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