Page 4 -The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 10, 1991
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
NOAH FINKEL
Editor in Chief
DAVID SCHWARTZ
Opinion Editor
Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other cartoons,
signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
Education reform
Engler should push for state-paid higher education
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Bush urges support for U..S. policy in the Gulf
MICHIGAN INAUGURATED A NEW
governor on New Year's Day, and de-
spite the frigid festivities outside the
Capitol in Lansing, John Engler vowed
to stick to the promises he made during
his gubernatorial campaign. Among
those promises was an unwavering
commitment to higher education, com-
plete will all necessary rhetoric and
emotion.
But another of Engler's highly-pub-
licized goals may hamper his efforts to
improve the state's colleges and uni-
versities. In an effort to cut costs and
balance the state budget, the governor
plans to cut property taxes by 20 per-
cent without raising income taxes to
make up for the lost revenue. The al-
ready-floundering state budget will
have no resources to begin new pro-
grams, let alone continue many old
ones.
Schools like the University of
Michigan are struggling to make ends
meet, and administration officials are
worried about likely cuts in state ap-
propriations to higher education. En-
gler must demonstrate his commitment
to students through more than empty
rhetoric; nothing happens without the
funds to back up the promises.
A governor who endeavors to im-
prove education must begin by improv-
ing educational opportunities. Financial
aid programs at most Michigan colleges
are woefully inadequate; many students
at the University of Michigan receive
grants or loans for their first year, only
to find the assistance rescinded in sub-
sequent years.
Dropout rates are soaring, predomi-
nantly among minority groups. The
way to keep people in college, and the
way to attract more qualified people to
enroll in the first place, is to make,
higher education attainable for every-
one.
Education should indeed be a right,
not a privilege for those who are afflu-
ent enough to pay ever-increasing tu-
itions. Governor Engler and the Michi-
gan legislature should adopt state-
funded higher education. The United
States is one of only a few capitalist-
based economies where the govern-
ment does not provide undergraduate
and post-graduate education for its citi-
zens.
Tuition now accounts for less than
half of the University's operating bud-
get. The University should do away
with tuition altogether, and the state
should foot the bill for the lost revenue.
Lansing could afford such a maneuver
if it raised income taxes. A progressive
income tax would shift the burden of
education from poor inner-city or out-
state families to those who can better
afford the investment in the future of
the state.
Education, let's not forget, is truly
an investment. Educated people are far
more valuable to both business and
society, and just as the government in-
vests in businesses or capital to insure
a successful economy in the future, the
state should invest in producing a more
qualified work force.
Rhetoric is easy. George Bush
refers to himself as the "education pres-
ident," yet has gutted federal appro-
priations to higher education. We can
only hope Engler is a better "education
governor."
By George Bush
If armed men invaded a home in this
country, killed those in their way, stole
what they wanted and then announced the
house was now theirs - no one would
hesitate about what must be done.
And that is why we cannot hesitate
about what must be done halfway around
the world: in Kuwait.
There is much in the modern world that
is subject to doubts or questions -
washed in shades of gray. But not the bru-
tal aggression of Saddam Hussein against
a peaceful, sovereign nation and its peo-
ple. It's black and white. The facts are
clear. The choice unambiguous.
The terror Saddam Hussein has im-
posed upon Kuwait violates every princi-
ple of human decency. Listen to what
Amnesty International has documented:
"Widespread abuses of human rights have
been perpetrated by Iraqi forces ... arbitrary
arrest and detention without trial of thou-
sands ... widespread torture ... imposition
of the death penalty and the extrajudicial
execution of hundreds of unarmed civil-
ians, including children."
Including children. There's no horror
that could make this a more obvious.con-
flict of good vs. evil. The man who used
chemical warfare on his own people -
once again including children - now
oversees public hangings of dissenters.
And daily his troops commit atrocities
against Kuwaiti citizens.
This brutality has reverberated
throughout the entire world. If we do not
follow the dictates of our inner moral
compass and stand up for human life, then
Bush is President of the United States.
his lawlessness will threaten the peace and
democracy of the emerging New World
Order we now see: this long dreamed-of
vision we've all worked toward for so
long.
A year after the joyous dawn of free-
dom's light in Eastern Europe, a dark evil
has descended in another part of the world.
But we have the chance - and we have
the obligation - to stop ruthless aggres-
sion.
who would desecrate the promise of hu-
man life itself.
Each day that passes means another day
for Iraq's forces to dig deeper into their
into their stolen land. Another day Saddam
Hussein can work toward building his nu-
clear arsenal and perfecting his chemical
and biological weapons capability. An-
other day of atrocities for Amnesty Inter-0
national to document. Another day of in-
ternational outlaws, instead of interna-
There is much in the modern world that is subject to
doubts or questions. But not the brutal aggression of
Saddam Hussein against a
and its people.
peaceful, sovereign nation
i
The wrong-choice-
Engler should improve schools, not create chaos
I have been in war. I have known the
terror of combat. And I tell you this with
all my heart: I don't want there to be a war
ever again. I am determined to do abso-
lutely everything possible in the search for
a peaceful resolution to this crisis - but
only if the peace is genuine, if it rests on
principle, not appeasement.
But while we search for that answer, in
the Gulf young men and women are
putting their own lives on hold in order to
stand for peace in our world and for the es-
sential value of human life itself. Many
are younger than my own children...
We desperately want peace. But we
know that to reward aggression would be
to end the promise of our New World Or-
der. To reward aggression would be to de-
stroy the United Nations' promise as in-
ternational peacekeeper. To reward aggres-
sion would be to condone the acts of those
tional law.
I ask you to think about the economic
devastation that Saddam Hussein would
continue to wreak on the world's emerging
democracies if he were in control of one-
fifth of the world's oil reserves. And to re-
flect on the terrible threat that a Saddam
Hussein armed with weapons of mass de-
struction already poses to human life and
to the future of all nations. .60
Together, as an America united against
these horrors, we can, with our coalition
partners, assure that this aggression is
stopped and the principles on which this
nation and the rest of the civilized world
are founded are preserved.
An so let us remember and support all
of our fine servicemen and women, as they
stand ready on the frontier of freedom,
willing to do their duty and do it well.
They deserve our complete and enthusias-
tic support - and lasting gratitude.
THROUGHOUT HIS CAMPAIGN,
newly-elected Governor John Engler
stressed the need for education reform
in Michigan. He correctly pointed out
the shortcomings of the Blanchard
administration in dealing with the de-
cline of elementary and secondary in
the state. However, Engler's so-called
"choice" plan does not address the
problems of our schools directly, and
illustrates a lax attitude toward genuine
educational reform.
Currently, the public school system
is divided into many districts. Within
each district, students are regiured to
attend a certain school - usually one
close to their homes. Engler's choice
plan attempts to mitigate the inequalities
between school districts by permitting
students to attend whatever school they
choose. Thus, a student in Detroit
would be able to attend school in a
more affluent district in one of the
surrounding suburbs.
While this proposal may appear
laudable on the surface, it fails to ad-
dress the real problem in the state's ed-
ucational system - the discrepancies
between the districts.
Because each district receives
money from local property taxes, stu-
dents in wealthier areas benefit from
the educational opportunities provided
by their rich tax base. Students in De-
troit and other areas must make do with
older textbooks and fewer extra-cur-
ricular activities because their school
districts have fewer tax dollars to spend
per student.
The remedy to this problem lies not
in short-sighted action like choice, but
in improving the quality of the schools
across the state, especially in the state's
poorer districts.
The choice plan, besides skirting
this central issue in educational reform,
is also grossly impractical. Students in
the more rural areas will certainly not
be able to get to a school in another
district; in outstate areas, there may be
only one high school in a fifty-mile
radius.
The real answer to the state's educa-
tional dilemma is a concerted, long-
term reform of the existing structure.
More resources must be earmarked for
education so students receive an excel-
lent education no matter where they live
or what school they attend. Parents'
economic status should not determine
the quality of a student's education.
Improvement of inner-city and out-
state schools - traditionally the state's
poorer districts - should be the goal,
not shuffling students to mask thet
problem. If Engler is as dedicated to
education as he says, he will concen-
trate his efforts on genuine reform.
America will pay for
its oil dependence
To the Daily:
With all the controversy over the Gulf
Crisis it is important to analyze some im-
portant factors contributing to the
situation.
While President Bush would have us
believe that this multi-lateral effort is
solely for the sovereignty of a nation is
hardly realistic. While this is an ambi-
tious goal, the oil which permeates
Kuwait's and Saudi Arabia's sands is a
very commanding factor, as well as WHO
will be a key player in the Arab world's
role in a new world order.
Certainly the United States does not
want the unstable situation of a territory-
hungry military leader, like Suddam Hus-
sein, destabilizing this region. This is not
to say a U.S.-led frontal assault is going
to cause stability. But it does seem to be
the lesser of two evils short of a negoti-
ated settlement - involving President
Hussein listening to others outside his
tight ring of paranoid advisors - which
does not seem likely.
No, we can't allow Suddam Hussein
control over our access to that oil. After
all, oil fuels our automobiles and we've
become overly dependent on them. Cars
also reflect our selfishness, our unwilling-
ness to sacrifice, our endemic tendency to
detach ourselves from blame or responsi-
bility: we want the government to do ev-
erything for us, but are unwilling to pay
for it; we want OUR oil but suddenly
don't have the stamina to fight for it. And
we certainly don't want to make the sacri-
fices - walking, taking a bus, car-pool-
ing or riding a bike - to lessen our de-
pendence on this commodity.
On the days I walk to school I must
see close to 200 cars each with only one
person; do all these people absolutely need
to drive a car? Yes, the car has become our
new God and oil the breath this deity of
the 1990s breathes.
Happy indulgence, America; our chil-
dren are going to die for your
pigheadedness.
Michael James Monkman
LSA Junior
Apathetic students
cling to status quo
To the Daily:
In response to the letter. "Daily makes
"people who go around protesting every-
thing." Everything seems to be ques-
tioned, and this leads him to the insecurity.
that makes him cling to the status-quo.
This barrage of new ideas has compelled
him to defend his beloved status-quo with-
out thought. Obviously, this "paltry .44
percent" turnout at protests has caused him
some anxiety, or why would he need to
belittle it?
If, in fact, this vocal minority is not
"as powerful as it seems to think it is," it
is still more powerful than the apathetic.
Granted the Daily, like any newspaper, has
its own slant, but at least it pertains to
society. Face it Jim, "Students Watch
Knicks Game" just isn't headline news.
Renee Bushey
LSA Junior
Daily editorial
cartoons not funny
To the Daily:
For many years now I have enjoyed ed-
itorial cartoons. Though they often include
humor, I enjoy them for their editorial
comment. A good cartoonist can make an
excellent point about an issue that I miy@
have overlooked. They show the truth,
make a statement about it, and at the same
time make it funny.
I miss good editorial cartoons. I miss
them because the Daily has yet to include
a good one, except when another paper's
cartoon is published.
The final straw came with A. Landau's
cartoon on Dec. 7. No humor, no truth,
no point. Has Hussein killed any
"guests?" No. Has he threatened to kill