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"Knowledge ufiich is acquired under
compulsion obtains no hold on the
mind,
Plato, Jfi Republic
You can lead a kid to school, but you
cant make him think.
You can try. You can lock him in
class for seven hours a day, 200 to 220
days a year. You can make him take
tests in order to advance to another
grade. You can sit back and relax,
thinking that if he didnt get it by now,
he'd stay there until he did.
Terrel II Bell, U.S. secretary of edu
cation, created the National Commis
sion on Excellence in Education in
August 1D31. He directed the commis
sion to prepare a public report on the
quality of education in America ana
what could bcdone to improve it On
April 26, 1033, the commission report
ed its findings.
For the most part, the commission
focused on high school education and
teen-age students.
Among many recommendations deal
ing with curricula, college entrance
standards, textbooks and teaching, the
suggestions that raised the most ruck
us concerned the "time" clement The
commission suggested that school dis
tricts and state legislatures "should
strongly consider" a longer school day
and school year.
The commission puts forth, as one
argument, the same old materialistic,
capitalistic hoopla heard so often dur
ing the Reagan administration.
"History is not kind to idlers," the
report said. "We live among determin
ed, educated and strongly motivated
competitors. America's position in the
world may once have been reasonably
secure ... it is no longer."
r" Hie report goes on to mention Jap
anese cars, South Korean steel mills
and German tools, all of which are
more efficient than the American
counterparts which were once "the
pride of the world."
If only to keep and improve on the
slim competitive edge we still retain in
world markets, we must dedicate our
selves to the reform of our educational
system . . ." the report said.
It goes on to include "intellectual,
moral and spiritual" concerns, but the
thrust is as stated. High school stu
dents seem to be regarded more as raw
materials to feed the Great American
IndustryTech Machine, than as indi
viduals who graduate from high school
unprepared for college or the job
market If the raw materials are cf
poor quality, so the finished product
will be. The answer?
Keep the little buyers in school
until they're ready to join the rest of us
in the meatgrinder. After all, the com
mission found that schoob in "other
industrialized countries" (the ones
making better cars and tools) have
eight-hour school days, 220 days a
year.
American students spend a paltry
six hours a day, 1E0 day3 a year in
school.
That's probably one of the reasons
Detroit cant seem to come up with a
longer-lasting car with higher gas mile-
That sort of logic sends chills up and
down the spine.
: ' It's like telibg a sick person that if
two aspirins can cure 'a headache, "a
hundred or so ought to fix up that
brain tumor just Jitzs. "
The Innoculatlcm Theory of Educa
tion: If it doesn't take in six hours, bet
ter keep giving them booster shots.
As future educators, parents, em
ployers and ccH.2c;t3 ofstudents now
and in the future, it b time to re
examine the roles and responsibilities
of our schools. It u time to discard
well-worn traditions and re-evaluate
the assumptions our system is based
on. No one questions the fact that
there are real problems in our schools,
their methods and priorities. But to
hold with archaic concepts like "eve
ryone wants to learn, we just have to
keep them in school until they do" is
preposterous.
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enrages governor
In the Friday's Omaha World-Herald, a Page One
story reported that our Gov. Kerrey is more than
inst a little roiffpr! nt ITTI. While he was tourinS a
syringe plant in Columbus, the plant manager,
James George, complained to Kerrey that the uni
versity actually wanted to charge him for some con
sulting he had asked them to do.
S Mike Frcsl
When he returned to Lincoln, Kerrey called a
meeting of his advisers to discuss the matter.
Their faces were grim. They had seen Gov. Kerrey
mad before, but never quite this mad.
i'm as mad as a frog who just tried to eat Rod an,"
Kerrey said. "I just got back from Columbus, where
somebody told me that UNL charges money for
research it does." .
A collective shudder filled trie room. An aide
named Smith piped up, "Charged money? Is that,
like, legal?"
' "I don't know if it's illegal, but it certainly sounds
immoral," the Governor replied. "That's why I'm
appointing you, Jones, Roberts and Dickens to a
special commission to. look into this matter. I want
you to find out the extent of the university charging
for things" .
The court reported back to the governor the fol
lowing week. Smith, being a rather gregarious fellow,
spoke for the group. "Sir, we found literally
hundreds of examples of UNL charging for basic
services," he said.
"First, we discovered a little scam known as tui
tion.' "
s "Tuition?" Kerrey queried.
"Yes, it seems that the university makes students
pay for the classes they take. In essence, then, they
are charging for an education!". .
"Kerrey paled. "The heartless blackmailersT he
exclaimed. ' .
"We also found several services the university for
ces its students to pay for. Books, food, shelter "
"They charge for food and shelter! These are
animais we are dealing with, Smith, not human
beings." :
"There's even a game room in their student union,"
Smith continued. "Governor, they charge students
for pinbalL
"Fascist pigs," Kerrey bellowed.
"The list continues. Registration, parking, theater
tickets, football games " -
"They charge people to see a football game! Smith,
what is it they do with all this money?"
Smith shuffled through his report "As far as we
can tell, all they do is educate." -
Kerres eyes fjanced heaven-wards. "A ccllcsil
waste of money. Thank you, men, you did a fine jsb.
111 make you all members of the Nebraska Navy for
thb. With the information you have gathered, 111 be
asle to force UNX to justify every penny it takes in
"Well, there is' the matter cf us getting paid for
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Computer mail delivery is no fun
One of those companies with the soul of a micro
chip has come up with a new service: electronic
mail For a fee, the company will transmit a written
message from the computer screen in your home or
office virtually any brand of computer to the
computer screen in your friend's or colleague's
home or office.
If the whole thing works, I'm sure the company
will have a success on its hands. I don't think I'm
going to be a customer, though.
.
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I'm a romantic about maiL The moment the mail
carrier arrives with his bundle has always been a
high point cf my day.
In the days before the postal service became so
dismal, it was even sort of fun to guess which day a
certain letter would arrive. If you knew that some
one was supposed to write you on, say, Monday, you
would hope that the letter arrived Tuesday; if it
didnt, though, you knew it would be showing up on
Ti r
Nov, alas, nothing is so certain. I no longer drop a
letter into a mailbox with any sense cf assurance
that it's going to end up where I want it to. 11; 2 odds
are in the letter's fever, cf course when you corns
to think cf it, the task the post cfj.ee carries cut in
dcsl'rg with the number cf items it handles daily is
t-" 7 rr:Y3 c"-n i 1 VH cf its f trir.g m::,';sp3 but
Lf;:: u rri.y x . . .t c : : siT.e 1st: :r to reach eomcona,
rsesr intn a Mark hn'
1 ne ovemignt delivery services are a fine solution.
I have used them on a re.:kir fccsis for about three
years now, and I am delighted with them. They're
expensive when you compare them with the cost of
a regular first-class stamp; but if there's something
you want someone else to have, and you want to go
to bed knowing he or she is going to get it, then the
overnight services are your ticlxt.
So that's what I do. For most letters, drop them in
the mailbox, take a deep breath, and hep they get
there one of these days. Fcr the occasional letter I
really care about, an overnight service that will get it
there by the middle of thefoEowin 3 day. '
Which brings us to the new electronic delivery
service. In theory, it sounds great Ccmputer-to-computer
delivery, right away.
In my Qee, though, we already hare an in-house
electronic delivery system. If someone in the office
wants to send a memo to someone else in the office,
, he can do it right cn his computer. There is a special
"message" function that taVrsrrfirf it '
It's no fun. All the personalty and humanity that
snow up in tetters disappear cn ccmpztcr screens.
There's no such thing as hand .vritir -5 it dsrsnt mat
ter who sent you the message its l,vr"s cemes out
in those efHcient bright rrecn isttcrs'en the black
background. A message frcm the ; . ::;J:r.t cf the
firm lacks the same as s r,:::::' trc'i a cl :rk in the
stockroom, which locla thecame si: : ::;. ge from
an unseen and ancnymozs flirt; all V:,? ' . rmth and
wbdemare translated ir.tcTthc-2 t?JX uniform
green characters. V,zzC - rr. - ) c 1 t com
puter screen is net Lke z tre Cz'i- z . rJr.llt and
dusty vcriety stcre; it's r -1 : " - - tr: - - -1 in an end
. less, rpctles3 corridor L-sid t!.l. 1: ":r- - ' :