4A - Friday, October 12, 2007 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com C74C MC4igan 3a'*l Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu IMRAN SYED JEFFREY BLOOMER EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR KARL STAMPFL EDITOR IN CHIEF Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. The Daily's public editor, Paul H. Johnson, acts as the readers' representative and takes a critical look at coverage and contentin every section of the paper. Readers are encouraged to contact the pubhlic editor with questions and comments. He can be reached at publiceditor@umich.edu. Un-leveling the field Lawmakers' bickering threatens Michigan's students Michigan lawmakers averted a government shutdown on Oct. 1 by finally agreeing on a budget proposal, but the state's fiscal problems aren't over. Kindergarten through 12th grade school districts - left in economic limbo as the legisla- ture considered just how much money would be cut - are increas- ingly burdened with interest payments on short-term loans to cover expenses like teachers' salaries and utilities bills. With state edu- cational funding down from $121 million in the 2006 fiscal year to $93 million for the current fiscal year, schools have reason to be concerned. The desperate financial situation that many Michigan school districts face may force drastic cuts, which would put stu- dents at a marked disadvantage in the increasingly competitive pro- cess of gaining admission to the nation's top colleges. It got the state's financial house in order. I did what I thought was right." - State Rep. Steve Bieda (D-Warren), responding to critics who initiated the process to recall him after he voted in favor of tax increases, as reported yesterday by the Detroit Free Press. CHRIS KOSLOWSKI A Don't you frd itana ingahat Harry Reid and Tom Hauki can slander t l m nau h aRush Embaugh private citizen, on the floor of h the Senate with complete+C impunity? Di ,4 ki a Cigrete aen' te ur d rl. w 7 WLC 0 6 6 As admissions numbers at top-tier colleg- es and universities around the nation have shown, applicants are more well-rounded and qualified than ever. More students are applying to prestigious schools, and pro- spective students are applying with higher standardized test scores and higher grade point averages. At Harvard, less than 10 percent of applicants were admitted in the last admissions dycle, the lowest rate in its history. To have a chance at a top university, prospective students must have more than just a high GPA and test scores: They must be involved in sports or other extracurricu- lar activities. Unfortunately, it will be pro- grams like these that are the first toube cut if districts continue to face tight budgets. Some lawmakers fully expect these cuts and applaud them as the elimination of wasteful spending. Math and science pro- grams - which are integral to districts making the grade on the state's standard- ized tests - will not be disrupted, but leg- islators must realize that a quality K-12 education involves much more than these subjects. Some legislators see art and music programs as well as extracurriculars as lux- uries that can be cut, but they are a neces- sity for making it into top colleges. As a result of cuts, teachers would have to SEN DPS shouldn't have to coddle underage drinkers TO THE DAILY: I am writing in response to the Daily's editorial on Tuesday (Dangerous decisions, 10/09/2007). While I understand that the Daily is arguing that the Department of Pub- lic Safety make it more convenient for dan- gerously intoxicated underage students to seek out medical attention, this is college and incoming students are legally adults, whether they act like it or not. Gone are the days when mommy, daddy and the family attorney were on hand to dig students out of trouble. So stop sucking on momma's teat and grow up. I find it disheartening that the Daily would rather coddle these adults than promote personal responsibility. Why is personal accountability by way of responsible drink- ing not advocated? Rather than maligning DPS, we should work in conjunction with it to promote responsibility. As noted in the edito- rial, underage drinkinghappens, but students have to know when to quit. As adults, we have to deal with the consequences of our poor judgements. Running and hiding from this responsibility accomplishes nothing. Additionally, the editorial argued that the "threat of an MIP also deters friends from stepping in to help a dangerously intoxicated person." If these "friends" are more worried about getting an MIP than helping a friend receive much needed medical attention, they are not true friends and will likely prove to be dangerous to that person's health. To the underage student who wants to drink, do so knowing that it is illegal, but don't complain when punishment is admin- istered. If you do not seek medical attention when highly intoxicated, know that if you experience bodily harm or death, it was your choice. Don't expect remorse. Matthew Redmon Engineeringsophomore Group paints false picture TO THE DAILY: Two weeks ago, Israel IDEA wrote that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a "murderer" and should, not have been invited to speak at Columbia University ("It's 1938 and Iran is Germany", 09/26/2007). His connections to Hezbollah, Hamas and Shiite militia groupsin Iraq were also cited as rea- sons against extending the invitation. Does be laid off, increasing class sizes and elimi- nating the personalized instruction that separates best school districts from the rest. Less money will be available for textbooks and other educational materials. All of these factors put together would mean that the students graduating from Michigan's public schools won't be on a level playing field compared to super-qualified students from other states. At the University of Michigan, this trend may mean that it would have to accept a larger percentage of out-of-state students because the overall credentials of in state students would appear less impressive. Out of state students are less likelyto stay within the state upon graduation, and decreasing numbers of in-staters hinders the Univer- sity's potential to supply educated minds to improve Michigan's flailing economy. Education in the 21st century is very dif- ferent from what it was even a decade ago. Current college upperclassman looked at extracurricular activities as an extra boost to their college admissions profile, but today that boost is essential. It may be difficult for state lawmakers to understand that districts must provide classes for more than just what is on the MEAP. It is essentialthat they aban- don their outdated outlook on education. vD LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU this mean that involvement with Hamas and Hezbollah are additional evidence of Ahma- dinejad's evil or does it mean that these Arab- Islamic groups are made evil by association with the Iranian president? I don't know, butI think the question is too easily resolved by representing these separate organizations as one cohesive group. Having done so, to apply the denunciation of "mur- derer" to one condemns them all. In reality, Hamas, Hezbollah, Shiite Iraqi militants and Iran are separate entities in separate nations with distinct agendas. They are connected and do cooperate at times, but they are not united. That is an important distinction. Consequently, to invite Daniel Pipes to speak promotes and reproduces this blanket representation of Arab-Islamic culture and politics. Pipes himself has been called a "rac- ist" with a "fascist-style campaign" in The Arabist - though I understand why Israel IDEA is more inclined to agree with his rep- resentations than those of Ahmadinejad. Although Ahmadinejad is most likely a bad guy, lumping him with other groups we know so little about and labeling them all "terroristic, suicidal and hegemonic" is dubi- ous because such labels purport to possess an authority on representation that makes me uncomfortable in the absence of adequate, unfiltered speech from the other side. Gabriel Tourek LSA sophomore The cigarette tax is not the sil- ver bullet the government makes it out to be. Congress recently. proposed raising the federal cigarette tax from 39 cents to $1 per pack to pay for an expansion of the 9 State Children's Health Insurance Program. That I expansion would PATRICK have increasedZ the enrollment of ZABAWA the program from 6.6 million children to 10 million, but President Bush vetoed the legislation last week. Defending the increased tax, legislators made the ageless argument that it would improve public health by encouraging smokers to quit smok- ing. But that's not true: The cigarette tax hurts America's poor and causes unnecessary governmental influence in personal decision-making. When the price of cigarettes rises because of a tax, a number of smok- ers would certainly be dissuaded from buying them. To some, cigarettes are only worth their current price and continuing their habit would be uneconomicalif the price of cigarettes increased. But since smoking is an addictive habit and is hard for many to give up, many people would con- tinue buying cigarettes and cut back in other areas of their lives. It may be easy for the rich to pay the increased price, but less fortunate smokers may have to tighten their belts. A 2002 National Health Inter- view Survey found that 33 percent of Americans below the poverty level smoke, while only 22 percent of the population at or above the poverty line does. Because a disproportionate number of smokers are below the pov- erty line, the poor would be hurt most from in increase an the cigarette tax. A recent report by the Tax Foun- dation revealed that no other federal tax hurts the lowest 20 percent of households by income more than the cigarette tax. By obtaining the $35 billion needed for the S-CHIP expan- sion through a cigarette tax increase, the lowest 20 percent of households pay 37 times more than they would be under an income tax increase. The cigarette tax increase leaves little room for those below the poverty line to maneuver. They may be forced to cut down their grocery bills and doc- tor visits. For those with low incomes, the question of what to cut because of an increased cigarette tax should never have to be faced. Proponents of increasing the ciga- rette tax argue that it discourages smoking, but this reasoning could be extended to justify governmental interference in other personal affairs. The surgeon general considers smok- ing a health hazard, as every packet of cigarettes is required to explicitly state. However, the surgeon general also considers obesity a major health prob- lem. As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle in 2003, then-surgeon gener- al Dr. Richard Carmona "called obesity the fastest growing cause of illness and death in the United States and said it deserved more attention than any other epidemic." Perhaps the obesity epidem- ic is enough cause to tax fast food in the same way cigarettes are taxed. A local fast food tax nearly became a reality in 2005 when Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick proposed a 2 per- cent tax on all fast food sold within the city's borders. A fast food tax would be another ridiculous instance of gov- ernmental interference in personal decision-making. Thousands of people each day eat fast food because of its convenience and affordability. Taxing fast food would force many people to avoid it, but it might also stress their lives unnecessarily as they seek less convenient and more expensive sourc- es of food. The decision as to whether or not the convenience of fast food is worth its unhealthy effects is person- al, and the government has no right to interfere with it. The decisionbetween the costs and benefits of smoking is personal and should be made without governmental interference. Cigarette tax may help poor kids, but it hurts the poor. 0 The federal government and all 50 states use the cigarette tax to raise revenue. The amount of the cigarette tax is constantly raised, because tax- ing a small minority is easier than tax- ing the general population. The recent proposal to increase the federal ciga- rette tax to fund the S-CHIP is apoor decision. The S-CHIP was conceived to assist the less fortunate, but the cigarette tax is the single mosthurtful federal tax to the lowest 20 percent of American households by income. The cigarette tax is not a cure-all. It taxes the poor, coerces personal deci- sions, and encourages further govern- ment intervention ii personal affairs. It is time for the cigarette tax to be abolished, not increased. Patrick Zabawa can be reached at pzabawa@umich.edu. a QwiZdom comes with experience There was a time when lec- tures were just, a relaxing and informative show, a pas- sive opportunity to find out what's , really relevant in that shiny $200 - textbook. But since1 the widespread use of Qwizdom - a remote that iden- tifies students by their UMID and GAVIN can be used by STERN professors to take attendance and quiz students - some lectures have become as interactive as discussion sections. The creeping introduction of Qwizdom remotes in the past few years hasn't been without its glitch- es and frustrations, but those little devices are much more helpful than I initially thought. As a Daily editorial last month pointed out, some lecturers have begun requiring students to purchase the roughly $30 Qwizdom remotes to answer multiple choice ques- tions (From the Daily: Trivial pursuit, 09/14/2007). These quizzes some- times account for 5 percent or more of a student's grade. Teachers masquer- ade these protracted quizzes as part of a lecture, despite the fact that, accord- ing to Wolverine Access, lectures are not supposed to be the "graded com- ponent" of a course. Worse yet, in each of the three courses I've taken that have used Qwizdom remotes, the lec- turers have been unfamiliar with how to use their own central remote. I used to see the Qwizdom remote as a blatant attempt to torture students. Quizzing has transformed the tran- quil lecture experience into a bloody. battlefield filled with quiz-mines. The experience is akin to pointing a little grey and red gun at a student's head and asking him or her to define conservation of angular momentum. I don't need that kind of stress in my math and science classes. Ruthlessly repeating these stress- ful conditions day-after-day can be too much for even the best prepared student. I, for one, am fed up with the incessant questioning. I'd rather be Tasered than Qwizdomed. As much as I like my professors, the books are often better learning tools than the lectures anyway. That's why I had to purchase the book, the study guide, the solutions manual, the CD- ROM, the web pass and the course- pack, right? But now I am forced to attend lectures (because professors can take attendance easily and quickly with the remotes) that may not even be useful. I'll learn when I'm ready, and I do not want to be denied my right to choose. Besides, many students prefer to do the reading after lectures. Imagine a world in which all class- es use Qwizdom remotes. Students would have to study all of their sub- jects as they go along in order to keep up with the lecture quizzes, thus tak- ing away the option to focus on cer- tain subjects at certain times.,On an 18-credit schedule, it's simply not pos- sible to keep up with the reading for every class, every day. While I'd love to be caught up all the time, the sad truth is that on any given week I have to choose what subjects to study. Also, students who might benefit from lec- ture miss out because so much lecture time is taken up by quizzes and Qwiz- dom-related technical glitches. That's pretty much how I felt about the Qwizdom remotes - until I sat down to do my statistics hoipework. The amount of time spent search- ing the book for answers decreased significantly, because I had already been forced to learn things while pre- paring for lecture. I've since come to the conclusion that Qwizdom remotes are useful if implemented correctly. My lecturers have tended to use them to grab attention and force atten- dance. However, the remotes can also empower students to exercise their Putting students on the spot has its benefits. skills and truthfully indicate what they do and do not understand for a more focused learning experience. But this only works without the threat of lost points. In a college atmosphere plagued with lazy students whose weekend begins on Thursdays, lecturers under- standably feel pressured to increase participation.I disagree with the logic, and I still lament the loss of personal initiative. And yet I have a feeling that students have a great deal to benefit from on-demand input in lecture - if only it were implemented with the intent to help with understanding the material, not simply as an easy way to take attendance and quizzes. Gavin Stern can be reached at gavstern@umich.edu. Ben-Gurion's quote is accurate but misinterpreted TO THE DAILY: At the Daniel Pipes event on Mondaya stu- dent questioner cited words by David Ben- Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, which began by saying, "If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel." While there is cottage industry of fake quotes by Zionists that supposedly confirm evil intentions, unlike the many outright forger- ies circulating on the Internet, this quote isn't entirely outrageous. Quoted by Nahum Goldmann in his book, "The Jewish Paradox," (in French "Le Parad- doxe Juif"), the quote comes from Gold- mann's recollection of a conversation with Ben-Gurion 20 years earlier. It is not a con- fession. Rather, Ben-Gurion was reflecting on the conflict from the Arab point of view. Dan Cutler University staff member Editorial Board Members: Emad Ansari, Kevin Bunkley, Ben Caleca, Milly Dick, Mike Eber, Brian Flaherty, Gary Graca, Emmarie Huetteman, Theresa Kennelly, Gavin Stern, Jennifer Sussex, Neil Tambe, Matt Trecha, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Wagner LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor. Letters should be under 300 words and must include the writer's full name and University affiliation.All submissions become prop- erty of the Daily. We do not print anonymous letters. Send letters to tothedaily@umich.edu. I