Monday,' December. 3, 1234
P2S3 4
Daily Nctreskcn -
wfp.qiotlq Pin iipsn.Tr.m7i set , vuiiiuiyie
I
Tenrel II. Bell, US. education secre
tary, has dons a commendable Job.
He has consistently fought for higher
quality education. He recently announced
tnst he vu resign Dec 31.
if
Although President Reagan wanted to
dismantle the Department of Education,
Bell kept It together, and protected edu
cation from deep cuts m well
In the Nov. 2 1 Chronicle of Higher Edu
cation, several education officials
expressed dismay at Bell's resignation
and said they fear hb successor will not
be as staunch an advocate of education.
Even if the new secretary b as adamant
i o - o
about quality of education, he or she may
be appointed too late to have an effect on
the 1080 fecal budget. ,
"We're feeling a little more sorry than
we ever expected at his departure, and a
little apprehensive about what may be
coming," said William McNamara, direc
tor of communications for the National
Association of Independent Colleges and
Universities. "I don't think we can envi
sion right now a person who b more
responsive or sensitive to our pleadings
for public policy," he said in the Chronicle
article.'
In addition to fighting for improve
ment in education and funds, Bell was a
fTT n o
motivating force behind "Involvement In
Learning: Realizing the Potential of Ameri
can Higher Education," a report that
urged more funding for and enphesb on
liberal arts and of the danger of "over
specialized" majors without sufficient
training in language or the arts. BeU sup
ported the report's conclusions and had
he stayed in office, he might have made
an impact on the shape of education in
the years to come.
At the top of Reagan's budget cut list,
alon J with agriculture programs, Is edu
cational programs, including student
lcana A strong America in the long run
depends cn quality education. Ve all
must hope Congress know s that, aad that
1 di
any proposed cuts in education programs
are carefully reviewed.
Planned Pare nthood reports that about
20 centers hava been struck by Ores and
explosions in the last year. The attacks
have culminated nationwide protests
against family-planning centers and
abortion clinics.
The central question in the abortion
controversy b when dees the fetus become
a human beteg with the rUhts accorded
humans? Well probably new know the
answer to that question, but we can
safely say that these attacks are morally
' wrong and especially Ironic.
Courts ignore history,
lose logical reasoning
pin he trouble with bussing for the pur
I poses of integration, or as its op
ponents would have it, forced
bussing for the sake of miscegenation, is
that the lie overwhelmed the troth. Politi
cians talked of bussing as if it was some
sort of social experiment in which the
courts decided, for no discernable rea
son, that it would be a good idea to bus
kids half-way across town while their
parents pulled their hair out in rage. That
was the lie.
7
rs
fcy Richard
C?3 Gohen
i ri i'
The truth was that the courts only
ordered bussing as a last resort. They
ordered it only after school boards and
politicians had purposely segregated the
school system, after they had built schools
and drawn boundaries so that whites and
blacks would not no matter what the
Constitution said go to school together.
That, was when the courts stepped in.
They ordered bussing when there was no
other way to integrate a school system
that had been purposely segregated in
violation of the law.
How W have something similar hap
pening when it comes to school prayer.
As with bussing, the issue has fallen into
the hands of unscrupulous politicians
who talk of taking God out of the class
room or some such nonsense. An exam
ple of that sort of thinking comes not
from a politician, but from a cartoonist
for the Tampa Tribune, Wayne Stayskal
For Thanksgiving, be showed a group of
Pilgrims on the beach at Plymouth, being
warned by a policeman that praying is
not permitted: "Hey, no praying here . ..
This if a public beach!" Even for u cartoon
- bt, this b sheer nonsense, but it reCecta
the apparently widely held view' that the
courts have banished prayer.
This, of course, has been President1
; Reagan's theme for seme ttr.e now,-, and
he has been as wrong on this as he .was
when he lectured Charlotte, N.Cn on the
evils of bussing,- choosing -a city where,
bussing works and works well From time -:
to time, the president cites the case of
some school kid who b ordered not to
pray and implies that this or something
like it b the intent of the courts and the
evil liberals at the ACLU -who brought
suit. It's possible that from time to time
something Mice that does happen, but if it
does it's because someone got the law
wrong, not right The president, of all.
people, ought to know that
Like bussing, though, school prayer --and
the role of religion in general is dis
cussed as if ncthrtg prcccdrd the con
troversy asi there b no hiitsry to it In
the case of seheel prr.yir, thrre kr-j-ens
to be a history cfkils burg cc to
ssy prayers, cfrry3 crgcxizrd ty the
school, of mir-crlty li is t Cs " zr.ztz to f : :I
unwelcome, prcrrreJ dilircr.t
. 4 - . f-. 7
.vv"'"!V -,v; pctrr . j ..... ;..
. r S v i V x . .;s4r
" HO ...THIS IS A VZACH "
5 It is approximately for these reasons
that the courts told the schoob to get out
of the prayer business, saying that the
Constitution- forbids the government to
either interfere with or' promote religion.
There 'is-' nothing in' the decision "that
would stop seme Md from praying on his .
orher wn tima. If there were, it would
hot only be outrageous, it would be uncon
stitutional .. As with bussing, the reason for the var
ious court decisions regarding prayer has
been. lost .Truth has been .overwhelmed
by a lie. And. politicians, from the presi
dent on 'down, discuss the prays? Issue as
. if the courts, with nothing to da cn a slow
day, decided to ' monkey, with religion.
That's cheap politics, of -course, but it's -something
worse than that. It's yet
another example of that lomst of low
blows: Blamfeg the victim. '
In the cast of bussing, organisations
like the NAACP who for yesrs have been
fighting school segragstion get blimed
when their opponents' intrasigence
finally compels a bussing crckr. in other -wordj,
those who onjy insbt tliat tlie law
be obeyed get biased for a remedy farced
on the courts by those who braise the law
to the Erst place. : ;-. . - ... -
hi Ctlissl prayer, it works pretty
much the same way. These who wanted '
cr.7 t3 protect -the rights of kids who
tilt zt did net want to pray or did not like
ti.e vsrding of the paxtkuhr prayer are
beini blamed for McMns Ood
school and for banning prayer everywhere
' from New England beaches o the hall
ways of America's schools.
Thanks to political expediency, thinp
get turned upside down. In both bussing
'.and school prayer, the majority is made,
out to be the victim, and the real victim,
the minority, b made to appear the
oppressor. That's precisely what the
majority wants to hear and that b pre
cisely .what it gets told by many politl.
: cians.They know where the votes are. It's
their conscience theyVe mirpccd. -
Daily n
- Policy
i
Unsigned editorbla rnrim mti
policy of the fall lCru whf.i.-
They are written by this semestcrli editor
to chief; Chris Welsch. .
. Other staff members wiO write edito
isis throughout the semester. Tnty wBl
carry the authefs name after the Ibrl
sentence.
. Editorials do not necessarily reject tb
iews of the unrvtrsay, its employees, the
students or the NU Board of F-i
The Daily Nebrssfenli pubESirs are
the- regents, who established the UNL
Publications Board to supervise the daW
. production of the newspaper.
A .-if r
f ' i E i
fr r
- AST OiRECTOra
At TA'tT jTJ C I
St. f y
TH r'y "iT-t- iii--3 Kwj te r',",' bf
tetrd v--f -s 5lt'-f-,n j F.v.-it
RtS ft tra t---.--,3 f3 sm r-f fJT k"9 fXJ
eowwwsr-7 K. " it pro' xt-I
it1. J..
. Th9
'1 F
Pi ,
b" -
"K-r i"T if-" ihwf;'lf P
- J. c
