4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 11, 1995 Gbe £tdtcigan tuilg JEAN TWENGE THE ERASABLE PEN 420 Maynard MICnHAE ROSENBERG Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editor in Chief Edited and managed by JuuL BECKER students at the JAmEs NASH University of Michigan Editorial Page Editors Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of a majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters, and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. ROE, repackaged Proposed diversity requirement a step ahead n a report released earlier this week, an quirement. Currently, a course's approval LSA review committee recommended for ROE is instructor-specific: Depending on ways to improve the controversial Race or the instructor and the material covered, only Ethnicity requirement. The report - the first certain sections of a course are considered to appear in the two years since the require- acceptable for meeting ROE requirements. ment was instituted - suggests important This condition creates a great deal of confu- reforms that would bring ROE in line with its sion for students. It has caused many to take intentions, improve the classroom teaching a course thinking it fulfilled the requirement, of diversity issues, and make it easier for only to learn they had wasted their time. It students to fulfill. Insofar as these changes also makes the requirement difficult to ful- do not encroach on the creative and intellec- fill, as students have to make sure not only to tual liberties of the faculty involved, they are take the right course, but with the right pro- welcome additions to an already vital part of fessor. Blanket R&E certification would cor- the LSA curriculum. rect this problem. Perhaps the most obvious change recom- The committee also suggested requiring mended was a change in the requirement's training for all professors and teaching assis- name. It should be called Race and Ethnicity tants instructing courses that meet the re- rather than Race or Ethnicity (ROE). Argu- quirement. This is a good idea in that the ably, there is little in a name, but in this case ROE requirement is relatively new and many the new name more accurately reflects the faculty members lack the experience or goals of the requirement, and helps tell stu- knowledge needed to discuss the issues of dents and professors what sort of education is race, ethnicity, class and diversity that exist to be obtained from an R&E course. Calling in this country. Mandatory training would the requirement Race or Ethnicity creates an help the R&E requirement live up to its inaccurate distinction between the terms name. "race" and "ethnicity" as categories of social While all of these changes are good ideas division. In reality, race and ethnicity are in themselves, their combination in the new closely intertwined. From many standpoints, requirement could cause a problem. R&E, they are practically interchangeable, and to for all of its good points, walks a fine line separate them in a requirement ignores this between educating about diversity and tak- fact. The name as it stood indicated to stu- ing intellectual freedom from professors and dents and professors that a course need only TAs in their teaching. The blanket certifica- cover one of the two to fulfill the require- tion combined with the mandatory training ment, ignoring the tendency to overlook ei- could force certain faculty members to teach ther one. While a single character may not against their beliefs. No one should be asked produce immediate or sweeping changes to to participate in the program who does not the curriculum, it at least helps to provide an truly believe in its ideals. accurate focus. This caution aside, the changes made to Another recommendation that will prob- the ROE requirement are highly favorable. If ably be very helpful would institute "ge- put forth with care, they will probably pro- neric" R&E certification for 100- and 200- vide for a better education for undergraduate level courses attempting to fulfill the re- students. Uft the blinders Congress cannot ignore Armenian genocide Love: More real than ideal, it's the kiss we can 't resist B eing in love is the best drug in the world. Although spring seems to have been delayed in its northward journey to Ann Arbor, the warmth of romance still lingers in the air - well, the warmth of romance and all of its complications. The need to be with other people -- especially with an intimate partner - is one of the strongest human instincts in existence. Yet we can't go out and buy it, or even work for it as we would another goal - our need is for another imperfect and willful human being who doesn't want to be controlled or changed any more than we do. And therein lies one of the most frustrating paradoxes of human existence. This is a difficult reality to accept, however, and we fight against it constantly. First of all, we're sure we can find the magic ingredient to make someone love us. Advertisements promise us clear skin, and sparkling eyes, and all of the things that will bring us love, or, at the very least, sex. On the masculine side, beer ads seem to suggest that with one sip of suds (the right brand, of course), the babes will be on you like flies. Magazines like Cosmo- politan entice us into reading articles with titles like "How to Chase After a Man and Lose 50 Pounds While You're Doing It." People have also dreamed over the years of creating the perfect mate. One episode of Star Trek featured a woman who was tremendously attractive to men: At a certain point in her development, she would bond to her mate, adopting his interests, understanding his feelings and becoming a mirror to his thoughts. She is so highly valued as a mate that she became a diplomatic offering from one nation to another. It's also tempting to fantasize about that perfect man or woman you can create, all to specifications. Just imagine: You could choose their physical features, their personality, their interests. We're always struggling to make our mates fit the mold of that perfect person we have in our heads - one with the body of Brad Pitt but the mind of Albert Einstein, the humor of David Letterman and the charm of Bruce Willis (from his days on "Moonlighting," before he started blowing things up). And if that's too farfetched, we can always daydream about what our chosen one would be like if only she looked better, or he didn't have that annoying laugh, or she didn't leave the cap off the toothpaste ... Then there's the question of work and identity. Families in the 1950s thought they had solved this problem; in many ways, housewives managed to make a full-time job out of loving someone. Couples lived where his career took them, and she was always there when he got home from work. There are no conflicts here, until the woman wakes up one day to realize that she doesn't have her own life. Now that we've all awakened, we must mediate between two careers, two lives and two strong wills in order to. be with someone. As tempting as the perfect, accessible mate may be, the frustrations of reality do have their advantages in the end. Perfec- tion and similarity can get pretty boring after a while, and the mate who does exactly what we want all the time isn't very exciting. True love comes when you begin to love the annoying idiosyncrasies along with the good parts, when it is the person and not the commodity that you long for. It's hard to say that when the tooth- paste is dried up because the cap was left off and those models in the magazine sure look better and he's just called to say he'll be late from work, adding a little annoying laugh, but all we can do is try. 0 0 JIM LASSR 'Pg VATE sNiTH ,TH E G OVERNMENT -tA5 MADE ITS USUAL. C TS ON THE MILITARY! YOU KNOW WHAT TO 10. 4:s 9 M $H kAINL{ SHARP AS TOAST YES SifR, GENERAL. TT'L.L ZE-RJt oF' THE AIR FRESHENERS AND FuzzY IDc.E INStD E MY TAN K RIGnH T f. r NOTABLE QUOTABLE "When a man walks In front of a mirror, he sees Arnold Schwarzenegger." - Pop psychologist Joyce Brothers, in a speech at Women's Health Day 10 0 * I LE"rERs April 24 will mark the 80th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, in which more than 1 1/2 million Armenians were massacred at the hands of a racist Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire. The heinous crimes committed against hu- manity have been continually denied by the Turkish government, even to this day. The tragedy of silence is compounded by the U.S. government's refusal to acknowledge the reality of the genocide. America, a country that prides itself on being a beacon of truth, justice and righ- teousness in the world, is proving to be hypo- critical by not acknowledging the atrocities committed against Armenians during the period of 1915-23. The United States has taken a strong rhetorical position against any instance of genocide. The U.S. government should be ashamed for supporting the Turk- ish denial, and not denouncing the barbaric acts committed against innocent Armenians. The 1 1/2 million Armenians were sys- tematically killed at the hands of fascist Young Turks in an extermination carried out by a government of the ancestors of modern Tur- key. The Young Turks perpetrated mass drownings, mass burnings, mass rape, mass starvation and mass pillage against the Ar- menians, in hopes of exterminating this mi- nority, whom the Turks perceived as being a threat to their lofty position in society. On April 24, 1915, the Young Turks gathered 600 Armenian intellectuals, scholars, writ- How TO CONTACT THEM ers, philosophers and leaders and brutally executed them. Members of Congress have, as they do each year during this time, introduced a reso- lution calling for the American government to commemorate the Armenian genocide and encourage the Turkish government to ac- knowledge the atrocities committed against the Armenian population. However, the U.S. government has continually shied away from recognizing this genocide, for fear of souring relations with its NATO ally. The United States needs to recognize the sufferings en- dured by the Armenian people, and take a stand against the Turkish denial of this event. By not recognizing one of the most hor- rific events in human history, the American government is hindering awareness of geno- cide, and increasing the risk of future occur- rences. Hitler's exhortation to his generals, "Go kill without mercy ... After all, who today remembers the extermination of the Armenians?," should serve as a reminder to the U.S. government that overlooking the atrocious killings of Armenians will lead to more tragedies. Remembering and confront- ing a tragic epoch will bring about awareness and ensure against future tragedies like the Armenian genocide. The Congress should commemorate the terrible suffering endured by the Armenian people and, in doing so, send a powerful message to the world that genocide will not be tolerated and cannot be covered up. Article fraught with ignorance about diversity To the Daily: As a doctor would despair- ingly sew up a cancer patient after helplessly throwing up his hands at the rampant, untreatable cancer he had seen, such was how I felt when faced with the rampant ignorance in Vah6 Tazian's article, "Multi- culturalism: A '90s p.c. cha- rade." I cannot hope to cover all of the points that Mr. Tazian raised, and will therefore leave that to others. One point I would like to address is his treatment of those "Vietnamese and Chi- nese immigrants who arrive on the West Coast, are able to speak English within a few years, ... become successful business owners, and ... have children excelling in our schools." Mr. Tazian, I appreciate the good intentions you may have had in uplifting these Asian immigrants as the model mi- nority for African Americans to emulate, but I have a feeling that most Asian Americans do not appreciate your being our spokesperson. The idea of the model minority myth is so well- known that I had assumed that this issue need not be addressed in an institution of higher learn- ing. In fact, I believe one of the Michigan Daily writers had written on the model minority myth a few weeks back. Yet, pockets of ignorance continue to fester. T _ _ _ _s n , edy would not be necessary if there weren't a need. If one were to look at the signs around him, he would find that a college student's limited experience with his or her Asian American colleagues is not the be-all and end-all of the Asian American experience. It is tempting to forge on and address the naive notions of what is America and what is an American that underpin Mr. Tazian's article, but that would be too large a problem for the scope of this letter. I would en- courage others to help cure the writer's cancer of ignorance. Yong Lee First-year Law student LSA students must share responsibility for language education To the Daily: As an LSA alumnus, I found your April 7 editorial opposing the policy change regarding the pass/fail option in foreign lan- guage courses an embarrass- ment. Your transparent attempts to rationalize student dislike of the language requirement as concern for the quality of lan- guage courses show either a lack of perspective or a lack of hon- esty. To the extent that I could identify a cogent argument, it ran something like this: 1. Both cr f . .aa *kt. ,alnnnunrv be adopted. A crucial omission from your editorial was any attempt even merely to name the putative "se- rious internal flaws" that "con- tribute a great deal more" to the failings of elementary language courses. Surely, if these are so overwhelming, it should not be so difficult at least to mention them in passing and explain why these are more significant than the only specific problem both sides agree contributes to the low quality of some of these courses. If your concern is truly improvement of the quality of the language curriculum, you owe it to your fellow students to enumerate the flaws the well- intentioned but misguided fac- ulty are ignoring, whether by oversight or some more nefari- ous form of neglect. I'm sure there indeed are other aspects of the language courses that could improve (and I am equally certain that certain dedicated faculty and teaching assistants are working very hard to identify and remedy any such deficiencies). But why obstruct the solution of the one flaw you can identify? I think the answer is trans- parently obvious - students want to blow off language courses at no risk to their grades. You admit as much in your re- marks about the maturity of stu- dents. What I don't understand if why "... it is not the place of the faculty to use academic dis- cipline to stop it." Tell us all, then, when - if ever - it is appropriate to require students t .dr{ j-i-p i r lnc.fn.- Aif , v leads to a debate concerning the value of the language require- ment which you seem unwill- ing to initiate. But really, it is the heart of the matter. If you want to re-examine the wisdom of a language requirement then by all means have the courage to do so. But in your editorial you do not do this; instead, you worry about GPAs and beg for more entertainment in the class- room. You use the word "respect" as though only students are en- titled to it. Presumably, when one attends a school like Michi- gan one assumes that the in- structors, both regular faculty and TAs, have a superior under- standing of their respective fields of knowledge. Shouldn't the overwhelming support for the change on the part of faculty be respected by students? The general opposition to this change by students has almost certainly been noted; I suspect it is inter- preted as further confirmation of their view that the pass/fail option is widely abused as a way to avoid taking language courses seriously. They have taken a positive measure to ensure that the lan- guage proficiency they expect every LSA student to obtain is not sabotaged by permissive grading policies. This seems an entirely reasonable position. In what way does this signal the sort of shifting of blame or love of the quick fix of which you accuse the faculty? Your editorial on removing the pass/fail option for fourth- University President James J. Duderstadt Office of the President 2068 Fleming Administration Building