4 - Tuesday, January 30, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4 - Tuesday, January 30, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom l e Mic4t*pan,3at*lp Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com ASHLEY GRIESSHAMMER and ANDREW WEINER JOSH HEALY EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR TWEEINTIT RIAL D'TR LSI140 C HARZACTERS OR LESS @UGLi I know that you want us to use the Windows 98 computers on the 1st floor, but can you please install more outlets for our laptops! #needmoreFacebook -@michdailyoped The red, white and blues JOSEPH LICHTERMAN 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. Imran~Syed is the public editor. He can be reached at publiceditor@michigandaily.com. Action over optimism Business leaders' plan should reflect reality Michigan needs more than an idealistic plan to revitalize the state's economy if the current trend of positive change is to be expected to continue. The Business Leaders for Michigan, a group of the state's business elites including University President Mary Sue Coleman, formed a list of goals that set to create jobs and bolster the economy. Included in its plan is a prediction that 500,000 jobs could be created with an $18,000 per capita increase in average income within 10 years. While this goal is admirable and the group's enthusiasm is refreshing, it's unreasonable to expect that this many jobs could be created in such a short amount of time without government and business cooperati Last Tuesday, the Business Leaders for Michigan announced its 2012 Michigan Turn- around Plan, which lists recommendations for ways to improve Michigan's economy. The plan focusesonsixideas: utilizingengineering talent, capitalizing on Michigan's geographic location, investing in higher education, tak- ing advantage of natural resources, revital- izing the automotive industry and developing health and medical expertise. Adding 500,000 new jobs to the state of Michigan would be greatly beneficial to the economy and would replace 60 percent of the jobs lost in the past decade. It's unclear, how- ever, who will pay for the investments needed to make this goal a reality. Without a clear plan of who will invest and take action to make this happen, it can't be assumed that 500,000 jobs will magically return to Michigan's economy. Michigan ranks 39th in higher educa- tion state support per student in the country. Michigan must invest greatly in higher edu- cation, as a degree is a necessity in order to find a job its today's economy. Doug Rothwell, CEO of the Business Leaders for Michigan, predicts that by 2018, as much as 62 percent of Michigan jobs will require post-secondary education. The cost of college has been steadi- ly increasing as a result of decreased state funding. The government should put a stop to tuition increases by undoing their 15 percent divestment from public unversities to allow more people the option of higher education. While the hopeful creation of more jobs for college graduates is beneficial for many peo- ple, much of Michigan's economy is composed of people who have not received a college degree. Getting these workers employment or training them for new work should also be a priority. President Barack Obama has proposed serious incentives for companies to build manufacturing facilities to hard-hit areas. Investing in the factories of Flint and Investing in the factories of Flint and Detroit is vital in order for Michigan's economic revival. The Business Leaders for Michigan's plan is a worthy plan for businesses, the government and citizens to follow. However, some of the goals in this plan, while idealistic, are imprac- tical without definite funding. The govern- ment needs to invest in higher education, businesses and jobs for non-college graduates to bring Michigan to its full potential. It boils down to less talk and more action from every- one involved. Michigan's government should explore the business leaders' recommendations while remembering that all residents must work together toput the state on the right path. Ct de dnde ees?" Desperate to retain an air of experience, I felt my face crimson and my hands damp- en as I sputtered out incoherent . Spanish babble. It was like my first time all over again. "Soy ... soy ... estadounidense." MELANIE And there it KRUVELIS was, the admis- sion, where I'm from. Iam an American. You would think after three semesters of drooling through Span- ish class, I would at least possess the capabilityto identifymyself. Afterall, with a haircut a la Ellen DeGeneres and a demeanor a la Larry the Cable Guy, my nationality practically leaps out of me and into a bi-curious Texas Roadhouse. And yet, two weeks into my semester abroad, I found myself struggling to spit out the most basic phrases to the poor madrileno who dared to ask. But it wasn't as if I didn't know the vocabulary. Hell, telling some- one I was from the States was just about the only phrase I bothered to memorize on the flight, aside from "where exactly does it itch?" I knew the question. I knew the answer. For once, I was prepared. What I wasn't prepared for was the apparent shame in admitting my citizenship. Behind the lexical blunders, the linguistic faux pas and the really sweaty palms, behind all that was a red-faced American who couldn't bear to reveal her nationality. And apparently needed stronger antiperspirant. Being an American had never really been a point of pride for me prior to leaving the country, but it certainly wasn't a point of shame either. To be honest, I hadn't really given it much thought. I knew how to point out my hometown on a palm. I could croak out the national anthem, and I think I saw a com- mercial for NASCAR once. In other words, I was just about as Ameri- can as a bleeding heart who prefers Ricky Gervais over Steve Carell could get. And I thought nothing of it. But then I stepped off of my international flight. I hailed a hybrid taxi. I confused a bidet for a verne Troyer-sized drinking fountain. And as I sat back in that cab, I started to wonder, why was I from the U.S.? I mean, yes, I know. Because of some unfortunate inci- dent in the handicap bathroom of a K-mart in Flint some 19 odd years ago. But after nearly two decades of taking up space in the States, I had never considered what my life would be like outside of America. Or if some other country might be better for me. But now I was start- ing to wonder why. It's not just me getting the red, white and blues. Whether or not they realize it, other American students I've encountered while studying abroad seem to echo the same shame when speaking of their American-ocity. "I don't really want to travel with some big American group, you know?" "Last night I totally con- vinced some guys that I was Ger- man." "Hey, DeGeneres, would you please stop eavesdropping?" At first I thought maybe they just didn't want to come across as tour- ists, but as the days go by it becomes more apparent that feigning a dif- ferent nationality is preferable to pulling out a U.S. passport. It's got- ten to the point where American has become a pseudo-insult, as in, "Is this too American?" "She's so obvi- ously American." "Does this Ameri- can make my America look big?" I guess it's hard not to get sucked into the European way of life. In Spain, the kids can drink, the gays can marry and the prostitutes can take business when they please. Oh, and everyone's as high as a drunk, gay-friendly whore of a kite. And I know, for the average Ann Arborite there's hardly any differ- ence between Europe and a visit to the People's Food Co-op. But what about for the rest of the coun- try outside our 27 square miles of socialism and hairy legs? Well, it's like Disney World without the price of admission. Forgive and forget. But mostly just forget. Sowhat's anAmerican, bespecta- cled curmudgeon to do? Renounce all American connections? Start humping The Communist Mani- festo? Take up space with a mess of rhetorical questions? The best I've got so far is to adapt and find ways to fit my American habits within the Euro-lifestyle. Or better yet, just come clean. Yes, I'm American. Yes, my coun- try still forbids marriage rights to about four million citizens. And yes, we still have a death penalty. There may be shame, but I prom- ise, there's always more alcohol. So drink and be merry. Forgive and forget. But mostly just forget. - Melanie Kruvelis can be reached at melkruv@umich.edu. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Aida Ali, Laura Argintar, Kaan Avdan, Ashley Griesshammer, Nirbhay Jain, Jesse Klein, Patrick Maillet, Erika Mayer, Harsha Nahata, Harsha Panduranga, Timothy Rabb, Adrienne Roberts, Vanessa Rychlinski, Sarah Skaluba, Seth Soderborg, Caroline Syms, Andrew Weiner NIRBHAY JAIN Unlocking Turkish skeletons CONTRIBUTE TO THE COVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and viewpoints. Letters should be fewer than 300 words while viewpoints should be 550-850 words. Both must include the writer's full name and University affiliation. Send submissions to tothedaily@michigandaily.com Take notes or Temple Run? 0 Students across Ann Arbor were collecting around their televisions or inside Al Glick Field House, watching President Barack Obama inject hopes and dreams into the minds of Americans everywhere (only because of Uni- versity President Mary Sue Coleman's letter to him, and the fact that Michigan is a swing state, but that's a different .story). While the president spoke, many were ignoring a very important development concerning the past, one that may shape the future of the world. On Dec. 22, the lower house of the French Parliament passed a bill that would make it an offense to deny that the Armenian geno- cide by the Turks took place in 1915. On Jan. 23, the bill passed the French Senate, effec- tively making it law. This development comes on the heels of a tense relationship between Turkey and France, and resulted in the two countries severing diplomatic relations. The denial of the Armenian genocide is one of the sticking points. When Turkey was still the Islamic Otto- man Empire, fighting alongside the Central Powers in World War I, they marched over more than 1 million Christian Armenians into the desert, a crime on par with the Holocaust: Resolutely, however, the present-day secular Turkish nation refuses to acknowledge the heinous act. Where the Germans have made it illegal to deny the Holocaust, the Turks have locked up their skeletons. France has quite a bit of influence, espe- cially when it comes to the European Union. The -EU's position has weakened recently - financial crises in Greece, Spain, Ireland and most all countries not named Germany have cut at the core of its economic strength. But by making it illegal to deny the Armenian genocide, France has effectively blocked one of the most economically dynamic nations from the EU. Despite its best efforts to hide it, the EU is a dying organization. It can no longer hold on to its members, and internationally, countries such as Brazil, China and India are shaping the future. Turkey is a new and emerging power in the Middle East. More importantly, it is a new secular power in the Middle East. The West needs to make friends with Turkey. Let's face it. Iran doesn't like us very much. Neither does Saudi Arabia - they only are nice to us because we pay them a lot. Once we (hopefully) need less foreign oil, the Middle East will have no reason to play ball with us. That's a lot of people against the U.S. But if the EU would be so kind as to let Turkey in and establish a power base in the Middle East, the West might have a say in the events that hap- pen there. France is coming from a place of high morals and is conveniently ignoring what happened during the Algerian War of Inde- pendence. France has a worthy sentiment, but, especially in light of its recent credit downgrade, it can't afford to pick and choose its allies. None of Europe can. Obama, in an election year, projected a mes- sage of hope without any real feasible plan for the future. Sarkozy, in an election year, gave a clear plan, but does not project any hope for the future. Which is worse? Nirbhayilain is an LSA freshman. They say you'll never get the right answers if you're ask- ing the wrong question. It's exactly the case with education today. I've seen many adults stand in front of me -teachers, administrators, public service employees and HARSHA even College NAHATA Board officials - all with the same concern: the decline of education in the United States and the subse- quent inability of American students to stand out in a competitive global marketplace. The reason we aren't able to work toward a viable solution is because we aren't asking the right questions. The debate currently focuses o why kids don't get good grades and test scores. People ask: Why aren't stu- dents paying attention in school, why aren't they making learning a prior- ity or why aren't they absorbing the information presented to them? We never ask, however, why aren't students interested in school? We never ask, what else is going on to detract from focus on their edu-. cation? We never ask why staring at a computer screen reading 540 of your Facebook friends' status updates is more interesting than learning how the world around you functions. Why watching YouTube clips of people embarrassing them- selves is more appealingthan learn- ing skills to help sustain yourself for the rest of your life. With the amount of things vying for a student's attention these days - Facebook, YouTube, Iwasteso- muchtime.com and the list goes on - education must be not only inter- esting, but captivating enough to hold a person's attention. When you start asking these questions, the answer becomes clearer. All these distractions are designed to be entertaining. Mil- lions of dollars are poured into creating a product people want to consume, a product that fascinates people, a product that keeps them coming back again and again. These are products that are designed to solicit and earn people's attention, and they keep adapting accordingly. If a game or movie is boring, it fails. Simple - people just don't buy it and move on to the next thing. This, in turn, forces com- panies to keep innovating, to keep investing in the new. Yet, in education - something so important to an individual's future - why aren't classes held to the same expectations? At a university where students are paying hundreds of dollars for each hour they sit in class, why aren't lecturers expected to make the content interesting at the least, if not engaging. Professors must now compete with technology for their students' attention. Unless the professor is present- ing information in a way that makes students want to listen instead of text their friends, play Temple Run on their smartphone or Facebook stalk the girl they met last night, people aren't going to pay attention. It isn't enough for teachers to walk into a room, read off of a Pow- erPoint and expect to have the full attention of their audience. Yes, it's admirable to be an expert in a par- ticular subject or to have a Ph.D. from a top-ranking university, but until a professor or teacher is able to take their information and pres- ent it in a way that holds people's attention and conveys why it's is useful to them, they won't be effec- tive teachers. And students will continue to struggle. Education has to become more engaging. 6 There was a time when even if something wasn't captivating, peo- ple sat through it because they had nothing else to do. But now enter- tainment goes with people wher- ever they are. There are so many apps, games and devices compet- ing for a person's ever-shortening attention span. For classes to truly get a person's attention they must recognize that they're competitors. They have to elicit curiosity and passion, and cap- tivate students so they want to come to class and delve into the subject matter. That'sthe only way toget stu- dents to the point of truly absorbing what they learn and being able to do something with their education. - Harsha Nahata can be reached at hnahata@umich.edu. Follow her on Twitter at @HarshaNahata. FOLLOW DAILY OPINION ON TWITTER Keep up with columnists, read Daily editorials, view cartoons and join in the debate. Check out @michdailyoped and @michigandaily to get updates on Daily opinion content throughout the day. A p