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4A - Monday, April 2, 2012
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
420 Maynard St.
a Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
ASHLEY GRIESSHAMMER
JOSEPH LICHTERMAN and ANDREW WEINER JOSH HEALY
EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS 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.
Imran Syed is the public editor. He can be reached at publiceditor@michigandaily.com.
Unfair ident ificat ions
SAT, ACT now require photo ID to take test
eginning this fall, high-school students across the coun-
try will be required to show photo identification in order
to register to take the SAT or the ACT. TIME magazine
reports that these photos will be printed on the students' admission
tickets to testing locations and will be sent with students' scores to
high schools and colleges. The testing services believe that the new
photo requirement will help reduce the number of students that
cheat on the tests. But the requirement does more harm than good.
The new photo requirement adds another discriminatory aspect to
an already unfair standardized testing system.
FROM THE PUBLIC EDITOR I
Abusive analysis
've noticed this happen quite
often in The Michigan Daily,
and in professional publica-
tions too. There's probably an offi-
cial term for it, but I didn't know it,
so I made up my own a few years
ago. It's very tempting for all jour-
nalists - so easy to do and so easy
to get away with. I call it "abusive
analysis." And it has to stop.
Every section of a newspaper
is susceptible to abusive analysis.
Yes, even the supposedly "just-the-
facts" news section. But the con-
cept requires explanation, so let's
start there. Simply, abusive analy-
sis is exactly what it sounds like:
taking too much liberty with anal-
ysis in journalism. It's most easily
recognizable on the language level.
when a story reads like it's "over-
written," when simple, direct
words are swapped for fancy ones
until the point is lost in the pomp,
that's classic abusive analysis.
But it need not always be only
in the language; the content itself
is sometimes an example of abu-
sive analysis. The choices the
writer makes in the narrative, and
sometimes, the story he chooses
to write in the first place, can be
abusive analysis. This one is harder
to explain, but you know it when
you see it. When the first sentence
of a simple sports cover on a gym-
nastics meet starts with a quote
from Winston Churchill on leader-
ship; or when an arts review of the
movie "Fast Five" drops a flashy
reference to Kracauer, you might
say the writer is over-thinking and
over-drafting the story, even if the
language itself is clean and simple
- abusive analysis.
The roots of this concept lie, I
think, in a phenomenon that new
writers are unaware of. What new
writers do notice in their first few
weeks at the Daily is how much
their stories are edited, reworked
and rewritten by editors. It's dis-
appointing and stressful, and in
that understandable frustration,
it's easy for new writers to miss out
on that other phenomenon occur-
ring concurrently: The writer who
drafts the first version of the story
- even if it ultimately gets rewrit-
ten entirely - sets the pace, mood
and theme of the story. That is a
considerable power, and it's wield-
ed by every writer, no matter how
young or inexperienced.
You see, regardless of how much
editors might change the language
and word choice, they are more
limited in their ability to change
the meat of the story. At the end of
the day, it's the writer who was at
the event, saw the performance or
had the initial column idea. That
core of the story that the writer
puts into his or her work is going to
be very difficult to change. But it's
very easy for a writer to make that
very core something it shouldn't be
- abusive analysis.
Writers can get away with a lot
in their stories, and I think on some
level, we all know that. Instead of
stepping back and asking what
needs to be said to tell this story,
writers sometimes get locked
into relating a particular narra-
tive, whether it works or not. As
they run out of things to say, they
engage in literary gymnastics or
pointless parallels and false com-
parisons to fill out the story. Where
the true relevant thoughts leave off
and the abusive analysis begins is
sometimes known only to the writ-
er himself. And only the writer can
really fight it.
So what is the solution to this
over-baked, false-orienting and
annoying thing I call abusive anal-
ysis? Time and effort. I know from
my own experience that writers
over-write and over-analyze to the
point of disaster when they lack
enough relevant, concrete mate-
rial for the story. And that is almost
always a result of not doing their
homework, not picking up enough
background knowledge, not focus-
ing enough on the subject and
thinking and planning before ever
sitting down to write. And that is a
fatal error.
If you've made it this far into
this column, then you might be
tempted to say that parts of this
column are arguably examples of
abusive analysis. Mine was a con-
scious effort at irony, and I think
the needy bleached nature of abu-
sive analysis is made clear in parts
of this column. It's an annoying
way to write, and we should work to
avoid it. With just a little bit more
thought and effort into laying the
background and foundation for sto-
ries, writers could be doing so much
more with those same stories.
-The public editor is an independent
critic of the Daily, and neither the editorial
board nor the editorin chief exercise
control over the contents of his columns.
The opinions expressed do not necessarily
constitute the opinion of the Daily.
lmron Syed can be reached at
publiceditor@michigondoily.com
0
The-photo requirement was implemented
in response to a cheating ring that involved
a college sophomore and several high-school
students in Long Island, New York. Sam
Eshaghoff, who attended the University of
Michigan as a freshman and transferred to
Emory University for his sophomore year,
took the tests for at least six students from
Great Neck North High School at a cost of
$1,500 to $2,500 per student, ABC News
reported in November, 2011.
While the cheating scandal last year was
reprehensible and should never happen again,
it's more important to consider how the addi-
tion of photos to students' college applica-
tions would affect college admission officers'
judgments of the applicants. Colleges haven't
previously asked for photos as a part of the
admissions process, so it doesn't seem appro-
priate to start asking for them now. Photos of
the applicants could lead to unfair admissions
processes for all those seeking admission,
especially since only a small fraction of the
pool of applicants consider cheating.
The fact that the cheating scandal
occurred in the first place demonstrates the
enormous importance placed on the SAT and
ACT in the college admissions process. If stu-
dents are willing to pay someone else to take
the tests for them in order to receive a high-
er score, then there are serious flaws in the
process. Two tests should not have so much
power in determining a student's academic
future after high school.
Recent evidence also shows that high SAT
or ACT scores do not necessarily determine
academic success. Cindy Babington, vice presi-
dent for student services at DePauw University
in Greencastle, Ind., told The New York Times
in February that when the university's institu-
tional research department examined factors
that correlated with academic success, "the
one thing that made no difference whatsoever
was standardized test scores."
Also, organizations such as The Posse
Foundation are working to give students with
lower standardized test scores the oppor-
tunity to attend elite colleges. According to
The New York Times, Posse Scholars enjoy a
high college graduation rate and impressive
academic progress in spite of a 1,050 median
combined SAT score.
Students' resumss, essays and high-school
grades already provide a clear representation
of the particular students' abilities. SAT and
ACT scores should not have so much influ-
ence in the college admissions process. The
new photo identification requirement could
allow for more discrimination and unfair
admission processes.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Kaan Avdan, Eli Cahan, Ashley Griesshammer, Nirbhay Jain, Jesse Klein,
Patrick Maillet, Erika Mayer, Harsha Nahata, Harsha Panduranga, Timothy Rabb, Adrienne Roberts, Vanessa
Rychlinski, Sarah Skaluba, Seth Soderborg, Michael Spaeth, Caroline Syms, Andrew Weiner
JARED SZUBA |
U.S. intervention in Syria can't wait
SARI KRUMHOLZ
Advocate for health reform
The second anniversary of the Affordable
Care Act has just passed. The ACA is a ground-
breakinghealth care law that not only improves
women's access to affordable quality health
care, but also has a multitude of benefits that
enable women to lead healthier lives.
Whether you are a student struggling to
pay for birth control, a mother making health
care decisions for your family or a young adult
just entering the work force, access to health
care is a priority. Now is a great opportunity
to highlight some of the health benefits of the
ACA, especially in light of political opponents
who are working to take away these benefits
and repeal the new health care law.
According to a Mar. 23 article on Minn-
Post.com, the ACA's goal is to eliminate co-
pays for women receiving health care, and to
widen the availability of preventative mea-
sures, such as birth control and testing for
breast and cervical cancer.
The ACA will end discriminatory practices
against women, who are often charged much
higher rates for health insurance than their
male counterparts. For example, according
to Planned Parenthood, a healthy 22-year-
old woman can be charged premiums up to
150 percent higher than the premiums of a
22-year-old man. In addition, some health
insurers have claimed that being pregnant
or a survivor of domestic violence is a "pre-
existing condition," thus denying these
women health care. The ACA puts a stop to
this practice.
The health care law will provide afford-
able health insurance for millions of women
that have previously gone without insurance.
Nearly 13 million women of reproductive age
will become newly eligible for health insur-
ance coverage under the ACA.
The ACA expands coverage for young
adults by allowing them to stay on their par-
ents' health plan until the age of 26. This
is especially applicable to college students
because, due to this law, they will continue to
have health insurance during the adjustment
period of graduating from school and enter-
ing the work force.
These are just some of the benefits under
the ACA. The website healthcare.gov is a
great resource to learn about all of the ben-
efits of the new health care law.
While we are fighting to secure affordable
and comprehensive health care, opponents
are attempting to repeal these benefits. If
they had their way, more women would be
uninsured, medical discrimination against
women would be legal and women would be
forced to pay more for health care than men.
We need to speak out to protect the many
benefits in the new health care law. We need
to stand with President Barack Obama in
support of the ACA. And most importantly,
we need to send a message to opponents that
health care is too important to use as a politi-
cal tool. People's lives are at stake.
Sari Krumholz is an LSA senior.
It has inexplicably taken until now, as the Syrian
opposition's death toll surges toward 10,000 and over
a year has passed since Bashar al-Assad's government
resorted to unrestricted violence to put down a previ-
ously peaceful uprising, for tangible assistance to be
provided to the Syrian resistance movement by the
Western world. Until this week, the most that inter-
national leaders could muster has consisted of a few
feeble words of condemnation and pitifully ineffec-
tive economic sanctions. But even now, the granting
of "non-lethal aid" (primarily medical supplies with
some communications equipment) by the United States
and Turkey is nowhere near enough. As British pho-
tographer Paul Conroy recently declared after escap-
ing the siege of the Syrian city of Homs, "It's not a war,
it's a massacre. An indiscriminate massacre of men,
women and children."
This uneasy hesitation should have been'expected.
Learning from the explosive consequences of heavy
Western military presence in predominantly Mus-
lim countries, it's obvious why the option of inserting
significant numbers of ground troops is off the table.
Unfortunately, the Syrian opposition is having a brutal
time of conducting the fighting themselves.
The improvised Free Syrian Army, comprised
mainly of ragtag defectors from Assad's slaughtering
ranks, has repeatedly called for foreign weapon sup-
plies to protect the civilian populace and beat back
the onslaught, but arming them could prove gravely
reckless. U.S. intelligence agencies have indicated
that al-Qaeda may be joining the uprising, complete
with suicide car bombings and the vocal support of
al-Qaeda's ringleader, Ayman al-Zawahiri. It was
even reported that at least one rebel army commander
fought against American forces in Afghanistan.
Though the major opposition groups have disavowed
ties with the terrorist network, the U.S. cannot afford
to take this risk. Historically, Washington's arming of
opposition groups has tipped the battle scales for the
benefit of immediate policy gratification, but this habit
perpetually returns to bite the government with trou-
bling human rights headaches (think the Afghan muja-
hedeen or the Indonesian army in East Timor).
The opposition Syrian National Council and Free
Army have also persistently requested a no-fly zone
such as the one that was implemented over Libya with
overwhelming success. They assert that Western air
control would immediately enable the safe defection of
tens of thousands of Assad's soldiers.
Critics retort that unlike Col. Muammar Gaddafi's
legions, the Syrian military has generally brutalized
civilians from the ground rather than with aircraft and
that armored vehicles are difficult to hit from NATO
planes without significant risk of collateral civilian
death. Thus, our leaders have shied away from this
potential action as well. But it's only a matter of time
before the opposition develops into a serious threat to
the regime's existence. It is then that Assad's air force
will swiftly join in the murder, this time, from the
skies and out of reach of the opposition's AK-47s and
RPGs. When heavy air attacks on civilians and rebels
are unleashed, it will be truly shameful if the world's
military powers continue to turn their heads.
Offensive military options are not the only weap-
ons being used by the Syrian government. Assad's
army recently planted tens of thousands of landmines
along the border with Turkey, viciously blocking a
major escape route for refugees fleeing the bloodbath.
Turkish leaders have suggested that their military
may establish a "buffer zone" on the Syrian side of the
border to generate shielded refugee escape routes, but
they refuse to do so without international security sup-
port to defend against probable attacks from Assad's
forces. This is the closest any capable nation has come
to firmly considering a viable plan for effective aid. If
Turkey continues to refuse to intervene without for-
eign security forces, then the international community
is morally obligated to provide them, even if it's only in
the form of UN peacekeeping troops.
The United States and all Western powers have
major strategic interests in endorsing these two rea-
sonable intervention options. Syrian oppositionleaders
are bound to evolve into weighty political authorities
in the future post-Assad government. To ignore their
calls for help now is to imbue in them an unforgetta-
ble memory of abandonment later. They will not soon
forget that the U.S., who in 2003, invaded their close
neighbor Iraq, and for years imposed economic sanc-
tions upon them that crippled their poor, subsequently
chose to stand idly by and watch the butchery of yet
untold thousands of their brothers, wives, cousins,
husbands, mothers and children.
It's an understatement to say that the United States
is in painful need of strong allies in the region. The lon-
ger the Syrian people are massacred, the further the
opposition may be pushed to extremist tactics and ide-
als to achieve their victory. The last thing Washington
needs is an extremist-sympathetic (or worse, radical-
ized) Syrian government grudgingly bitter about the
United States's lack of support in their revolution -
which is adjacent to Israel.
Assad will ultimately fall, but the longer he remains
in power, the higher the bodies of innocents will pile.
The implementation of a no-fly zone and the enforce-
ment of civilian escape corridors are the moment's
most logical potential courses of action, but what-
ever is done, the ultimate aim must remain restrict-
ing Assad's forces' capabilities of slaughter. As the late
Christopher Hitchens so potently wrote, "Neutrality
favors the side with the biggest arsenal."
Jared Szuba is an LSA junior.
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i_ TJLIf Iy
SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@MICHIGANDAILY.COM
To end problems, recognize
Israel as a Jewish state
TO THE DAILY:
I just read about a hunger strike in support
of a Palestinian that was arrested and has
not yet been prosecuted. There is something
hypocritical about today's students. How
many meals did they forfeit in protest of a very
young Israeli soldier kidnapped into Gaza,
held incommunicado for five years and finally
released in exchange for over 1,000 tried and
convicted prisoners out of Israeli jails? How
hungry were they when Palestinians blew
themselves up with nuts and bolts dipped in
poison around their waist and murdered over
1,000 Israelis? The problem in the Middle
East has lasted for over 64 years and will go on
for another 64 years unless the Arab nations
recognize that Israel is the homeland of the
Jewish people and was established so that
the Jewish people could defend themselves
against all enemies, as Iran will soon learn.
Please announce in public that Israel is a Jew-
ish nation that shall live forever in peace and
within recognized geopolitical boundaries
with Jerusalem as its capital city, and all else
will rapidly fall into place.
Stuart M. Sheiman
1964 University alum
09
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