4 Tuesday, May.29, 2012 The Michigan Daily -michigandaily.com PAUL STROMBERG I "FM" freedom Edited and.managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu JACOB AXELRAD EDITOR IN CHIEF GIACOMO BOLOGNA MANAGING EDITOR ADRIENNE ROBERTS EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All othersigned articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. Educate the governor Snyder is making Michigan a dreary state for teachers As students graduate from the University of Michigan School of Education and look for teaching jobs here in Michigan, pros- pects can seem dim. During his term as governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder has increased funding for unregulated charter schools, while reducing teachers' salaries and making teachers pay for their pensions. The state of Michigan, and specifically Governor Snyder, needs to seriously consider what they want from their school system in order to encourage talented students to become teachers, as the quality of public education in Michigan is at stake. A few years ago, while watching TV, a commercial came on for a car, maybe a Chevy, although the car itself isn't that important. About halfway through the ad, without really understanding what came overume, I began to cry, an act not too uncommon. Ask many of my close friends and they'll tellyou just how much pride I take in my crying ability. What was unique about this time, however, was not that I was crying tears of joy over a commer- cial, but that my overwhelming joy had been stirred up by Ray Charles singing "America the Beautiful." How this car company obtained the rights to Ray Charles's rendi- tion I may never understand. But what I do understand, after lots of self-reflection, is from that moment on I became a patriot. I wasn't raised to be particularly patriotic; in fact, a few of my fam- ily members are very anti-Amer- ican, or "anti-colonial," as my grandmother liked to say. I have no delusions about how perfect our government is or how morally superior our history has been. I don't even think our country has any superior qualities that set it apart from any other country. I just love America like a mother loves a newborn child, uncondi- tionally and withoutna necessarily good reason. The annoying thing about unconditional love is that if there is something I don't like about the U.S., I am either forced to ignore it or change it, because I sure as hell can't leave it. Because of my obligation to our country I decided to write this article, not to shamelessly promote the best stu- dent organization on campus, but to fix this country in the only way I know how. Ask people what they love about America and most would probably say freedom or guns, but my opin- ion on the latter wouldn't allow me to talk about radio. If you're wondering how freedom is related to radio, it's probably because you have never had the privilege of lis- tening to WCBN-FM, Michigan's local, student-run radio station. If you stop reading here you may feel deceived. "Hey, I thought you said you were not going to shame- lessly promote anything." Yes, you caught me. I did say it wouldn't be shameless, but by not doing my part to promote WCBN, I would be doing a great disservice to the Michigan student body and all Ann Arbor citizens who love freedom. WCBN is the pinnacle of freedom at Michigan. It's something that results in probably the most eclectic and interesting station in our entire state, although this is not saying much as Michigan radio is notori- ously uninteresting. If you disagree, it's likely you don't know what good radio sounds like, or maybe your idea of good radio is hearing the same music on repeat. Most radio stations are owned by media giants that play just enough variety to keep people listening. In fact, 80 percent of radio playlists match. Does this sound like freedom to you? What is the point of having so many options when most of these options are indistinguishable from one anoth- er? This is where WCBN comes in. Few stations do what our station does in terms of playlist originality and the promotion of fledgling art- ists. Individuality in radio is at stake. Without the few independent sta- tions that still exist, like WCBN, the musical landscape could quick- ly turn stale. If you think your favorite types of music are safe from this, you would be wrong. All artists start somewhere, and even huge stars like Lady Gaga have to be promoted by small venues and independent stations before they make it big. If stations like WCBN disappear, the music world will be overwhelmed with the same bad Disney songs that have been haunt- ing me since elementary school. There is still hope. If you love music like I do, you must support WCBN-FM. Listen, call in to the station and tell us how good we sound, and come to the amazing events we put on. Doing something to show support will impact our station because, unlike other stu- dent organizations, we can be shut down. That's right. The regents at the University of Michigan have the ability to sell our frequency - 88.3 - to make a quick buck, but you can prevent all that. Help me save my favorite country by pre- venting the death of radio. Paul Stromberg is a LSA junior. On May 15, Governor Snyder signed into law legislation that will lift the cap on cyber charter schools from two to five. The cap will further increase as time goes on, allowing 10 by 2014 and 15 thereafter. Cyber charter schools are funded by public money, thus traditional public schools will receive less funding. The state House of Representatives will also be voting soon on a plan that requires public school teachers to pay four to seven percent of their pension costs. By lifting the cap on cyber charter schools, Snyder is using public money to fund an experi- mental type of schooling that has not yet been proven effective, nor does it operate under the stan- dards of public schools. For-profit companies own the cyber char- ter schools in Michigan. Ronald Packard, chief executive of K12 - an online education organiza- tion - owns one charter school in Michigan and was paid $5 mil- lion in 2011. It can be reasonably assumed that companies who have a profit at stake may view educating children as a lower priority. Snyder is essentially handing away public dollars to an online education program that has yet to be proven beneficial for students. On Dec. 21, 2011, Snyder lifted the cap on all charter schools. While this policy opens up jobs for new graduates in the charter school system, charter schools on average pay a lower salary than public schools. Most teach- ers, therefore, want to work in the public school system. Public school teaching jobs, however, are decreasing as Snyder contin- ues to fund the opening of more and more charter schools with taxpayer dollars. If Snyder wishes to attract the best and brightest" into the teaching field, continu- ously reducing teachers' salaries is not the best way to accomplish this. As if the outlook for teachers didn't already appear dismal, the Michigan House may pass a bill that requires teachers to pay more toward their own pension. Teach- ers who currently pay nothing would have to pay 4 percent and those currently paying between 3 and 6.4 percent would have to pay 7 percent. This is an unfair policy that only serves to take money from a group of public employees who are often overworked and underpaid. Teaching is a valuable profes- sion and a great career option for many students. With these new and potentially detrimen- tal changes, however, Snyder is making the teaching profes- sion look less and less desirable. For the sake of students' educa- tion and teachers' jobs, Snyder must reevaluate his changes to the school system and seriously consider if cutting public-school funds is really a wise idea. FOLLOW DAILY OPINION ON TWITTER Keep up with columnists, read Daily editorials, view cartoons and join in the debate. Check out @michdailyoped Get updates on Daily Opinion content throughout the day.