page 4
daily nebraskan
monday, february 19, 1979
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fDOraSJDli?DI
2)
No matter what daddy tells you,
there is an Easter Bunny9
judge
If Wayne Felron of Springfield, Mass., doesn't shape
up, hell have to stop seeing his kids.
The 35-year-old fireman doesn't beat his daughters
(aged seven and four) or take them to X-rated movies or
encourage them to neglect their studies.
What he does is read the Bible to them. Judge Frank
Placzek of Hampden County Probate Court says he'll have
to stop it. Otherwise, no more visiting rights.
Felton and his 32-year-old former wife were divorced
last year after a two-year separation. Both had been
members of the Congregationalist church.
William raspberry
Felton subsequently remarried and joined the
Jehovah's Witnesses, and that's what got him into trouble.
According to the children's mother, who was granted
custody, Felton started using his court -ordered visitation
periods to read the Bible to his daughters and talk with
them about religion. Nor was that his only sin.
Confusing
"He was (also) confusing them by telling them there
was no Santa Claus, no Easter Bunny, no Tooth Fairy,
and I had told them there was," Diane Felton said.
It must have been confusing, all right, but I'm not
quite certain whether it's the business of the court. It's
hard to imagine the basis for Judge Placzek's interference.
Confusion alone could hardly have been the rationale.
Else, what would his honor do about all the children of in
tact marriages whose parents hold differing religious
beliefs?
Perhaps he considered Felton 's teachings unwarranted
interference in their upbringing. But is it interference for a
parent to teach his children what he deeply believes to be
the Truth?
Ludicrous
Could it be that the judge is a Congregationalist? Or a
believer in the Tooth Fairy, et al?
The whole affair might strike you as ludicrous-unless
the beliefs involved are your own. If they are, you have to
wonder at the audacity of the probate judge.
In many ways, the judge's actions are an even more
basic infringement than in the case of Chad Green, the
three-year-old leukemia victim whose parents were order
ed to stop treating him with laetrile.
In the leukemia affair, also a Massachusetts case, the
parents were on the same side. Their fight was with the
medical authorities, who insisted they knew best. The
court agreed with the medical authorities.
Better equipped
But medicine is a matter of science, and it might be
argued that scientists are better equipped to make medical
judgments, even when the patient's parents believe other
wise. But religion is not a question for the experts to decide.
It is profoundly personal matter, involving beliefs, not
objective truth discoverable through the adversary
processes of the courts.
I suppose it may have been in the judge's mind that the
granting of custody carries with it the authority to deter
mine what religious beliefs will be taught. Still, I think he
would have been better advised to wash his hands of the
dispute.
Certainly there is the possibility that the children
might be confused as a result of their parent's religious
dispute. But they might have been equally confused if one
parent had been a liberal and the other a conservative.
Possibility
Moreover, there is at least the theoretical possibility
that the parental difference of opinion might lead less to
confusion than to the ability of the children to form their
own judgments, to develop their own religious faith.
Judge Placzek, by buying into the dispute, may have
thought he was only protecting the legal rights of the
parent who had won custody of the children. In fact, he
was establishing a particular religion.
It is fair to wonder whether he would have made the
same judicial ruling if he had been a Jehovah's Witness. It
is a question Judge Placzek might well have asked himself.
Copyright 1979, The Washington Post Company
Perfectionists,
please apply
No newspaper is without its critics. And the
Daily Nebraskan, like any other, getc its fair
share of criticism.
Aside from the normal, day-to-day criticism
from assorted and sundry groups on this
campus concerning our coverage or lack of it
the Daily Nebraskan also hears from "experts."
Sometimes these so-called experts call us on
the telephone. The general rule of thumb is
"the more vociferous the criticism, the less
likely the critic will identify him-or-herself."
Anonymous phone calls criticizing our daily
product have the least credibility. If the caller
refuses to give us his or her name, we assume
the call is a figment of our imagination and
totally ignore the criticism. The same goes for
unsigned letters. These are immediately placed
in the circular file under "G"-for garbage.
We take more seriously those criticisms
which come with a name. We welcome con
structive criticism, whether it concerns
grammar or good taste, misquotes or misspell
ings. Sometimes we even follow sound advice
from well-meaning people.
Journalism is literature for the masses. A
journalist doesn't have the luxury of working
long periods of time on his product, like an
artist or an author. He has to find as much
information as possible, present that inform
ation to his readers, all in a matter of hours.
This is not an apology for mistakes. This is
simply a reason for their existence. So, to those
critics out there who find us lacking in basic
language skills, who think they can do a better
job of covering and reporting the news, we urge
that they come and apply for a job at the Daily
Nebraskan. To those who seek perfection, we
suggest they look up the word in a dictionary.
They're fooling themselves if they believe it's
attainable.
Parents'Day conception clouded over with partial truths
As any graduating senior can tell you, UNL is a classic
example of Murphy's Law: if anything can possibly go
wrong around here, it will.
When it comes to Parents' Day, however. Murphy was
an optimist.
For those of you who haven't read your tuition state
ment, Parents' Day is set for April 27 and 28, a date
chosen mainly because it coincided with the Spring Red
White football game.
gibson
This means the event will conflict with the last minute
typing of papers and completion of reading assignments
which always accompanies the weekend before dead
week.
It also mean; that Parents' Day will conflict with the
residence halk "Spring Things."
More importantly, it means that Chancellor Roy
Young was slightly perturbed last week after he was told
that the Red-White game is actually scheduled for May 5,
not April 27.
Spring practices
Unless the game is moved up a week-as it may well be
despite the havoc it would play with spring practices-Parents'
Day won't be the same. The administration thought
of the game as a major attraction, as if contrary to pop
ular opinion, UNL's reputation as the Harvard of the
Plains was not expected to attract many parents.
Other weekend events face equally vexing, though per
haps more intentional, problems.
A maingoal of Parents' Day was to allow parents to
attend classes so they could gauge the quality of
education their offspring pays for. Teachers, however,
have been told that they need not let parents in their
classrooms.
In addition, the schedule virtually insures that few, if
any, parents will visit even one class. Friday 8:30 and
9:30 ajn. classes will not start and the Honors Convoca
students, who are the most likely to take their parents to
class, will take them to the convocation instead.
Open classes
But there will be open classes and academic discussions
tions will be held at 10:30 ajn., so that UNL's top
after the convocation ends-for three percent of UNL stu
dents who make it to class on Friday afternoons.
And, as for those parents who have to work on Friday,
Saturday will offer such academic events as a pancake
feed and a gymnastics meet.
Actually, the idea of Parents' Day as a "report to the
stockholders" (students included) was a good one, and
student governments leaders approved it in April. But
they did not approve the plans developed exclusively by
the administration plans which turn this 'report' into a
show-and-tell.
After all, how much can a football game tell parents
about the quality of their offspring's education?
How will a gymnastic meet tell parents that the College
of Engineering and Business are drastically short of money
and teachers?
Any why should parents be limited to attending just
one day of classes and seeing just a few teachers? Why
not give them a chance to observe UNL's "reputation for
undergraduate excellence" in every class, with every
teacher?
It could be done. All it would take is a teacher evalua
tion handbook, written by responsible students and pub
lished by the administration.
Indeed, such handbooks are in use at several other
schools, including Harvard (our 'adopted' sister school),
where the administration even pays for it. But the odds of
such a handbook at Nebraska are about the same as a
voting student regent.
And thus the problems of Parents' Day-substantial,
yet not insurmountable. Much depends on whether ASUN
abandons its neutrality and demands that parents be told
the full truth, not just the partial truth, as the price for
student cooperation.
But much more depends on the administration, which
alone will decide just how much truth about UNL's high
tuition, low teachers' salaries, poor advising, overcrowded
colleges and 'non-political' speakers would be included in
this "Report to the Stockholders."
6 fiEud dlufi!?
I would like to take the opportunity to compliment
Michael Gibson on his brilliant analysis of the tactics of
YAF. The analogy of the 1950's Communist witch hunt
was a particularly good one. Further, I think it is interest
ing to point out the hallmarks of current "Communist"
propaganda (despite the fact that there is no such thing
as a truly Communist state at this point in time) are
similar to the tactics of the YAF -cheap innuendoes, false,
analogies, false dilemmas, "half-truth," and just plain
bare-faced lies.
In addition to this, I have noticed that generally speak
ing, voluntary associations with the word "freedom" in
their name has a tendency to protect what they perceive
as "their freedom at the expense of the freedom of
others." For instance, on the speaker issue, I find it very
interesting that when Gerald Ford and William F. Buckley
were here, not a word of complaint was heard from the
YAF. However, when Jane Fonda, an individual admired
by many for her courageous stand against injustices, spoke
here, the YAF went wild. The speaker program during this
period of time was well balanced, but the YAF decided
we shouldn't have to pay (through student fees) to hear
her speak, despite the fact that they seemed to think it
was okay for us to pay to hear Mr. Ford and Mr. Buckley.
Whatever happened to freedom of the speech, the right
to choose one's political ideology and to listen to repre
sentatives of that ideology? The only conclusion I can
come up with is that the YAF is not interested in true
freedom, but only their "freedom" to deny others a true
freedom of choice, through simplistic inflammatory
appeals to emotion and fear-a tactic elevated to a fine art
by one Mr. Adolph Hitler.
Tom Youngblood
Sociology sophomore
The critics respond
It is unfortunate that, in the face of criticism, the
Daily Nebraskan 's only reply is an attempt to discredit the
critic. True, Deborah A. VanDerslice's letter (Feb. 14) is
no example of literary excellence. This does not, however,
relieve the Daily Nebraskan of the burden of her charges.
Continued on Page 5
