4 4 - Tuesday, April 8, 2008 bE 1ihd igan 3al'V Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu ANDREW GROSSMAN EDITOR IN CHIEF GARY GRACA EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR GABE NELSON MANAGING EDITOR 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, PaultH. Johnson, actsoas the readers' representative and takes a critical look at coverage and content in every section of the paper. Readers are encouraged to contact the public editor with questions andcomments. He canbe reached at publiceditor@umich.edu. F ROM T HE DAI LY Focusing on the basics Test reveals flaws in education, begs for action What if only 25 percent of high school students were pro- ficient in basic algebra? Or if only 25 percent of students could explain a basic scientific process like photosyn- thesis? Twenty-five percent - in terms of education, it's a pretty low percentage. But, according to a test administered by the National Assessment of Education Progress, that's the percentage of high school seniors who are able to write proficiently. Whether that's the result or poor testing or inadequate schooling, it is not a num- ber that can be ignored. If we hope to have an educated country we need schools that give students the basic skills to succeed, some- thing often lost in the debate. The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com N:T. L QOTABL It is inadmissible that the games are taking place in the world's biggest prison:' - Green Party activist Sylvain Garel, protesting China's human rights record in Tibet at the Olympic Torch relay in Paris, as reported yesterday by CBS News. Concentrating on choice A bout halfway through an centrator there over the years. department. It's true that I don't have exchange with someone at a The Daily's story on the changes a stock answer prepared about some party last weekend, it became (Lacking direction, English Dept. pared-down subconcentration, but it's clear that acknowl- adds new areas of study, 04/04/2008) beginning to occur to me that such is edgment of our offered the sentiment I've heard from part of the appeal. The concentration graduation later most graduating seniors who have requires a certain number of credits in this month wasn't done work in the department - that different time periods and in different going to sustain us it fgures that they'd do this right as literary disciplines already, so it's not through the cus- we're aboutcto graduate - and one less as if I floated from class to class, I just tomary small-talk frequent, the fear that these changes took my interests on a semester-to- cycle. I had already might restrict the ability of students semester basis. told him I was in to move around in the department at My concern is that this announce- the Department of will. ment taps into the sizeable percep- English, but lately, JEFFREY Like one of the professors quoted tion that the undergraduate English I've found, that isn't BLOOMER in the story, I doubt that will happen, program is an easy way to avoid tak- enough. if only because I have found consis- ing class seriously, and the damaging "But what do you tently that the faculty who teach in paradigm that might create for those do?" he asked. "What did you study?" the department are some of the most of us who feel comfortable deciding My father had asked me the same flexible on campus. It isn't that the question a few weeks ago as he ordered department isn't challenging, because my graduation announcements. He it certainly can be, it's just that it's one wanted to include a "specialty," and of the most cooperative at the Univer- The many ways to asked what that might be. Well, I've sity in terms of allowing (and compel- done stuff with film, I told him. I had ling) students to do what they like how navigate the a few classes about gender and lit- they like it. Attendance is the corner- erature. The modernists took up a lot stone of most classes, but as long as English Dep't of time. "Huh," he said; wasn't I into you conform to those standards, there journalism or something? Eventually is almost always room for original and I just told him to put down whatever unique directions to take coursework. he wanted. Many students outside the depart- our own paths. Scotti Parrish, direc- I am apparently not the first person ment probably think "original and tor of the undergraduate English pro- who studied English at the University unique directions" translates roughly gram, told the Daily last week that and for which this question has posed to "blow-off class." To be honest, it students "felt like they weren't com- a problem. The department recently can, and the 27-credit English major on ing out an expert of anything," and announced that it will begin to offer the whole has in my experience come so the department "thought we could "fields of specialty" in the fall, which down to what students make of it. The create a map for them." That's fine, seem to mirror (ifnotreplicate)the cre- elite Honors program in the depart- but the tradition I appreciated in the ative writing subconcentration and the ment might have limited admission English department is one of choice, Honors program by offering students compared with some departments in of an open system of concentration particular sequences of study that the College of Literature, Science and that set it apart from many other dis- focus on specific historical, geographi- the Arts, but it's reasonably accessible ciplines at the University. cal, cultural or analytic traditions. to students who have a demonstrated I hope the new specialties can help I suppose I applaud the changes interest and discipline. Then there is guide the students who wanted more in the sense that they seem designed also the possibility never to take a class direction, but even more so that the mostly to help students navigate the with fewer than 40 students and slip faculty who implement it will allow considerable list of English courses under the radar of the department's students a more exploratory path every semester. Having studied in the more intense pursuits altogether. should they choose it. department and endeared myself to I fall somewhere in the middle, its open structure, though, I wonder if and that fit my time at the University Jeffrey Bloomer was the Daily's fall/' the changes don't confirm many of the well given my other campus commit- winter managing editor in 2007. He can stereotypes I've encountered as a con- ments and my desire to explore the be reached at bloomerj@umich.edu. KEVIN BUNKLEY' V T Not great, but still not the worst Administered to eighth graders and high school seniors, the nationwide writing test was overseen by NAEP and consisted of two 25-minute essays. The results, released last Thursday, found that only 25 percent of high school seniors write at a "proficient" level. Eighth-graders fared slightly better: 33 per- cent of them were able to write proficiently. NAEP officials were quoted as being encouraged by the results of the test. They said they were happy that the results were comparable to those from a similar test in 2002 and hadn't declined in the past six years. At least students aren't getting worse, right? Wrong. The fact that only 25 per- cent of high school seniors are able to write proficiently should be unacceptable. It is a disgustingly low percentage. More impor- tantly, it's aproblem that stays with students beyond high school into college and the workplace. Granted, the NAEP test plays into the dangers of standardized testing. In a school system under the No Child Left Behind Act, a school reform instituted in 2001 under the Bush administration, the standardized test reigns supreme. Yet, the results of stan- dardized testing can often be manipulated to seem encouraging when they are not, allowing some failingschool systems to hide behind misleading scores. These problems with standardized test- ing are emblematic of the larger problem in America's schools. In the classroom, the emphasis on teaching to the test has led stu- dents and teachers alike to forget about the actual learning process. It takes time away from improving teaching strategies, making sure that students are learning the funda- mentals and giving students the attention that they deserve. The government should mandate a system in which schools and teachers are given the training and resources they need to focus on providing students the skills they need to succeed in a competitive workforce. Unlike the unfunded mandate that is No Child Left Behind, the government can also put its money where its mouth is. Otherwise, schools are giving the message to get better, but not the means. While the NAEP test could be viewed as a sign that our schools are preparing 25 per- cent of their students with proficient writing skills, that's adistortedview.More accurate- ly, these schools are failing 75 percent of the students. That statistic deserves Congres- sional attention. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Emad Ansari, Harun Buljina, Anindya Bhadra, Kevin Bunkley, Ben Caleca, Satyajeet Deshmukh, Milly Dick, Mike Eber, Emmarie Huetteman, Theresa Kennelly, Emily Michels, Arikia Millikan, Kate Peabody, Robert Soave, Imran Syed, Neil Tambe, Matt Trecha, Kate Truesdell, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Rachel Wagner, Patrick Zabawa. KATE PEABODYVEP T An earl start on study abroad Pundits and columnists alikehave grappled with a compelling ques- tion about President Bush's legacy: Is Bush the worst president in his- tory? Recently, late-night talk show host Bill Maher offered his take on "Larry King Live," saying, "He's the worst. Ever." While this is a relative judgment - Bush isn't indisputably the worst president in our history - there is no question that his ten- ure at the White House has been a failure. Bush himself takes a more pas- sive approach to the issue of his leg- acy, saying, "I will let history be my judge." But you don't have to go that far back to begin to judge his tenure. Looking at the country now, it is split down the middle. At the center stand Bush and his flawed presiden- cy. oddly enough, he declared at the launch of his campaign nine years ago, "I am a uniter, not a divider." But let's put Bush in perspective: His penchant for ignoring public opinion, hiring shady people and losing what decent administration he had is reminiscent of other poor presidents. That doesn't make him the worst president, only one more in a long line of flawed administra- tions. The Harding administration took bribes for oil land in Wyoming, in a scheme that would later be called the Teapot Dome Scandal of 1922. It also happened that nearly his entire administration consisted of his friends from Ohio. Meanwhile, Cal- vin Coolidge pandered to big busi- ness and carried out tax favors. His cabinet was filled with big business- men. There was Richard Nixon, who had the government spy on promi- nent citizens he deemed a threat to his administration, which led to Watergate. And although Bush has yet to be put on trial, his administra- tion rings reminiscent of these for- mer presidential woes. Bush's obsession with nation building in Iraq is nothing like what James Polk did during the Mexi- can-American War in 1846. He sent diplomat John Slidell to Mexico to pressure the government into giv- ing up California and New Mexico for $20 million. Mexico sent him on his heels, and Polk was so offended that he asked Congress to declare war after fabricating a story that the Mexican army killed 11 U.S. sol- diers. Abraham Lincoln dissented on the grounds that it would give the president unjust powers with which to wage war. The war gave Polk the excuse to draft a treaty that ripped away 1.2 million square miles of ter- ritory from Mexico and put Polk's top general, Zachary Taylor, on the fast track to becoming president. Bush likely never read these pas- sages of history. Otherwise, he might be wise enough to not repeat their mistakes, or at least come as close to repeating them as he does. The unfulfilling part of his presi- dencycomesinhislack of successful policies. One need only look to the last State of the Union address to see a list of empty promises as long as the National Mall. There are his ambitious tax cuts that have helped the top 1 percent of Americans and pinched almost everyone else in America, hiking their credit and mortgage bills. There are also his attempts to curtail the budget by $18 billion, while his Iraq endeavor will drain billions more. Then there are the 46 million people who can't afford their medical bills and No Child Left Behind, which has only handicapped schools while taking away funding from the schools that need it most. He has proposed free trade agreements, while America hasincreaseditstrade deficitto$726 billion. He's also harped on immi- gration reform, but his guest worker program was never passed. It all adds up to a lack of administrative skill - and a lot of disappointment. Bush's presidential track record is less than stellar, but it may take a scandal or two to fully earn this title. While Bush may not be the worst, he is far from the best. We must only wait until November when we have the opportunity to find a better president - or maybe the true worst president ever. Kevin Bunkley is an LSA senior and a member of the Daily's editorial board. 4 4 Sixty degrees. Believe it or not, that's about how hot it got outside yesterday. And while many of us saw it as a sign to donne our flip- flops and sunglasses, it was also a reminder that summer is almost here. To some, sum- mer brings an opportunity to gain experience or make money - and for the lucky few, both. But for many, summer is the vague reminder that we have increasingly less time to figure out what the hell we're doing with our life. I'm two weeks away from my senior year - that means better football seats, class schedules and insights into how things work here. But I'm also that much closer to gradu- ation, and my future is still as blurry as the blackboard when I forget to wear my glasses. I have a sense of my direction, but my time sitting in classrooms has done little to bring that picture into focus. How can I choose a path without hands-on experience? Sure, there are summer internships, if you can get your hands on one of those gold- en tickets. And even if you tried a different career path every summer, that's only three four-month spurts of familiarity. Is that enough? What if instead of jumping into the four- year college track, I had taken a year off? Well, my parents would have had a convuls- ing fit or maybe a moderately severe heart attack. The four-year plan is equivalent to success in our society, and veering from that model is enough to induce nightmares among most parents. Yet, a few months ago, Princeton Univer- sity introduced just that idea: a pre-college gap-year program. The proposed program would send about ten percent of the school's incoming students to volunteer abroad. These students wouldn't have to pay tuition for this extra year, but they would be eligible for financial assistance. It was described by Princeton's president Shirley Tilghman as "a year to regroup." There are many private programs like this that students could sign up to take. For exam- ple, the Council on International Educational Exchange already helps college-bound stu- dents find volunteer work or teaching jobs around the world. But Princeton's program will be the first of its kind. Hopefully, it will spark a new trend among higher education. Many will argue that such a program will deter students from returning to college. i Others will contend that high school gradu- ates are not mature enough to be sent off for a year before college. And these people might be right. But these hypothetical concerns are out- weighed by the benefits of such a program. What if a year really does give students the ability to reflect on their opportunities, or to find opportunities in the first place? Taking time to examine the world and your place in it seems a bit more grounding than jumping into a college campus where academic rigor short-changes the opportunity to explore and experiment. Pushed into an unbroken educational track, students are less likely to be prepared for jobs and real-world situations after col- lege. With so many requirements to fulfill, only two years to pick a concentration and so little time to think and rethink goals, coming into college on a set track is practi- cally a requirement now. Those who wander their way through different programs and activities just aren't specialized enough for employers anymore. Companies are heralding the need for experience. Isn't that why we all pander to their resum6-building requests and spend ridiculous amounts of time trying to find an internship? There is no doubt that putting an extra year of volunteering abroad before col- lege on your resume would constitute a well- rounding experience. I know that I'm driven in part by nostal- gia. Now, after three years in college, I say that if the University had offered me the opportunity to volunteer abroad, I would have taken it. But, convincing myself and my parents in this imagined scenario is a lot easier than it would have been in real life. Would have I struggled to return to college? Would have I have any better idea of my future after graduation? The point, however, is not that I would have struggled with these questions. The point is that Princeton is, pushing students to ask these questions and take this oppor- tunity into greater consideration. There are several ways to find out what you want to do in the "real world," and maybe taking a year off would help. Kate Peabody is an LSA junior and a Daily associate editorial page editor. 4 ALEXANDER HONKALA E-MAIL HONKALA AT QUATSCH@UMICH.EDU Rte n -Ak rSl kH trkciS' ttiN4trV. 0..w.-t t3r.+4i'i+3i +Ft6L ' p M Ott fe.AUQ<. M+rYl0. 8c , p n i3r..wwq