The Michigan Daily - Monday, August 14, 2006 - 5 STANDPOINT ACOLUMN FROM A MEMBER OF THE DAILY'S STAFF Give up on public schools? My SUV gets good gas mileage THERESA KENNELLY THERE'S A REASON BY ANDREW KLEIN As both a prod- uct of the District of Columbia's public school system and a believer in pub- lic schools, I must bring light to a few of the misinformed points John Stiglich made in his column (Wake up and smell the coffee, 08/07/06). The impetus of Stiglich's argument is money - plain and simple. But the issue ofpublic education is inextricably meshed with numerous other factors. In that vein, it should be noted that public schools in Washington D.C. have had cases of cor- ruption, resulting in the loss of money intended to improve education. Instances such as these are the rotten apples devour- ing the rest of the barrel. The most obvious fact is that our public school teachers are paid next to nothing. There is a bare amount of financial secu- rity in teaching, which creates a signifi- cant vacuum in teacher quality. If money for education is siphoned offfor vouchers, teachers will inevitably make even less, furthering the downward spiral. Admit- ting defeat over public education - when it so happens that America's educational system was once the envy of the world - is defeatist and ignorant of the societal foundation of public education. Unfortunately, for all I can discern, Sti- glich calls for the elimination of education from our taxes. What if - to continue his ridiculous metaphor - those people who go to Starbucks can't afford Dunkin Donuts? Do we as taxpayers ignore the underprivileged ofour country? Or do we chalk it allup to fate, and hope those with- out the means to take advantage of vouch- ers will eventually "get it"? It should also be noted that most D.C. public schools are equipped with secu- rity guards, metal detectors and x-ray machines. Stiglich ignores the significance of the large number of murders that occur in and around them. In order to protect stu- dents, the government must find the funds to pay for such security measures. So in the case of D.C. public schools (and inner-city schools in general), the issue of the qual- ity of education is mixed with the issue of crime and its debilitating effect on youth. With all this crime and corruption, many will argue that our educational sys- tem is beyond repair. That conclusion is a slap in the face of our nation's youth. My highschool, Woodrow Wilson SeniorHigh ALEXANDER HONKALA F1-t (C.U a ' lAsQW~tE School, while not epitomizing ideal public education, had a base of devoted parents and students who kept standards (and stan- dardized test scores) relatively high. While the teachers were just as underpaid as those intheinner city, and eventhoughstreet vio- lence touched the lives of several students, the school presented a viable educational opportunity, one that can be replicated in underachieving public schools across * America unless we give up on them. The climate surrounding a public school is as vital as the resources inside. Condemning the failings of our public school system solely on the product con- sistently ignores other important issues that cause the problem and that must be resolved. Parents, teachers and students need to be involved in their schools. When the irrepressible atmosphere of crime and poverty masks everything else, how can our schools hope to prosper? Does Stiglich honestly believe every private school out there will have enough room for every student who wants a spot in abetter school? Because small classes are a major selling point for private schools, they will only be able to admit an insig- nificant handful of students. If Stiglich's solution is implemented, not only will the cycle of educational disenfranchisement continue, but those caught in its grip will still have no chance of "eaming" a spot at a college. But hey, as long as the taxpayer is losing a little bit less every April, that doesn't matter, right? Since the thought of taxpayers paying for so faulty a service is galling to Stiglich, perhaps he should write his next column about the billions of dollars the government loses on various military projects, and the stalled misfire in Iraq we have to show for it. As stated in The New Yorker (Unsafe at Any Price, 07/07/06, 07/14/06), "A few years ago, the Pentagon's own Inspector General found that more than a $1 trillion in spending simply couldn't be explained.: Every dollar taxed from the public should be spent with 100percent efficien- cy. But to single out education as need- ing reform ignores not only the crucial need for accessible, quality public educa- tion, but also the more glaring oversights involving our tax dollars. The education of youth is the most vital need any nation faces. The mark of a culture will only endure with time if each generation is brought up with the education to improve upon those who came before. Klein is the current managing arts editor. He can be reached at andresar@umich.edu. 0(0 NOTABLE QUOTABLE ,, << Do you think that the U.S. and Israeli intention and goal by attacking Lebanon is pulling the trigger for another world war?" - Apoll questiofrom IranianPresident Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, on his new blo, as reportedSunday by Reuters. President Bush suc- cessfully completed the first of 12 steps to treat the country's- oil dependency out- lined in his State of the Union address earlier this year by announcing "America is addicted to oil." But like many people in 12-step programs, he has struggled with mov- ing beyond the "admitting you have a problem" stage. Since the address in late January, Bush has kept the country glued on the first step - making little advancement in dealing with the oil- aholic this country has become. And while remedying the problem requires the efforts of all Americans, the cultural shift needed to reduce dependency on oil - and thus cars - has to begin with the Bush administration. As of late, it appears as if many people still don't realize that America's extreme dependency on oil - foreign or domestic - cannot last forever. It would seem that gas prices doubling over the past couple of years and endless news coverage of the country's "energy crisis" would be enough to convince Americans that consuming oil at the rates they have in the past can- not continue. And even though 55 percent of Americans say they have decreased the amount of miles they drive due to higher gas prices - as reportedby the New York Times last week - these statistics have not translated to reduced consumption of gasoline around the nation, which shows As bad as the many Americans are still not convinced. This astonishing point is where the Bush administration comes into play. So far, Washington has given in to America's oil obsession, and instead of putting federal funding toward railways or research for alternatives, it has only managed to write more fuel-efficiency laws and send automakers on a race for the new best "fuel-flex" vehicle. While this is significant progress for an administration that, less than three years ago, created a tax deduction policy that encouraged the purchase of large, inefficient sports utility vehicles for small businesses, creating fuel efficiency standards and quotas for carmakers' new models does not do much to attack the real problem. (In fact, these standards can have the reverse effect because com- panies like General Motors and Ford end up making both vehicles that can run on alternative fuels and continue to design mammoth SUVs.) So instead of just focusing on creating more resource- ful vehicles, there needs to be much stronger encouragement for Americans to kick the car habit. But while the future for this approach looks hopeless, simple solutions are in store for the administration to start a cul- tural revolution. Specifically, more federal money should go toward alternative trans- portation methods like mass transit. A profound move was already made by the administration for fiscal year 2007 when it designated $900 million for Amtrak. While it's not nearly as much as the rail- way received from the Senate Appropria- tions Committee in 2005,it's a 100 percent Nazis? Really increase from what it received in 2006. Other solutions include flowing money into the construction of elevated railways for cities lacking public transportation (Detroit) instead of using that money to add more lanes to city highways. So as the newest chapter in America's oil dilemma starts with the shutdown of Alaska's Prudhoe Bay oil field and the price of U.S. crude oil threatens to climb to almost $100 a barrel in the next year - up from merely $20 a barrel in 2000 - don't expect Americans to immediate- ly take it as a sign to limit their car trips. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center found fewer Americans than you would expect are peeved by the high gas prices. Almost seven of 10 drivers still enjoy getting behind the wheel, and while down from the eight of 10 who enjoyed it in 1991, only 3 percent of those surveyed cited higher gas prices as the reason for not wanting to drive as much. Only when Americans are presented with up-to-date, affordable and reliable alternatives to driving will their love affair with cars begin to weaken. This is extremely dependent on the Bush admin- istration pouring more money into alter- native transportation methods and heavily promoting the use of trains, buses and (gasp!) bicycles, thus lowering America's compulsion to drive everywhere. A loftier result of this revolution is more people realizing the absolute ridiculousness of driving a Hummer around suburbia - and that would be a true victory for America. Kennelly can be reached at thenelly@umich.edu. JARED GOLDBERG iF NoT Now, WHEN For those of you who happen to be as socially inept as I am, comment- ing on the various blogs now scat- tered across the Internet, you might have happened across Godwin's Law of Nazi Analo- gies. Coined in 1990 by attorney Mike Godwin, Godwin's Law states: "As an online discussion grows longer, the prob- ability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." In other words, the more people debate a topic, the more likely someone will make a comparison to the Nazis, Hitler, etc. Typically, especially in the older days, when someone made such a comparison, the discussion was considered over. But what's fascinating about Godwin's Law is its applicability to real life: Its valid- ity lies with common sense. After all, since Nazism is a failed ideology known distinctly for its targeted genocide of six million Jews, no one other than an actual Nazi is going to defend it. Thus, the use of a Nazi analogy proves to be a powerful political tool. In the period leading up to the war in Iraq, comparisons between Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein were frequently made. Anti-war protests during that same period also compared President Bush with Hit- ler. Slobodan Milosevic was a Hitler rein- carnate too during the war in Bosnia, as remains Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Often accompanying the Nazi anal- ogy is the Holocaust analogy. After recalling his ambassador to Israel, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez called Israel's assault on Lebanon a "new Holo- caust." The ethnic cleansing of Jews from Arab lands after the establishment of the state of Israel is also often labeled as a second Holocaust. Ann Arborites are very familiar with Blaine Coleman, local moron and divest- ment activist. He is known for equating Zionism with Nazism at Ann Arbor City Council meetings and for carrying a sign at weekly vigils that says, "Stop Crucify- ing Palestine." The truth, of course, is that the only true Nazis are Nazis. The exploitation of the fact that no one can morally defend the Nazis is utilized by those on the left and the right. Labeling your political opponents either as members of that genocidal regime or the next closest thing is not critical analysis. Use of the Nazi analogy demonstrates two important facts. One, it shows an ignorance of history. Two, it provides evidence that the person who uses it has a weak argument. Instead of debating the topic at hand, people devote their time thinking of ways to show that the Nazi analogy does not fit. As comical as this might be, its political ramifications are alarming. Using the Nazi analogy justifies mili- tarism, offensive and possibly racist catchphrases, and bastardizes history. Comparing Saddam Hussein to Hitler does not justify the war in Iraq. Refer- ring to abortion clinics as concentration camps is not a legitimate defense of an anti-abortion stance. Calling Democrats or Republicans Nazis only distracts us from the important issues, such as the economy, health care, education, etc. The Nazi analogy only further divides us, as it causes more people to jump to extremist positions. In a history class last winter, my pro- fessortoldastoryofaFrenchphilosopher who came to the University in the 1960s. This philosopher had lived under Nazi occupation and the puppet Vichy regime and remembered it vividly. Crossing the Diag one day, he encountered student protestors, who were unhappy with then University President Robben Fleming. They called his administration "fascist." The French philosopher answered back: "I lived under the Nazis. I lived under fascist rule. If you think that this is fas- cism, then you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." Come fall, with student groups flood- ing the Diag with political slogans - especially during an election year - it's in our best interestto avoid the Nazi anal- ogy entirely. If we debate each other like college students should, instead of hurl ridiculous accusations, we might finally be able to do what we are supposed to be doing in college: learn. Goldberg can be reached at jaredgo@umich.edu.