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4A - Wednesday, December 3, 2008
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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.cam
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.
' MTH E b:ILY
Tuningf up the workforce
Education essential for ill-equipped industry
Beginning next semester, it's back to school for 50 engineers
at General Motors Corp. As part of a collaboration with the
University, these workers will be joining a program that
focuses on teaching them important new skills in alternative energy
development and new technologies. At a time when GM is strug-
gling to stay in business, this type of mutually beneficial partnership
is good for the University and the state. It's also a stark reminder
that Michigan workers as a whole are sorely lacking in exactly the
kind of experience they will need to save this state's economy.
We wouldn't have asked for
it if we didn't need it."
- Frederick Henderson, president of General Motors Corp., explaining the company's need for the
proposed $18 billion bailout, as reported yesterday by The New York Times.
Congress's auto defe
f you have ever wanted to see cal opportunity. That's despicable, So what we're left with is the circus
three grown men be ritualisti- no matter what your position on the that will begin tomorrow. The Detroit
cally berated on live television, Detroit Three bailout is. Three understand that they will need
tune into C-SPAN Take, for example, some of the to kiss alotofass to get the money they
tomorrow. No, the questions (or more accurately criti- need. They've already started ramp-
channel won't be cisms) lobbed at these executives last ing up the public relations stunts to
replaying "Ameri- month when Congress rebuffed their get there, ditching the private jets for
can Idol." It will first request for aid. Rep. Gary Acker- hybrid SUVs and promisingto receive
be showing the man (D-N.Y.), getting close to asking only $1 in salary next year. Chrysler
House of Represen- a question, said there was "a delicious even launched a campaign to "grab
tatives Financial irony in seeing private luxury jets fly- democracy by the horns," whatever
Services Commit- iginto Washington, D.C., and people that means.
tee's questioning of GARY coming off them with tin cups in their Inevitably, members of Congress
Rick Wagoner, Alan hands. ... It's almost like seeing a guy will respond in kind, and the great
Mulally and Rob- GRACA show up at the soup kitchen in high Battle of Bullshit will ensue. A few
ert Nardelli, the hat and tuxedo." representatives will grab the camera
geniuses leading Someone was looking to get on the for a bit, blow off some steam about
the Detroit Three. evening news back home. corporate pay and forget that they,
Before I explain why this is bound And that's exactly what happened. too, are mostly rich white men who fly
to be a perverse, hypocritical display The following days, the story wasn't
in which a few unsavory members of about whether these companies need-
Congress handcuff Wagoner, Mulally ed bridge loans, what would be the
and Nardelli to a wall, spank them a costs of nothelpingthem and whether Chastising the
few times and tell them to squeak like there are other options, it was about
pigs in exchange for a few bucks, let how three corporate executives took auto executives is
me say this: I'm no fan of corporate planeridesoncorporatejets. The story
executives. was about how these three men didn't popular but wrong.
No matter how subjectively diffi- come across as desperate enough to
cult, visible or risky someone's job is, need the money. They really should
that doesn't justify paying someone have shown up in T-shirts and ripped
344 times more a year than the aver- jeans with dented tin cans, shining in private jets, have lucrative incomes
age worker, which is how much more shoes and begging for change. and haven't done their jobs particular-
on average chief executive officers of Because that's what AIG did to get ly well (we wouldn't be in this mort-
public companies make. And some- its billions of dollars in bailout money, gage mess if they had, right?). Once
thing just doesn't make sense when right? that show is done, they will fork over
executives get caught swindling con- Oh wait, no. Chastising insurance the money to the Detroit Three, and
sumers out of millions of dollars and companies and investment banks everyone will be on their merry ways.
knowingly passing off dangerous on television doesn't translate into What will be lost in this debate is
products and only get a slap on the good news clips, so Congress didn't any legitimate concern about how to
wrist while a shoplifter can do time do that. Instead, Congress has pub- revive American industry (or effec-
in a jail or prison for ripping off a few licly shamed the easier target, the one tively move away from it), protect
groceries from your local Kroger. everyone understands. I think I know workers and states like Michigan
Though my heart may be small, how an assembly line works. I'm still from economic shocks, limit execu-
it has grown three sizes in the past not sure how mortgages get bundled tive compensation instead of grand-
few weeks for Wagoner, Mulally and into securities, collected into colla- stand about it and reduce the wealth
Nardelli. Why? Because some mem- terized debt obligations, hacked up inequality in this country. I blame
bers of Congress have looked at their into different types of tranches and Congress for not doingthose things.
companies' plight (the same compa- "insured" with credit default swaps.
nies that are, whether I like them or I'm especially not sure how so many Gary Graca is the Daily's editorial
not, an essential part of this state) people got rich or lost their homes page editor. He can be reached
and decided to use this as a politi- because of that. at gmgraca@umich.edu.
The Daily is looking for a diverse group of strong, informed writers to be columnists next
semester. Columnists write 750 words on a topic of their choice every other week.
E-MAIL ROBERT SOAVE AT RSOAVE@UMICH.EDU FOR MORE INFORMATION.
0
Createdlastyear, the program is designed
to pair engineers with experts at the Uni-
versity who can teach them about alterna-
tive energy methods, particularly involving
electric batteries. Originally, the program
included 25 GM workers. It will now take
on an extra 50 employees, who will take
online courses in three different areas of
study: civil power, transportation power
and microelectric and portable power.
The hope is that as new technologies are
developed and engineers familiarized with
new practices, GM will have an easier time
implementing these improvements.
GM is certainly correct in its thinking:
developing these skills is critical. Mov-
ing ahead of foreign competition in profit-
able alternative energy vehicles has been a
hurdle that GM has stumbled over trying to
jump. So part of the reason the company is
begging on Washington D.C.'s doorstep is
because it has failed to remedy the situa-
tion. The first step to recovery, as the adage
goes, is admittingyou have aproblem. If GM
is going to prove itself worthy of $18 billion
in federal loans, it will need to implement
many more programs to revolutionize the
company and its products.
Thisrisn't just a GM problem, though. On
- d scale, Michigan's workforce is
simply not trained to meet the challenges of
the future, despite programs like No Work-
er Left Behind. During the pastseven years,
Michigan has consistently ranked in the
bottom half of states in terms of residents
with professional degrees and near the top
in terms of high school dropouts. When all
this is considered, it's clear that Michigan
is one of the worst states for technological
growth to be implemented.
Of course, there is a reason Michigan is
so far behind: its lack of commitment to
education. During the past seven years, the
state has cut higher education funding by
more than any other in the country and is
still one of only three states to spend more
money on prisons than higher education.
As GM's new program shows, education is
not just a way to attract new industry; it is
also a way to make the industry more com-
petitive.
While it's a good thing that GM has iden-
tified one of its many weak points and is
seeking to improve, neither this company
nor the state as a whole will be able to make
the necessary transition overnight. Michi-
gan's workforce needs to go back to school
before the state can graduate to the level of
new technology and energy-efficiency it so
desperately needs.-
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Nina Amilineni, Emad Ansari, Elise Baun, Harun Buljina, Ben Caleca, Satyajeet Deshmukh,
Brian Flaherty, Matthew Green, Emmarie Huetteman, Emma Jeszke, Shannon Kellman,
Edward McPhee, Emily Michels, Kate Peabody, Matthew Shutler, Robert Soave, Eileen Stahl,
Jennifer Sussex, lmran Syed, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Margaret Young
JENNIFER SUSSEX VIE T
Testing NCLB's success
MATTHEW SHUTLER C
Pol
Retaining Wolverine pride
Earlier this semester;I asked my friend Ryan
to take me to an upper-levelEngineering class.As
an English major who takes as little "real math"
as possible, I wanted to see what it was exactly
that they did with the other side of the brain.
When we entered the room, the professor
from the previous class was erasing the chalk
from the kind of fold-up blackboards that give
me nightmares. I asked Ryan what some of the
equations meant, to which he replied, "rocket
science." I started to laugh, but then I realized
he was serious. He rattled off some logic that I
pretended to understand, but the only thing I
caught was a brief allusion to a turbine.
Luckily for me, Ryan had enough foresight to
invite me to a lecture that Prof. Elliot Soloway
was giving called "The World is Going Mobile"
that was about education, not rocket science.
Soloway opened with a couple of quotes from
Diane Ravitch's recent opinion piece about No
Child Left Behind in Forbes magazine.
In her piece, Ravitch, who served as secretary
of education under President Ronald Reagan,
denounced NCLB, a plan she once supported.
Though she questioned the intrusive policies
of NCLB, the only improvements she suggested
were that the U.S. Congress was "not the right
place to decide how to fixour schools" and throw-
ing more money at the problem won't help.
Stories critical of NCLB have been hard to
find in the mainstream media, enough to qual-
ify the topic as one of media watchdog Project
Censored's 25 censored stories of 2008. But
that doesn't mean there aren't problems with
the policy.
NCLB has shunted the future of the coun-
try into the hands of the private sector. Chil-
dren in third through eighth grade are tested
annually. The lowest achievers from the lowest
socioeconomic rung are considered qualified to
either move to another public school or under-
go tutoring. That is, of course, assuming that
transportation costs haven't been capped.
The provided tutoring has no cost. It is
instead funded entirely by profits of the testing
industry that has garnered $1.9 to $5.3 billion
a year from program mandates. Even worse,
the big players in this game are McGraw-Hill,
Houghton-Mifflin and Harcourt General -
textbook giants that dominate the market.
Ravitch and I agree on one thing: Congress
should not be the battleground for educational
reform. It has proven itself defunct, crooked
and unaccountable for our education crisis.
Soloway introduced the sobering fact that in
Detroit alone about 22 percent of all ninth grad-
ers are expected to graduate from high school.
That means that only one in five young adults
enrolled in Detroit public schools are expected
to get their high school diploma, let alone go on
to college.
One solution to overcome the education gap
is to bridge the digital divide by offering federal
grants and subsidies to failing schools. Current-
ly, most of the schools that lobby for this kind of
funding are the wealthier districts; they know
how valuable it is to provide computers to their
students. In contrast to this, the schools that
need this technology the most often fail to see
its potential as an instrument of change.
But it is crucial that information technology
becomes accessible to this tech-savvy genera-
tion of youngsters. Learner-centered computer
interfaces and development in educational
software is necessary to engage these students
on their level. This approach recognizes that
while part of the problem is the corruption of
the government, another is the failure of edu-
cators to recognize that this is one of the rea-
sons why they aren't reaching children.
If the government continues to allocate enor-
mous sums of money to NCLB during Barack
Obama's term, wouldn't it make more sense to
spend it on technology that engages ratherthan
grills kids? Until the government repeals or
significantly revises NCLB, the testing indus-
try should take some losses. NCLB needs to
strengthen education through computational
tools, preventative measures that would do
much more toward fixing an educational crisis
than simply conducting data analysis and offer-
ing paltry suggestions.
Jennifer Sussex is an LSA senior.
It's been called the worst season in
the University of Michigan's 129-year
history and a slap in the face to the
devoted hordes of students who bleed
maize and blue each game, butI don't
buy it. This football season was much
more than that. Though the team may
not have produced the record most of
us wanted this year, it still delivered
unforgettable moments for its dedi-
cated fans, and helped create a home
for thousands of freshmen, like me,
here at the University.
To put this in perspective for you,
let me back up a couple months. This
year my life in college as a freshman
began with feelings of trepidation and
anxiety. A new world existed inside
the prodigious halls of the University
and, in all honesty, I had no idea how
I would adapt. I came to this school
knowing just a handful of people and
having graduated from a high school
so small the entire student body
could easily fit inside a couple of the
lecture halls here. I no longer had the
security of knowing every person I
would see in my classes or the abil-
ity to identify every faceI saw on any
given day.
Back in high school, I was never
an avid football lover, if truth be told.
I went to my school's homecoming
game my senior year, but that was the
extent of my interest. Thinking that
wouldn't change, I didn't even buy
season tickets when I came here. But
amid the excitement and euphoria on
campus, the first home game piqued
my interest, and I decided to buy a
ticket for the next game.
The intimidating aspect of walk-
ing into our stadium for the first time
was lessened as new friends brought a
feeling of reality and home to the Uni-
versity environment. With the stub
in my pocket and my friends close by,
I entered the Big House. The energy
was unlike anything I had ever expe-
rienced.A vast seaofyellow blanketed
the stadium while the ringing of cow-
bells and the enthusiastic sounds of
the band permeated every seat of the
stadium. Standing among thousands
of students whose sole intention was
to cheer with every fiber oftheir being
is truly an incredible experience. And
as you undoubtedly recall, this match-
up against Miami (Ohio) gave us one
of our few victories. That was one of
the best days I've experienced at the
University so far.
Despite a disappointing record,
moments like the victories over
Miami (Ohio) and Wisconsin dem-
onstrate that this season did have
some unforgettable high points. A 3-9
season - while admittedly not what
anyone had been expecting - can
never diminish that fact. I may only
be a freshman and may have never
experienced a "true" Wolverine win-
ning season, butI still appreciate this
year's victories along with the team's
historic reputation. Call me naive, but
it isn't about how many games we won
or lost, it's about the times we spent
crammed inside our great stadium
rooting for our team.
Walking to the games clad in our
gleaming maize shirts and cheering
untilourvoicesgohoarse fromoveruse
is the true essence of Michigan foot-
ball. Each Saturday when we parade
into the Big House and continue our
seemingly everlasting accomplish-
ment of crowding over 100,000 people
onto those benches, we continue the
Michigan tradition. Every time we
form the infamous "Z" by joining our
thumbs and cheeringon punter Zoltan
Mesko, we continue the Michigan tra-
dition. Our season's record can never
erase these memories.
I feel sorry for the seniors who
must exit on this slightly sour note,
but my sadness can't go deeper than
that. Winning season or not, we are
the University of Michigan - a tradi-
tion of football excellence and legend-
ary fan support. Nextyear will give us
a new season and another chance to
prove ourselves. Whether next year's
team is unstoppable or not, the stu-
dents will stand proud and cheer until
our voices escape us.
Matthew Shutler is an LSA freshman.
ROSE JAFF E E-MAIL ROSE AT ROSEJAFF@UMICH.EDU
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