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OPINION
Page 4 Tuesday, April 1, 1986- The Michigan Daily
4
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Vol. XCVI, No. 123 420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, Ml 48109
Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board
Bering
Professional respect
M andatory testing of Texas
teachers is not the best way
to improve the quality of education.
At best, it is a band-aid approach
that will not significantly weed out
unqualified teachers or draw
more qualified ones in.
If this country is worried about
the quality of educators, it should
-work on upgrading the status given
to elementary and secondary
school teachers. Many qualified
people turn away from teaching
when they realize that the
profession is regarded as second
rate. These people may make more
money or command more respect
in other fields.
The problem is that education is
not a high priority in this country.
Money is diverted into big business
and the military complex. Becuase
of this, fewer people are drawn into
the profession of teaching, which in
turn results in less funding chan-
neled into educational programs.
For example, the University does
not give the School of Education
high priority conceded to its
Engineering, Law, Medical, and
Business schools. The outcome of
this is a poor quality teaching
program, which further deters
students from entering the school.
The School of Education was recen-
tly cut by 25 percent because of low
enrollment. This is a vicious cycle-
less funding leads to a weaker
school, a weaker school leads to
fewer qualified applicants, and
fewer qualified applicants lead to
less funding. If Engineering
enrollment were low, the Univer-
sity would spend time and money
recruiting new students and
overhauling the department.
Society has always devalued and
underpaid service-oriented
professionals, such as primary and
secondary school teachers, who are
often women.
There are many ways to improve
the teaching profession. A system
of merit pay for excellence in the
classroom would be a large incen-
tive for teachers to uphold
professional standards. A
challenging bar exam, similar to
the bar exam that graduating law
students must take in order to enter
the profession, would both improve
the status of teachers and provide a
check on the quality of education.
Children are the future. The next
generation of engineers, politicians
and writers currently enrolled in
our nation's schools. Allotting more
money to teachers and to teacher-
education programs is the best in-
vestment for the future strength of
this country.
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4
LETTERS:
Livermore protest anything but peaceful
1 T
N egotiate
Since there is no recourse for
either the United States or the
Soviet Union but to share the same
earth, it makes good sense to work
toward preserving our mutual in-
terest: life. The U.S. explosion of a
nuclear test beneath the Nevada
Desert last week defied that in-
terest, rejecting the indefinite
moratorium offered by the Soviet
Union, the opinion of the world
community, and the environment.
The Reagan administration says
it must continue testing to develop
new nuclear weapons which would
deter attack, pointing out how a
moratorium is unacceptable
because it is unilateral, non-
binding, and not verifiable. Mr.
Reagan has repeatedly discounted
Gorbachev's sincerity, though
many scientists dispute the claim
that Soviet testing would go un-
detected with seismic monitoring.
Moscow's proposed total ban on
tests could reduce the overcon-
fidence of the superpowers in their
first strike effectiveness.
Perhaps Mr. Reagan is afraid to
negotiate because a test ban would
halt the development of the x-ray
laser, one of the key components of
. ."f __ 1 _
moratorium has been disregarded
and Moscow has hinted that it may
cancel the next summit meeting if
U.S.-Soviet relations don't im-
prove. Gorbachev has called the
nuclear testing a pointed challenge
against the Soviets.
Negotiations on all issues, in-
cluding verification, are essential to
the survival of both countries and
the world. Because of atmospheric
and radioactive pollution, in 1963
both countries agreed on conduc-
ting only underground testing. Un-
derground testing poses serious
environmental risks, too. Satur-
day's blast was felt in Las Vegas,
81 miles away from the Nevada test
site.
The U.S. administration is plan-
ning another test for mid-April and
shows no sign of cancelling it,
despite Gorbachev's indefinite ex-
tension of the moratorium past the
original March 31 deadline. Gor-
bachev has repeatedly asked to
meet anywhere in Europe; Mr.
Reagan has responded that he
must come to the United States,
"because that's where he was in-
vited."
Though Mr. Reagan should drive
a hard bargain with the Soviets, this
obstinate refusal to cooperate is
disturbing. Congress should
withhold further funding for
weapons development until Mr.
Reagan demonstrates that he is
willing to discuss mutual steps
To the Daily:
The Daily so grossly biased its
coverage of the Lawrence
Livermore protest in its article,
"Police follow Livermore
protesters," (Daily, 3/10/86), and
the letter by Dmitri Iglizin,
"Livermore Labs lobby for arms
race," (Daily, 3/7/86) I felt no
recourse but to correct the
Daily's reporting as to the fact
concerning that protest. I per-
sonally had an appointment to in-
terview with Lawrence Liver-
more National Lab on Friday,
March 7 but instead of the inter-
view, I received treatment by the
protestors ranging from my
being momentarily physically
blocked from entering the
building, to having obscenities
shouted and gestured at the in-
terviewer and myself during the
interview. Detailing the events of
the afternoon:
" At 1:40 p.m., Friday, March
7, protestors arrived at Stearn
Building,North Campus to stage
what they claimed to be a
peaceful protest, as reported by
the Michigan Daily.
. At 1:50 p.m., I arrived for my
2:00 appointment, however,
proceeding to the front entrance,
I found the protesters convenien-
tly huddled around the front door
so I could not enter despite my
repeated request to pass (these
were protestors preventing me
from entering the building, not
the Ann Arbor police). Finally an
Ann Arbor policeman, inside the
building and observing the
situation, came and asked if I had
an interview. After Stearn
secretaries checked that I did,
the protesters finally gave way
and allowed me to enter the
building only in the presence of
the officers. Once inside and
checking the interview room, I
proceed to have my long awaited
interview with Lawrence Liver-
more National Laboratory.
After standard interview in-
troductions (approximately 2:05
p.m.) the interviewer and I sat
down to begin the interview. This
was the calm before the storm
however as we were suddenly
aware of many presences outside
the interview room window which
is high in the room but is only
ground level outside. Protesters
outside the window started by
placing their signs against the
outside of the glass and yelling
anti-star wars comments. As
several college students know
first-hand the nervousness in-
volved in a job interview, the last
thing needed are people shouting
at you, jeering, and purposely
being disruptive directly outside
tha intrvuiw, rm windo- As
location. A newsperson standing
nearby who appeared to be
taking coverage of the event (I
assume for the Daily) looked the
other way and ignored my entire
complaint about the disturbances
taking place during the inter-
view. I could not helptbut find this
representative of the Daily's
general one-sided reporting style
More policemen: were called to
Stearn at that time to keep
protesters back from directly in
front of the interview room win-
dows and the 2:30 appointments
occurred without incident.
The Daily reported, "Students
interviewing with Livermore and
other companies said the
protesters did not bother them...'
Were these students ones who in-
terviewed with LLNL in the mor-
ning, before the protesters
arrived, or ones who came to in-
terview after more police arrived
to keep order? I ask because the
one interview I know of occurring
after the arrival of the protesters
but before the increase in security,
my own, was all but destroyed by
this band of protesters who seem
so concerned with their own
human rights but so little concer-
ned with the rights of others. °
The Daily also reported on
March 18, "An hour and one-half
after the protest began the num-
ber ofprotesters dwindled, but
more police arrived..." This
statement is also in error. The
policemen the Daily is referring
to arrived at 2:30 and by the
Daily's own reporting, the
protesters arrived at Stearn at
1:40. Thus, they arrived less than
an hour after the protest began
and when most (if not all) of the
protesters were still at Stearn.
This statement also implies these
extra police arrived on a whim
(or perhaps to harass the
protesters). These policemen ac-
tually were called to Stearn on
my complaint of harassment
by the protesters during the
interview, and before these police
arrived, the protesters had all the
"peaceful orderliness" of a lynch
mob.
A peaceful protest in front of
the building is an American right
defended .in the Constitution, and
such a demonstration would have
given me respect for the
-protesters whether I agreed withE
their political views or not.
Wrapping this right in red, white,
and blue trimmings to deprive
igher students of their own
views during an interview has got
to be something I question.I am
extremely, pleased about the
March 31 city meeting to outline
demonstration guidelines. I hope
in the future that proper demon-
strations will not require police
intervention as the LLNL protest
surely did.
Please tell Councilman Peter-
son that when he makes that copy
of the first Amendment to send to
the Ann Arbor police force, I will
be happy to pay for a second copy
to be sent to the LLNL protesters.
They need to read it.
-Kelly D. Pearce
Graduate Student
Nuclear Engineering
March 27
B-ball coaches fail to protect team
To the Daily:
I was disappointed to see
Michigan's exit from the NCAA
Basketball Tournament on Sun-
day. As a University alumni and
ardent fan, I like almost
everyone else, had picked
Michigan to advance to the final
four. Several mistakes were
made by the game officials in the
Iowa State game that went un-
contested by the Michigan bench
and could have made a difference
in the game's outcome (although
Michigan was out played and out
coached). First, near the end of
the first half Iowa State was
given two free throws when it
certainly should have been a one-
and-one (the player was ob-
viously passing and not
shooting). Luckily, the Iowa
State player missed both shots.
Secondly, Rellford drove the
baseline and committed an offen-
sive foul (not player control)
early in the second half. The of-
ficials counted Rellford's field
goal and allowed Iowa State to
shoot the one-and-one. This is the
-correct ruling, however I never
saw them give the goal to
Michigan.Lastly, both trail of-
ficials missed an obvious
goaltending call on Thompson's
shot, not to mention a few
questionable judgement calls
(i.e. Tarpley's 4th foul).
As an official and an instructor
heard. MSU's Judd Heathcote
and UNL's Moe Iba are good
examples of coaches who "wat-
ch" the game. Bill and his staff
should take a few lessons from
them. -Kenda K. Scheele
Coordinator of Intramurals
March 18
Marxism doesn 't exist
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To the Michigan Daily:
The glib use by journalists,.
newprinters and newscasters
of the terms "Marxist" and
"socialist" would indicate either
that they are incapable of correc-
tly defining the terms or that they
are trading integrity for jobs.
Marxists concur with Karl
Marx that the economic and
political institutions which ruling
classes have developed to safe-
guard their interests are not ap-
propriate institutions by which
the working and useful majority
of society can safeguard its in-
terests.
Marxists also concur with Karl
Marx that the Wages System
enables ruling classes to deprive
working people of a substantial
part of the fruits of their labors
thereby creating profits for
members of the ruling classes.
The existence of economic and
political instruments of class rule
and the existence of the Wages
System demonstrate that there isO
no Marxism or Socialism in
Russia, France, Cuba or any
place else on Earth.
-Ralph Muncy
Member, Industrial Republic
Association of Michigan
March 20
SA M wastes money
his Strategic Defense Initiative.
Other countries have voiced disap-
proval of continued testing and in
the United States, public sentiment
supports negotiation. An-
tagonistically, the Reagan ad-
ministration has ordered the
Russians to reduce their U.N.
mission by 35 percent, and has
deliberately brought U.S. warships
To the Daily:
The story in the Today column
(March 12), with its two eye-
catching photos, detailing the ex-
ploits of Bill "The Fox" Foster,
world's fastest beer drinker, was
obviously intended to report yet
another amusing prank by a bun-
ch of the brothers, nothing more
than a goldfish swallowing rite.
There is a real difference here,
however, which ought to be poin-
ted out, and on which, one would
hope, the brothers of Sigma
Alpha Mu will pause in a sobe4
moment to reflect, and that is the
$1,500 they shelled out for this
evening's fraternal amusement.
Did it occur to our fun-loving
Sammies that such a substantial
sum might better go toward
(say) feeding the hungry of
Washtenaw County?
-David 0. Ross
Professor, Classical Studies
March 13
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