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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 1986)
Monday, March 17, 1986 Page 4 Daily Nebraskan o o tcuuona Vicki Ruhga, Editor, 4721766 Thorn Gabrukiewicz, Managing Editor Ad Hudlcr, Editorial Page Editor James Rogers, Editorial Associate Chris Welsch, Copy Desk Chief Nebra&an Univtrsity of NebfiK-Lincoln ITUURJSME 1MELDA MlUiNGS THEY'RE 5MN3 TOJTH0W WE GOT OUR MONEY TeafsEieir tests Evaluation ensures quality ome teachers in Texas are sitting scared this week. About 200,000 of the state's teachers and principals took tests to determine whether they know enough to keep their jobs. About 5 percent are expect ed to fail the test. Unfortunately, that 5 percent probably can be matched in every state. There's too many teachers who could be replaced by some one better. Everyone remembers those bad junior high or high school teachers who never changed their tedious lesson plans, who never bothered to spend the extra time in their offices after school to answer questions. The Texas test, it first seemed, would be the start of a movement to weed out some of the sour apples. Not so. The Sunday New York Times had an article, that included some questions patterned after the Texas test. The questions were ludicrous, easy enough for a 14-or 15-year-old to answer. An example: Where could an educator find the page on which the foreword in a book begins. The choices for answers included the table of contents, library card catalog, a bibliography or an encyclopedia. The Texas exam, it seems, doesn't pass the test itself. But it's more than Nebraska has done. Monies!! coach? Iba not best coaching example The search officially has begun for a new basketball coach, but some people question the coaching qualities UNL officials are looking for. NU Athletic Director Bob Dev aney was quoted in Saturday's, Lincoln Journal as saying, "We want to get a coach who's as honest as Moe (Iba)." Apparently Devaney is looking for a coach honest enough to conduct illegal practices, then deny it. No, Iba never was discovered offering money to players or re cruiting illegally, but his slate was far from clean: O Oct. 8: "I just walked in, stayed there for a few minutes and (then) ran them. When they play their games and things, I'm not supposed to be there." Editorial Policy Unsigned editorials represent official policy of the spring 1986 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its members are Vicki Ruhga, editor; Ad Hudler, editorial page editor; Thorn Gabrukiewicz, managing edi tor; James Rogers, editorial asso ciate and Chris Welsch, copy desk chief. Teaching students at UNL have to take a basic skills test when they begin their education and another when they graduate. Out in the field, teachers must get extra college credit hours about every three to five years. But that isn't enough. Nebraska should take what Texas has done, build on it and set up a teacher-screening test that's effective. Besides check ing teacher's knowledge of writ ing, reading comprehension and math, the test also should include problems directly related to their particular field. History teachers should be tested not only on his tory itself, but also on new re search and findings about their particular fields of interest. Society and educational theories change. So should teachers. To complement the test, stu dents also should have input. A student's knowledge of a partic ular subject is a fairly accurate mirror of the teacher's ability to motivate students into learning the subject. Students base their attitudes about school and learning in their early years. It's important that we have good, competent teachers to make students want to learn. True, other professionals don't have to take periodical tests. But then again, other professionals don't have as large a stake in building people's attitudes and stereotypes. Iba (Daily Nebraskan) O Oct. 9: "Everything we're doing is strictly legal in our minds we feel that we have not done anything wrong." Iba (Associated Press) Oct. 10: "I just have no comment or reaction to that (reports of the illegal practice)." Iba (Lincoln Star) O Oct. 18: "I made a mistake. It was poor judgment on my part. I apologize to the University of Nebraska community and to our supporters, and now I hope we can put this behind us and all get together in support of our basketbll team this year." Iba (UNL press release) One wonders what Devaney's definition of honesty is. NU fans deserve a coach who sets a good example for players, on and off the court. The Daily Nebraskan's publish ers are the regents, who established the UNL Publications Board to super vise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the edi torial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its student editors. V 6WEMIWCK MY WALLtlJ The blame, and Newsweek reports an unprece dented boom in cocaine abuse, among teen-agers; Bill Moyers broadcasts the disintegration of the black family; and columnists every where are alarmed about children hav ing children. A breakdown in society. The disinte gration of values may not have the tang ible, empirical impact of a Great De pression, but the effects may be all the more damaging for their subtlety. America's crisis in values runs through the nation like a giant fault line. We knt)w it's there, but we don't know whether it will continue to slowly grow or one day explode. Conservatives blithely claim liberal ist reforms and the carefree mores of the '60s are coming home to roost. It's a big, ugly bird, but liberals alone did not hatch it. I don't underestimate the importance and danger of America's value crisis, but there is also great danger in over simplifying the problem by explaining it away as a backlash to the activism and leniency of the '60s. Undoubtedly, the "sexual revolution" contributed to today's crisis of child ren having children. It's also true that welfare programs may have made some of its recipients too dependent. And our drug crisis is in part a result of the psychedelic era. 1969, however, is 17 years gone. It is 1986. Republicans control a majority of the Senate, and President Reagan has been in office for six years. Across the country, conservatism has grown, and America's raiue cnsis When the U.S. stopped sending aid, Mrs. Marcos sent the 'salesman' home Biff! Listen, Biff. You're my son and I know what you think of me. I know I'm a washed-up salesman, going off in the world on a smile and a shoe shine, polishing the apples of cus tomers, groveling for sales and alas and alack getting none. But once, Biff, once I was a terrific success. Yesiree, Biff. I sold shoes to Imelda Marcos. Oh, boy, those were the days. The Philippines were my territory. Hot. Muggy. Those fans turning slowly over head. Everyone smoking Camels. All the women wearing slit skirts. I was alone, afraid and not doing particularly well, but I thought, what the hell, I'll try the palace. I asked for Imelda Mar cos. What are you selling? she asked. Shoes, I said. She said she'd take 400. Biff! Biff! I couldn't believe my ears. I whipped out the old order book, made sure I had my carbons in the right place, took out the old pencil, wetted the end of it and wrote it all up. Yesiree 400 pairs of number 72 black pumps, size 6 12. Would the lady like anything else? Yes, she said. She order c?w& miasma responsibility, the values crisis has not gone away. To the contrary, it has gotten worse. The crisis pervades every class, but the heart of the problem is among the poor, a steadily growing sector of Amer ica A sector conservatives often choose to ignore. Therein lies the greatest danger in the values crisis: ignoring it or trying to hide from it. Taking the poor off welfare will not get them into jobs, or tape families back together, or keep kids from having sex. It will make the prob lem worse. Chris Welsch Many conservatives suggest a return to the ethics of the '50s. President Rea gan certainly believes that although Americans seem a little troubled, under neath we're all like Ward and June Cleaver. Conservatives forget that the activism of the '60s was a backlash to an ignorant, ethnocentric, Beaver Cleaver dreamland a reaction to Commie bashing, to segregation, to senseless war. The liberal movement brought civil rights laws, the end of the Vietnam war and a new social conscience. If middle-class America chooses a return to those "ethical" days of 1956, it will be turning its back on a crisis that won't go away. Crawling into con servative shells and pretending this is ed 400 insoles, 400 shoe trees, 400 little plastic bags for the shoes and $813 in Dr. Scholl's footpowder, which was another of my lines. Xj Richard Lohen I could hardly write fast enough. My hand was shaking. I flipped the order pages on my book, smearing carbon on my fingers and later on my face. Imelda just smiled at me. I tried to calculate the commission. Oh, the days we could spend together at Ebbets Field, Biff. I would take you and your brother, Happy, and your mother out of that house near the El where Arthur Miller had put us. I was going to buy a condominium with a fancy British name the Buckingham or something. Imagine me, Willie Loman, in a condominium! I could not believe my good luck. Of course,' I told nobody about Mrs. Mar- VMYS)0ULD!?OU NEVER WE PC HAHKBUHB) BACK ID HIM! must be shared a white, Christian nation with two cars in every garage and a chicken in the boiler won't change things. Americans badly need something to believe in. And they badly need help. Neither Reagan's call to arms, nor a mass return to the ethics of the '50s will fulfill those needs. . We are beyond the point where we can go back. The nation has to face its ills and go forward with social compas sion and restraint. The time for blame is passed. Blame must be shared, for just as surely as liberalism contributed to our ethics crisis, conservatism has ruled over its alarming growth. As a society, we must rebuild our values. We've got to get our kids off drugs, out of each others' pants and back in the home. But it's going to take action and reform. The way will not be easy. In our pluralistic society, pat religious or pol itical answers are out of the question. And we must be willing to pay with our money and our time. Govern ment can give the poor jobs; it can provide drug and sex counseling, but America must be willing to pay. If we listen to conservatives, we will spum the opportunity for social reform for more personal wealth and a bigger war machine. Unfortunately for all of us, the threat from within is growing faster than the threat from without. Welsch is a UNL senior English and journalism major and a Daily Nebraskan copy desk chief. cos and the way she was spending money. When a Philippine's aid bill came up before Congress, I just looked the other way. I was not alone, of course. Real-estate agents all over the world knew. The fanciest jewelers called on the Marcos family. Mstislav Rostropovich played his little cello for them. Biff, you remember that toast Vice President George Bush made to Ferdi nand Marcos? I was in the palace at the time. I used to stay in the salesmen's quarters. All of us were there. Gus from Cartier's, Phil for Tiffany's, Ernie from Rolls Royce, Jay from Gucci, Sal from Kron chocolates and Irv from Sotheby Park Bernet. Most of the time we used to play poker, but that night we went to see Bush. What atoast! That stuff about admiring Ferdinand's democratic ways. I thought Ernie would die laughing. Only Jay didn't laugh. Those creeps from Gucci. No sense of humor. He kept saying it was a disgrace. See COHEN on 5