4
OPINION
Page 4
Wednesday, November 20, 1985
The Michigan Daily
4
Edite andt an mangbr it l
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Philippine
involvement
Vol. XCVI, No. 55
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
Only a panacea
HE REAGAN administration's
recent proposal for a voucher
system of public education deser-
ves serious examination. And
rejection. Education Secretary
William J. Bennett is urging
Congress to convert the pittance it
currently allots low-income
children for remedial instruction
into vouchers which poor families
pould redeem at selected schools
for their children.
Under Title I of the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act of
1965, the Federal Government fun-
ds remedial instruction for low-
income children. Last year the
$overnment alloted $3.2 billion
for aid to approximately
five million children. Bennett
proposes to distribute this money in
the form of stipends averaging $600
per family.
Unfortunately, $600 is not
enough. According to the National
Education Association, the
average public school pupil costs
$3400 a year to educate. In subur-
ban public school districts the cost
is more than twice as much. These
:figures do not reflect the costs of
-special education for children af-
flicted with autism, dyslexia, or
mental retardation, for example,
who currently receive federally.
funded remedial instruction, and
clearly require more assistance
than the "average" student. The
Bennett plan purports to give poor
families the freedom to choose
schools for their children, but $600
offers about as much choice for an
improved education as it does for
Carribbean cruises.
While the parsimony of the Ben-
nett proposal cripples its power to
offer educational assistance, the
voucher theory alone creates
serious problems. First, the
proposal is unconstitutional.
Because it allows students to
choose from both public and
parochial schools, the voucher
system indirectly funds religious
schools, thereby violating the se-
paration of church and state.
Furthermore, the voucher
system undermines a fundamental
goal of public education: A
voucher system would encourage
parochialism in education. Com-
petition-induced specialization
would result in homogeneous
student bodies characterized by
students of similar class, religion,
and race, and would reverse the
slow trend toward integration.
Finally, Bennett advocates the
voucher system because he seems
to have the false assumption that
public school deterioration is based
solely on lack of competition. This
premise ignores such vital social
factors as urban decay, crime, and
apathy, and fails to explain the
superiority of suburban public
schools, which also do not compete
for students. By arguing that com-
petition would solve the problems
of the public school system,
proponents of the voucher system
divert attention from social issues
that need to be addressed.
Secretary Bennett is right about
one thing: the public school system
is in serious need of help. However,
a voucher system is not the
solution. Not only is the current
plan shamefully underfunded, it
seeks an economic panacea based
on the unfounded notion that the free
enterprise system will somehow
cure the ills of our public school
system.
By C. A. Catieres
and George C. Burgos
Americans must begin to comprehend
why a growing number of Filipinos wish to
fundamentally change both their society
and U.S.-Philippine relationship. Numerous
media reports on the recent visits of U.S. of-
ficials to the Philippines have focused on
U.S. strategic interests which are in-
variably defined as the maintenance of U.S.
military bases. But unless Americans start
to view Philippines as more than just U.S.
military bases, and consider also the
aspirations of the Filipino people for
democracy and sovereignty, the American
people may once again find themselves embroiled
in another foreign war.
Ironically enough, U.S. involvement in the
Philippines began with a massive military
intervention in 1899 following the U.S.
decision to annex the Philippines. Filipinos,
however, resisted subjugation, having
declared their independence six months
earlier. The Philippine-American War that
ensued resulted in the commitment of
126,000 American troops and the deaths of
an estimated half a million Filipinos by 1902
- a brutal war that is barely mentioned in
history books today.
During the American colonial period, a
political system emerged in which the
UnitedStates gradually handed the reins of
political and economic power to the Filipino
elite.
With the granting of independence in 1946,
the United States secured extra-territorial
rights to 23 military bases for 99 years and
parity rights which gave U.S. citizens the
same rights as Filipinos to exploit Philip-
pine natural resources. This was in keeping
with U.S. policy which was later defined in a
top secret document, "Policy Planning Staff
23," dated Feb. 24, 1948. This document
reads, in part, "we [Americans] have 50
percent of the world's wealth but only 6.3%
of its population...Our real task is to devise a
pattern of relationships which will permit us
to maintain this position of disparity... To do
so.. .we should cease to talk about vague,
and for the Far East, unreal objectives such
as human rights, the raising of living stan-
dards and democratization." PPS 23 further
declared that U.S. policy should see to it that
the Philippines "remain in hands which we
can control and rely on."
This policy was best exemplified by the
events of Sept. 21, 1972 when Marcos, reac-
ting to a growing nationalist movement,
declared martial law. Marcos then
abolished Congress and all political parties,
closed down hundreds of newspapers and
Catieres and Burgos are Ann Ar-
bor residents.
radio and television stations, directed the
armed forces to "enforce obedience" to all
his decrees, and arrested over 30,000
dissidents over the next few months.
U.S. response to these events was to help
consolidate the Marcos dictatorship. The
following year, the U.S. government more
than doubled military aid to Marcos, and
armed and trained Marcos's police and
military.
Since 1972, international human rights
organizations have accused the Marcos
regime of widespread human rights
violations. Church-affiliated groups have
documented 588 disappearances and 2114
"salvagings" (summary executions) of
political dissidents from 1977 to the present.
In the face of such human rights abuses,
Vice-President Bush's toast to Marcos for
his "adherence to democratic principles" in
1981 was a clear affirmation of the PPS 23
policy of ignoring human rights in favor of
preserving U.S. strategic interests. This
was reinforced a few years later by the
Reagan administration's increase in
military aid to Marcos to a record $900
million for five years in exchange for the
U.S. bases.
Today, the U.S. perceives that Marcos's
uncertain health and increasing isolation
coupled with a growing insurgency threaten
U.S. strategic interests. In its single-minded
pursuit of strategic interests, the Reagan
administration has concentrated on convin-
cing Marcos to call for early elections.
Through this election, U.S. hopes to under-
mine the burgeoning nationalist movement
and to prepare for a post-Marcos scenario
by forcing Marcos to begin sharding power
with the pro-U.S. faction of the elite op-
position.
This elite group envisions a return to the
old-style, patronage-based and personality-
oriented politics of pre-martial law days.
Most, like Senator Salvador Laurel (who un-
til recently was a member of Marcos's
ruling party), do not have any programs to
address Philippine economic and, social
problems, except to present themselves as a
replacement for Marcos.
Like all previous elections, the upcoming
election would most likely be fraudulent.
Even a U.S. State Dept. official recently
stated thatCongress should not be surprised
if Marcos and his cronies win the election.
The Reagan administration, however, hopes
that an early election will offer a semblance
of "legitimacy" to the Marcos regime - an
important factor in continued Congressional
approval of military aid to Marcos.
Another major thrust of U.S. policy is to
improve the counter-insurgency
capabilities of the Philippine military. In
doing so, the United States ignores the un-
derlying causes of this insurgency. As Car-
dinal Jaime Sin of Manila recently noted,
the armed resistance is partly a response of
people who do not see any other means to
counter grinding poverty and political
repression.
Eighty percent of the population live on or
under the poverty line and based on gover-
nment surveys, 79 percent of pre-school
children are malnourished. And yet the
Philippines is the 14th largest producer of
food in the world. Much of the arable land is
controlled by multinational corporations
and the Filipino elite while 81% of the rural
labor force is virtually landless. Many
Filipinos who have attempted to work for
basic changes through legal means have
been labeled "subversives" and have been
targets of repression. Even church and
media people have not been exempted from
military violence. In the last year alone,
military and para-military groups have
been implicated in the killings and disap-
pearances of seven priests and ministers
and 12 journalists. It should not be sur-
prising, therefore, that some people have
opted to join the New People's Army rebels
in the countryside.
Besides the New People's Army, an
unarmed movement working forgfundamen-
tal changes emerged from the organizing
work by various sectors of Philippine
society in the late 1970s. This grassroots
movement, the so-called cause-oriented and
sectoral opposition, is viewed by many
analysts as the most organized and unified
segment of the above-groundopposition.
Unfortunately, they have barely been
covered by the U.S. media. Under the
coalition of BAYAN (New Nationalist
Alliance), hundreds of students', workers',
teachers', peasants', religious, professional
and other organizations .are developing
long-range programs. They propose a
coalition government with grassroots
representation as a democratic alternative
to the present political system.
Filipinos undoubtedly would like to main-
tain close and warm relations with the
American people. It should be recognized,
however, that a whole new generation of
Filipinos have come to associate the United
States with the discredited Marcos regime
due to the U.S.'s long-standing support for
Marcos. While the older generation may
still look up to the United States to solve
Filipino problems and pin their hopes on old-
style politics, younger Filipinos who now
comprise the bulk of the sectoral opposition,
may no longer view U.S. strategic interests
as compatible with their own needs and
aspirations. This may mean the eventual
removal of U.S. bases from the Philippines.
Present U.S. policy, unfortunately, is to
maintain these bases at all costs, including
perhaps large-scale direct U.S. military in-
tervention. If this were to happen, the
second Philippine-American War would be
bloodier than the first. But this time, the0
U.S. would not only stand to lose its bases
but ultimately the friendship of the Filipino
people.
T&\ &oiw& To Ie~TI1IS PLACE
Wasserman
Limits on liberalism
UVAWLE For2 D6EENT FOLK(
SE
DEPUY- ROUND OF Th e SECULAR W0MNS,
AEVRIATIVE WTIVIf5, CIVIL RI6IFI5,
FEMINSTS, PACIFISS
BUT BI& ED- AR.ENT YOU FVo26ETriN&
ABW'T THE SUPREMAE CouRTa ?
NOPE -T1 EyPEI NEXT ON'
THE LST
\ , ~ CONJSTIT OWL5T5
0
"Oh the people of old Mississippi
should all hang their heads in
shame,
But if you ask me to bus my
children I hope the cops take
down your name,
Oh love me, love me, love me,
I'm a liberal. "
- Phil Oaks
HE LIMITS of liberalism are
being tested in light of the
ongoing debate among Ann
Arbor parents over a proposed
desegregation plan. In a com-
munity which prides itself on its
open-minded character, such
heated arguments among black
and white parents comes as a
disillusioning blow, to say the least.
The re-organization plan, in its
tenth and final form, calls for the
closing of seven elementary
schools in order to draw new atten-
dance boundary lines intended to
create a racial balance among
students. The plan also includes an
outline of educational im-
provements for the system, con-
tingent upon the outcome of the
Dec. 16 millage vote.
The "Ann Arbor Save the
tax increase will not affect the,
desegregation plan itself - but will
only serve to deny the school board
funding for many needed im-
provements.
The situation is perplexing, in-
deed. The parents opposing the
plan claim that they are
dissatisfied with the specifics of the
plan - not the goal of
desegregation. Opposition to the
millage, however, only serves to
eliminate an opportunity for higher
standards of education to be
developed for the Ann Arbor
schools.
It is this opposition that is the
primary concern of "The Black
Student Parents Support Group" -
which is attempting to generate
support for the upcoming tax vote,
in an effort to counter the actions of
the white parents. This desired
funding is an integral facet of the
re-organization plan.
Without this additional financing
the school board will be unable to
address a variety of parental con-
cerns - such as continuing
specialized programs that many
foreign students now enjoy in their
present schools.
Racial imbalance within the Ann
Arbor school system has remained
LETTERS:
Protesters accused of
hyprocrisy
To the Daily:
As a bystander, I would like to
comment on the recent protests
on this campus. Namely, I would
like to cite the protests at George
Bush's speech and the protest of
CIA recruitment. Non-violent
protest is an effective medium
for expressing views, unless it is
abused. I intend to show that the
two instances listed are examples
of such abuse.
When George Bush came to:
Ann Arbor, he had to expect some
flak, representing a controversial
Administration which has little
support in this area. And his ex-
pectations were not disappointed
as Reagan forces came out in
force, armed with picket signs
and verbal artillery. This is all in
accordance with useful protest.
But the protesters shocked me by
chanting while Bush spoke. In
other words, in exercising their
freedom of speech, they impeded
someone else's.
I ask these protesters if they
felt the result of the protest was
effective. I would guess that
many people felt hostility to the
protesters carried their
righteousness too far. In a flyer
handed out October 23, 1985, the
protesters call for "an immediate
ban on CIA recruitment on cam-
pus until such time as the CIA
modifies its activities in accord
with universally accepted prin-
ciples of law and moral conduct."
Using a phrase like "universally
accepted" is haughty and rash:
which universe and who accepts
it, and what are these principles.
To claim that theirs'is a principle
which is universally accepted is
simply false. It would be along
the same lines as saying that
everyone knows that the
Wolverines are the best. It would
be much more acceptable to say
that the CIA is against what the
LASC or the MSA stands for.
Second, the CIA has a right to
recruit on campus just as the
protesters have the right to
protest here. Not everyone
agrees with the protesters
motives, goals or practices.
Using the logic from the flyer, a
BLOOlM COUNTY
group who felt the protesters
were not "in accord with univer-
sally accepted principles of law
and moral conduct" could call for
their removal too.
In other words, the protesters
tend toward a degree of
hypocrisy in their methods. As a
bystander, I offer this advice to
the LASC etc. in their further en-
deavors: avoid hypocrisy and
you'll earn this bystanders ear, if
not his respect.
-Michael Gerow
November6
Purpose of pet-ban'
To the Daily:
The purpose of the "pet-ban"
bill is simply to reduce the un-
necessary suffering of dogs and
cats. Looking closely at the effec-
ts of this bill, we find that resear-
chers would begin raising three
thousand animals a year
specifically for the purpose of
laboratory experiments, while at
least that many will have been
put to sleep needlessly in the
pounds.
The "pet-ban" bill would just
encourage growth in an already
saturated domain where
thousands of members are dying
each year. Curiously, this
situation reminds me of the*
Vatican's stand on birth control
in overpopulated Africa.
-Glen Anderson
November 7
Letters to the Daily should be typed, triple-spaced, and
signed by the individual authors. Names will be withheld only
in unusual circumstances. Letters may be edited for clarity,
grammar, and spelling.
by Brvke rweathed ai