORY MAHONEY HOLLY MISTELL DISTRIBUTION ADVERTISING (541)346-3712 MELISSA GUST ADVERTISING DIRECTOR TYLER MACK SALES MANAGER MATT BETZ HERON CAUSCH-DOLEN MEGAN HAMLIN KATE HIRONAKA MAEGAN KASER-LEE MIA LEIDELMEYER EMILY PHILBIN SHANNON ROGERS SALES REPRESENTATIVES KELLEE KAUFTHEIL AD ASSISTANT CLASSIFIED (541)3464343 TR1NA SHANAMAN CLASSIFIED MANAGER KATY GAGNON SABRINA GOWETTE LESUE STRAIGHT KERI SPANGLER KATIE STRINGER CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ASSOCIATES PRODUCTION (541) 346-4381 MICHELE ROSS PRODUCTION MANAGER TARA <1 DAM PRODUCTION COORDINATOR JEN CRAMLET KRISTEN DICHARRY CAMERON GAUT ANDY HOLLAND DESIGNERS The Oregon Daily Emerald is pub lished daily Monday through Fn day during the school year by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc , at the University of Ore gon. Eugene, Ore. The Emerald operates independently of the University with offices in Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is private property. Unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law. ■ In my opinion Grading system gets an F Finals week has (finally) come, which can only mean one thing: Let the bitching about schoolwork com mence. Not that you haven’t been do ing that all term. Personally, I have come to the con clusion that the University system makes absolutely no sense. Students pay teachers to educate us, yet they are then allowed to tell us how much we’re learning. The whole situation seems akin to a boss paying her em ployee to clean toilets and the em ployee turning around and telling the employer how much she is or isn’t happy with the cleaning job. If I’m paying someone to do my housekeep ing, I’ll be the one to tell the receiver of my hard-earned money exactly how well they did. Shouldn’t it be the same with education? We are currently paying a large amount of money to attend this Uni versity and receive an education. If I have paid to be taught something, shouldn’t there be a repercussion for the teacher rather than, or at least as well as, the student when knowledge has not been taught? Although teachers cannot be re sponsible for the self-failings of their students, it still seems unfair that they are allowed to judge how much a par ticular student is learning. I pay the teacher to teach me, and then I get slapped with the label of failure if the teacher deems that I haven’t learned the correct information? I think many students have been part of a class in which they became exposed to important educational ma terial and gained wonderful skills of analysis and understanding, however, A1LEE SLATER FURTHER FROM PERFECTION their grade on a midterm or final did not necessarily reflect this education. A situation like this is the ultimate spit in the face: Students have paid someone to teach them, they have been taught, but an arbitrary grade makes it seem as though this learning never occurred. Their newfound education is not recog nized, and they have, in essence, paid money to be told that they are idiots. If I want to be told that I’m an idiot, I could just get drunk and leave embarrassing messages on the phone machines of at tractive men — for free. Then there is the constant fountain of stress, emerging from that oh-so-re viled spigot of essays, quizzes and fi nal projects. There seems to be an as sumption that stress is the best way to facilitate learning. People willing to admit this underlying assumption would righdy be told to go sit in a cor ner and think about what they just said. Stress usually leads to two things: Procrastination, because stress makes every assignment more daunt ing than it actually is, and poor work as a result of this procrastination. Eliminating the system of grading would surely do away with both of these problems. Suddenly, the purpose of schoolwork will be to gamer knowl edge, rather than to gain an artificial mark of how much learning one had achieved. Instead of concern about the symbol of achievement, achievement itself will be most prized. Stress in stu dents will be significantly lessened once work is being done for reasons of personal satisfaction. Although some may argue that grades in college are es sential to determining that the hardest workers are accepted to graduate school, perhaps a decrease of focus on grades will actually lead to more fair admission policies. Time not spent cal culating grades could be used by teach ers to write recommendations for the students who have truly shown the ability to work hard and be motivated to educate themselves. This columnist understands that a world without grades is a fantasy utopia, populated by over-enthused learners who work hard not out of fear but out of excitement for their own continued education. Reality might in stead yield a slew of frustrated stu dents and teachers, not giving or re ceiving the education they deserve because of low expectations on the part of the university system as a whole. But, just maybe, removing our current system of grading would lead to classrooms of a higher caliber. Stu dents who work hardest would be sur rounded by similarly ambitious and in telligent peers; as for teachers, their time could be spent concentrating on exceptional students who want to learn, rather than wasting resources grading the sub-par work of students who didn’t care enough to do a good job in the first place. aileeslater@ dailyemerald, com ■ Editorial Celebrate a new holy day this year We live in a nation whose citizens come from every corner of the planet. For this we are fortunate, especially during this time of year, the holiday season, when the colorful falling leaves turn our thoughts to the pro found — life and death, family and humanity — and when many religions and cultures in the world celebrate a holiday or festival. A remarkable phenomenon and a reminder that for all of our misunderstandings, at the most basic, we are all the same. According to a recent survey, only about one fourth of Americans are familiar with the teach ings of Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism. Most likely, even less know the difference between Sikhism and Baha’i or between Hmong, Chi nese and Russian New Year festivities. As citi zens of a diverse nation, it is our responsibility and privilege to learn about the culture and faith of all Americans. So as homework this winter break, take the time to learn about a faith different from your own. Read passages from a different religious text. Attend a different holiday service and talk with somebody about his or her beliefs. We see acts of religious hatred every day in the newspaper. Sometimes it seems as if those of dif ferent faiths will never be able to live in peace. We rarely see the little moments of understanding, friendship and love. Each of these moments goes a long way toward healing the conflicts of the past and present and toward establishing a future of mutual respect and inclusion. Your second homework assignment for the holy days is to reflect on the importance of the American ideal of secular government, where people of all religious faiths, and no religious faith, are equally endorsed and served. In these annoyingly politically correct times, ex pressing the appropriate holiday cheer can be a maddening exercise in vagueness. But the impulse underlying is a good one, even if it has gone way too far. We need to remember this now more than ever. Lastly, the holy days of winter break are a time to give to those less fortunate. You don’t need money — the most valuable thing you can give is the one thing we will all have: time. Whatever your talent is, there is a charity that could use your services. Good luck on finals. Have a great winter break, a joyous holy day season and a happy new year. Why annoy your friends and family with self-righteous rants when you can annoy thousands of your peers every week? And get paid for it! The Oregon Daily Emerald, an independently run student newspaper, seeks an opinionated writer to join our team of weekly commentary page columnists for winter term. Candidates must be well-versed in politics and current events and have a journalistic sensibility. The application form and job description are available in the EMU Suite 300. Please submit the application form, your re sume and three work samples by Dec. 31 at 5 p.m. Both journalism and non-journalism majors are encouraged to apply. The Oregon Daily Emerald is an equal-opportunity employer committed to a culturally diverse workplace. INBOX Media covering wrong country's election fraud Wonders never cease. Fraud has been alleged in the Ukrainian presidential election, and here comes the U.S. press galloping in on white horses with 24/7 coverage. I have some questions for the media. Why the deathly silence concerning our own presidential election? Are 10-hour lines in our so-called democracy a news story, given that these occurred in the crucial swing states of Ohio and Florida, possibly disenfranchising tens of thou sands if not hundreds of thousands of voters in populace-democratic-leaning counties? Is it a news story when corrupt elections supervisors willfully keep work ing machines in warehouses while voters had to make do with only a couple of machines in several Ohio and Florida counties? Is it a news story when Volusia County, Fla., employees are seen illegally throwing signed memory cards and poll tapes representing 100 precincts into garbage bags? Several members of Congress and hun dreds of organizations lobbied relentlessly for legislation requiring that these electron ic voting machines issue paper receipts in case of needed recounts or anomalies that needed investigation. Republicans fought it tooth and nail. Why would legislators proactively resist a verifiable paper trail? Why isn’t this a news story? Sen. Richard Lugar is right to question the illegitimacy of the Ukrainian election based on exit polling variance. Using Lu gar’s logic, the presidency of George W. Bush is also illegitimate. Gerry Rempel Eugene
