0 4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 19, 2002 OP/ED cable £irb~tigttut il 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 JON SCHWARTZ Editor in Chief JOHANNA HANINK Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. NOTABLE QUOTABLE The Electronic Monitoring Team is... looking actively at the possibilities for using tracking technology to monitor offenders' whereabouts." - Hilary Benn, British minister, in a letter proposing that pedophiles be tracked with silicone chips implanted under their skin. The Observer (London) reported the story on Sunday. BONNIE KELLMAN m.1XED NUTFS -S" --'s- - - - -cSc.Y ~ou h 6,4 l (0 0 Bored? Unapologetic? Take back your education AUBREY HENRETTY NEUROTICA n unfortunate side-effect of attending a big-name university like ours is that school often gets in the way of learning. While there is something to be said for the ability to write an entire A-paper from scratch (i.e. no famil- iarity with subject matter, no thesis) between the hours of 1 and 6 a.m. after a particularly harrowing shift at work - while there is an element of learning involved here - it is an easily-forgotten-after-a-two-hour-nap-and-a- 24-ounce-cup-of-coffee sort of learning. "Finish your paper?" Yeah, at six. "What was it about?" Can't remember. Book of Mark, maybe. Head hurts. I may never remember what happened in the Book of Mark, but I did get that A on the paper, which was all I cared about at the time. I sometimes wonder who my high school guidance counselors were trying to fool when they told me I wouldn't be able to pull stunts like this in college, to study the key terms at the end of the chapter or skim the Spark Notes and still manage to contribute more to class discussion than the dead-eyed drone in the corner who actually did the work. The sad reality is that now, as then, she who can string a sentence together on cue is often erroneous- ly identified as a good student. Around this time last year, I was a terrible student. I could feel my gray matter atrophy- ing in 80 percent of the classes I was taking, so I took my brain elsewhere. I shunned homework, read and wrote (not for class) with reckless abandon, took up coffee and gave up sleep, went to The Fleetwood when I shouldn't have, had wee-hour debates about politics, art, religion, life, love, pizza, death, taxes and storytelling. I was learning so much about the world and so little about geology that I was beginning to resent school for usurping so many precious hours of my edu- cation. The distinction really was that clear; I was either in class or I was learning some- thing relevant and valuable. Call it sophomoric rebellion, but I was sick of paying ridiculously high tuition each semester to sit in the windowless basement of the Modern Languages Build- ing while GSI Joe glared at me because I once again had not done his fill-in-the- blank homework assignment. Je regrette, monsieur, mais je n'ai pas fait les devoirs heir soir parce qu'ils itaient stupides et ennuyeux. Justement, je ne regrette pas du tout. As unfortunate as it is when someone of my intelligence level (higher than some, perhaps, but nothing that would keep me from getting laughed clear out of a MENSA meeting) can manipulate the system such that she receives highly misleading good grades in most of her classes while barely retaining so much as a factoid about the Champs-Elysees, I've come to expect it. I was furious about the B-plus I got in French 232 even though I probably never spent more than 45 minutes a week on it outside of class. I hated the system, but I'd resigned myself to it. If all I was to take away from college was the immense base of knowledge and skill I acquired outside the classroom, I could hardly justify complaining. I'd all but convinced myself there was no reason to exert effort in the tuition- fueled portion of my University experience ever again when, on the advice of a friend who knew better, I decided to look into the New England Literature Program. "Spring Term in New England!".exclaimed the flyer. "Earn eight credits." Forty students and 12 staffers. Reading. Writing. Moun- tains. Living and learning writ large. I had never touched a mountain or read Civil Dis- obedience, but halfway through the mass meeting, I was sold. I will be attending NELP's mass meeting again tomorrow, this time as a participant. What the flyers will never say (for fear, I imagine, of losing the University funding and support) is that NELP succeeds where the University fails; at NELP, the aforemen- tioned line between school and learning doesn't exist. There are no cram sessions for multiple-choice exams, no last-minute fid- dling with margins to get those two extra lines on page seven. No fill-in-the-blanks. For these reasons, NELP is the most rigorous set of eight credits the University offers. Quick thinking is as non-negotiable in a class on Frederick Douglass and the rhetoric of the slave trade than it is at a 65-degree angle on slippery Mount Washington. And that's learning at a level of intensity no amount of coffee or stolen sleep can render foggy. Aubrey Henretty can be reached at ahenrett@umich.edu. a. VIEWPOINT Democracy gone awry BY COURTNEY TAYMOUR terparts, should be appointed. There are far also foster debates that yielded the most quali- too many legal processes and details that the fied candidates. Prospects of thoughtful dis- AND JOSEPH LITMAN general public cannot grasp. Accordingly, course resulting in sound appointments make they cannot accurately assess what makes a the blind selections that result from the pre- Marilyn Kelly, Clifford W. Taylor and good justice. Law students and scholars sent system seem misguided. Stephen J. Markman - if you know who any excluded, who can explain what a motion for Back to reality. Even in the states where of these people are, please proceed to the win- summary judgment is and when it is appropri- judges are not banned from expressing their ner's circle. No one's there? Not surprising. ate to request one? opinions, most people are not politically For those interested, the aforementioned are The esoteric nature of the judicial system active enough to receive all the information, three of Michigan's sitting Supreme Court aside, what makes this nation's current proce- let alone a significant amount. Acknowledg- justices. The fact that few, if any, members of dure even more asinine is how judicial cam- ing this disappointing truth is not meant as an the citizenry could identify these important paigns are run. Out of the 39 states in which indictment of the electorate, though. Rather, decision makers illustrates why the hoi polloi citizens elect judges, eight of them prohibit between limited and biased media outlets, the should not possess the right to elect people to justices from disclosing their personal opin- demands of pressing needs like going to work fill positions like the ones held by Kelly, Tay- ions on political issues. Such statutes deprive and raising their families, and interest in other for and Markman. However, this opinion is the electorate of necessary information con- pursuits, many voters don't have time for countercurrent to that of the general elec- cerning how the justices would decide cases election news. Especially not generally torate's majority, which feels that justices and leave voters without appropriate criteria ignored races like those for judicial positions. should be chosen in the same fashion that is- with which they can evaluate the candidates. In the rare case when a regular citizen does used to elect presidents and congressmen. This forces the populace to make crucial deci- take an interest in the judicial race, are they Well, if so many people feel so strongly sions based upon a Law and Order conception expected to look at a judge's past perfor- about the right to elect judges, we request that of the legal system. mance? How can a normal citizen be expected everyone take a moment and recall who they Assume for a minute that in each state, the to fully grasp the components that factor into voted for in this month's elections. Can't power to select justices would be placed in the an ostensibly mundane decision? remember? Not surprising. But, don't feel hands of elected officials rather than the elec- Hopefully, this exploration of voting ashamed or embarrassed because neither can torate. This new responsibility would poten- process will not be misinterpreted as an we, and, plenty of people can't even remem- tially require those in power - governors, assault on democracy. The issue at hand is ber within five minutes of pulling the levers or senators - to more thoroughly consider the whether normally disinterested voters should pushing the buttons for whom they voted in desires of their constituents since no longer be deciding the fate of our justice system with more salient races like those for U.S. Senate. would the uninformed will of the people influ- limited information. Even the most politically Given that voters have such limited recall ence judicial placement. Instead, representa- sophisticated members of the population are of political knowledge, one could plausibly tives of the people would be forced to ask who unqualified to assess a justice's merit due to extrapolate that the same ignorance would their constituents would want sitting on the the legal system's complexity and nuances. In also preclude the retention of crucial informa- bench. Skeptics surely would assert that such ' this instance, bad choices are more harmful tion concerning the judicial system. This pre- a change would transform judicial appoint- than not having the opportunity to make them. sents a paradox, therefore, between the ments into another arena for partisan wran- electorate's desire to vote for judges and their gling. While dreams of making the courts Taymour is an LSA freshman and Litman is inability to make informed choices. ideological bulwarks would surely tempt an LSA senior. Both writers are members State-level judges, like their national coun- many politicians, the increased scrutiny would of the Daily's editorial board. LETTER TO THE EDITOR 0 Paying student athletes will not ward off corruption TO THE DAILY: After reading Jeremy Lacks' viewpoint NCAA exploitation must end to clean up hoops (11/18/02), I felt appalled at his suggestions. He argues that the NCAA is an evil organiza- tion that uses athletes to make massive profits for itself. He further states that these same ath- expenses will be higher than budgeted So I hardly see "enormous profits" that Lacks is dreaming of. I guess if you consider the $3 million (probably less) that the NCAA is putting in funds that go towards student athletes as profits, then yes they made some profits. Where is all the money the NCAA is getting going? Over 58 percent ($245 million) of rev- enues are going towards student athletes in Division 1. In essence, this is where the athletes' schol- arships, stipends and special programs come from. According to the NCAA website: "Ath- dard wage" to student athletes. Where will this money come from? As we saw above, the NCAA only has around $3 million to pay this wage. Again from the website, the NCAA finds that there are approximately 150,000 athletes in Division 1. Do some simple math: 3 mil- lion/150,000 comes out to $20 per athlete. Wow, that's a tidy sum. How about we just give those with profes- sional career aspirations: football and basket- ball. Let's say we somehow find the money to give these athletes $10,000 extra per year. Will this actually do anything to prevent taking As