OPINION
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The Michigan Daily
Saturday, May 21, 1983
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The Michigan Daily
Vol. XCIII, No. 8-S
93 Years of Editorial Freedom
Managed and Edited by students of
The University of Michigan
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the
Daily Editorial Board
U.S. still 'threat' to China
School daze,
T HE REPORT card has been issued.
Public schools in this country rate an 'f'.
Now that this sad truth has been exposed by
the National Commission on Excellence in
Education, the question that must be asked is
what can be done to make public schools the
quality institutions they once were?
The problem is complex, to be sure; and the
road to better schools will be long and difficult.
Before any change can come about, however,
the federal government has to assume the
responsibility of leading the way toward im-
proved public education. State and local gover-
nments in the past few years have not been able
to do this, and the federal government must
now take over.
The Reagan administration, unfortunately,
has failed to recognize its responsibility for
maintaining a strong public school system. Ap-
parently, Reagan's idea of educational reform
is giving tax breaks to parents with children
enrolled in private schools, and by making sure
that the public school-day begins with a
moment of prayer.
Furthermore, Reagan won't budge on his
ridiculously huge defense budget, even though
a small cut in it could provide a great deal of
revenue for public schools.
Indeed, that is what former Vice-President
Walter Mondale proposed last week. His plan
would increase the Department of Education's
$15-billion budget by 73 percent and bring about
vast changes in the way that the money is
allocated.
Specifically, the Mondale plan would design
new strategies for raising school achievement,
provide attractive incentives for those in-
terested in becoming teachers, modernize
research laboratories and libraries, expand
bilingual education, and provide aid for studen-
ts from low and moderate income groups so
that they can afford college educations.
Mondale said his program could be paid for
by cutting, among other things, defense expen-
ditures.
Cutting the defense budget and redirecting
some of that money to the Department of
Education will not guarantee quality schools. It
is, however, a necessary step in the right direc-
tionA
CLASS zcF3
Wang You Fen is the
Deputy Editor in Chief of the
Peing Review, a daily
newspaper in the People's
Republic of China. The paper
is published in eight languages
and is one of the primary in-
formation sources on China
available outside the People's
Republic. Wang took time out
from his first tour of the
United States to speak with
Opinion Page Editors Rob
Frank and Bill Hanson about
China and journalism.
Dialogue
Daily: Has the defection of Hu
Na, the Chinese tennis player,
lead to a noticable increase in
tension between the U.S. and
China?
Wang: Of course this created
some tension because of the way
the affair was handled. She
claimed she was being forced to
join the Communist Party. In
China no one would believe it. It
is a great honor to be asked to
join the party.
Daily: What impact do you
think the Hu Na affair will have
on Chinese-American relations?
Wang: You know China has
planned to stop cultural ex-
changes for the coming year as
well as all intellectual and sports
arrangements.
Daily: Do you think the gover-
nment will change its mind and
go back to the exchanges?.
Wang: It depends on the
situation, how the Reagan ad-
ministration behaves toward
China.
Sinclair
Daily: What has been your
opinion of the Reagan ad-
ministration?
Wang: I think it's not very
friendly.
Daily: So you thought that
President Carter, or some of the
preceeding presidents, were
warmer toward China.
Wang: Yes, I think the Reagan
administration is going back-
ward.
Daily: How is Mao Tse Tung
viewed in China today?
Wang: He is still very much
respected but, he is now regarded
as a human being, not as a god.
He made some serious mistakes
toward the end of his life.
Daily: Are those mistakes
openly talked about?
Wang: They are openly
discussed. The party congress
made a decision passing on the
judgements on him for his
achievements and his mistakes.
Daily: Are people still skep-
tical of government since the
Cultural Revolution?
Wang: I think people are more
willing to trust the government
During the Cultural Revolution
people would not read the
newspapers very seriously,
sometimes evenrmaking jokes
about them. Now that has
changed.
Daily: How is China's relation-
ship with the Soviet Union since
Mr. Andropov came to power?
Wang: We want to normalize
relations with the Soviet Union
but, things are not what people
expect. China's security is still
threatened by the Soviet Union.
Wang: In a certain sense, yes.
You see because Taiwan is still
under a regime which is hostile to
the central authority which is
supported by the U.S. gover-
nment. We want to be friendly to
the United States but, you have to
establish the relations between
the two countries on the five prin-
ciples of coexistance.
Daily: This is your first trip to
the United States. What sticks out
most in your mind about our
country.
Wang: We want to make frien-
ds with the American people. We
always make a clear distinction
between the U.S. government and
the American people. I don't
think the people of the United
States will endorse certain
policies which Reagan has adop-
ted toward China. On one side, he
says there is only one China,
while on the other hand he ap-
proves more sales of arms to
Taiwan.
Daily: Would you call him a
hypocrit?
Wang: You can make your own
judgement, I am a guest here so I
will not use that word.
Daily: Do you think the Chinese
are becoming more
Americanized with the ap-
pearance of American products
and firms such as Coca-cola
and McDonalds?
Wang: No, I don't think so.
They (the products) are mainly
there for the foreign tourists, the
Chinese people are not the ones
indulging in that. They must be
bought in foreign currency. They
are there for those people ac-
customed to such things.
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Daily: Do you view the United Dialogue is a feature of the
States as a threat to your Daily's Opinion Page.
security?
KW L ILL
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