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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 28, 1989)
Editorial I Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Lincoln Amy Edwards, Editor, 472-1766 Ixc Rood, Editorial Page Editor Jane Hirt, Managing Editor Brandon Loomis, Associate News Editor Brian Svoboda, Columnist Bob Nelson, Columnist Jerry Guenther, Senior Reporter Aiming too high Group should prioritize environmental goals Ecology Now has made great strides this semester working to improve the environment and campus awareness about environmental issues. Most recently the group has submitted a suggestion list to | the university administration aimed at improving environ mental awareness on campus. The list includes several i innovative and progressive ideas that the administration would do well to implement. Suggestions such as campuswide use of recycled paper products, a comprehensive recycling program and an energy 1 conservation plan are good ideas that warrant attention from 3 university officials. However, Ecology Now’s list also is long and demanding — sometimes too demanding -- and the group’s zealous efforts to save Mother Earth could backfire. It is highly unlikely that university officials will agree to ! demands on the list such as a campuswide ban on tuna. Campus groups, or university officials for that matter, do 5 not and should not have the right to determine what kinds of I food should be boycotted on campus. Granted, thousands of dolphins die each year because of careless fishing tech | niques, but the choice to boycott tuna, or any inhumane | treatment of animals, is a personal one. Students do not need | university officials to start picking their issues for ♦hem. Nor can Ecology Now expect the university to foot the bill | for many of its more elaborate ideas such as solar sidewalk | lights on the dark comers of campus. There are many other $ less expensive and more necessary environmentally sound projects the university should implement. J Burger, projects coordinator for Ecology Now, said the administration probably will think the list is a bit too much, but that the group sets its goals **high. ” Aiming high is fine, but Ecology Now members should try to be more realistic. The university has a long way to go environmentally. In order to make sure at least some of Ecology Now’s goals are implemented sucessfully, the | group should narrow its list down and prioritize what needs are most important •• Lee R.»od for the Daily Nebraskan —BBHWWW^^WI — WPaWB—H—TM—i Reader dislikes Royko joke Mike Koyko: You vere showing zat Germans have never lost zeir expansionary drive, however, zat ze means have changed over ze time. Yet, it might be zat Germans don’t have ze same veird ideas like a “Chicago Tribune” columnist when trying to conduct powerful financial flows to communist countries, vere ze people suffer from extreme eco nomic difficulties. As for zis, Ger many vas in a very similar situation after ze disastrous last Vord Var and zus understands ze trouble better zan you. Ze Germans vere lucky because zey got help from a large and at zat time prosperous and grateful country (I can’t remember anymore its name) in form of ze “Marshall Plan.” Ze gigantic money flow vas fairly im portant for ze German economy to develop to what it is today. Now, you raised ze question, why zcuermansaian touy out your coun try. I can assure you zat zis is not because zey hadn’t enough funds to do so. No, no! Obviously it must have somezing to do viz American colum nists living out zeir inferiority com plex by fostering old prejudices and opening old historical sores (c.g. ze German-Polish relationship is a very delicate one and can’t do viz any joke on it) in zeir articles zat vould have better never vritten in zis form and at zis time. Ahhhh, your article was meant to be ironic and funny? Let me tell you zat my answer has got serious back ground. In terms of prejudices (vhich you obviously like to use) it means nozing but: Germans have been never good in understanding bad jokes. Hartmul Mauritz business exchange student from the Univer sity of Bayreuth, West Germany. The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all readers and'interested others. Letters will be selected for publi cation on the basis of clarity, original ity, timeliness and space available. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit all material submitted. Readers also are welcome to sub mit material as guest opinions. Whether material should run as a let ter or guest opinion, or not to run, is left to the editor’s discretion. Letters and guest opinions sent tc Ihe newspaper become the property 01 the Daily Nebraskan and cannot b< returned. Letters should be typewrit ten. Anonymous submissions will nol be considered for publication. Letters should include the author’s name year in school, major and group affili ation, if any. Requests to withhold names will nol be granted. Submit material to the Daily Ne braskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 F St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. The new face of Socialism is a human face. r \y Merits of testing questionable Achievement tests supply little inspiration to achive success I grew to hate taking “achieve ment” tests when I was in grade school and junior high. But the first couple of times, it was OK. It was a change of pace from colonng and reading Dick and Jane books. But later, when I moved on to greater challenges, like adding frac tions, test days seemed to pop up more frequently and drag on longer. These days were full of solemn in structions on when to start and stop. My index finger always ended up sore from gripping my pencil lightly while scratching in the answers. Another thing that bothered me was all the silence. For four whole hours we couldn’t say a word or leave our desks. Sometimes we’d have to endure two more hours of silence after lunch. It was just too much. But it appears there’s going to be more of the day-long test taking. Achievement tests arc beginning to be regarded as an answer for the cur rent ’’educational crisis.” First, one has to question if educa tion really is faltering or if a crisis is being created by business people and government officials who want to make sure Amenca keeps bringing in the greatest share of the green. Second, one has to seriously ques tion the use of achievement tests as a positive motivator. The threat of bad test results sup posedly will inspire teachers to use innovative methods in the classroom. Knowing that the education god is watching, teachers most likely will dust off the creative energy that tem porarily went dormant and lead their students to the base of the corporate or scientific ladder. Wrong. Innovative teachers will continue being innovative. Bumed-out tcach | ers will continue being burned out. A few competitive teachers will coach m m a m m their students on achievement test answers. Basically, not a whole lot will change in the education system. Except more people will look at the test results and more kids will realize that test-taking is dumb. What’s the point of testing kids every three to four years? Most kids already have been classified in third grade as above average, average or below average. Why test them again in sixth grade? To see if one kid somehow became a genius under the guidance oflhc education system? Or to sec if another kid’s intelligence has -1 fallen a few points and now is teeter ing on the edge of below average? 1 resented my intelligence being monitored every three to four years. I felt like I didn’t have a choice, that I had to take these tests. I wanted to protest. 1 almost did once. The man at the microphone said “start.’’ I looked down at all those circles and the No. 2 pencil I was holding. I thought about writing in block letters across the pale green computer page: THIS PIECE OF PAPER CAN’T SUM ME UP. I took the test. It was the ACT test. How else was I going to get into college? Everyone makes trade-offs. I’ll fake your tests if... it will help me get into college, I can go out for recess afterward, if I have no choice. That’s why a lot of American chil dren have taken achievement tests and will continue to take these tests. They have to. It appears there is one more test on the horizon that students will be in duced to take, although it’s being promoted as voluntary. Hundreds of business people arc developing a test for high school graduates to evaluate academic, oc cupational and personal skills. The plan is backed by the American Busi ness Conference, a group of mid sized companies, and the National Alliance of Business, which builds partnerships between the public and private sectors. Results from the test will be placed in a computerized data bank that companies will subscribe to and possibly hire employees from. Roger Johnson, chief executive officer of Western Digital Corp. in ...ill h,> • I * MIV, VUIIIi, .Hliu vwilipuilivo »» rewarding young people who have done well in high school and penaliz ing those who haven’t done well. Too bad if you were busy screwing up while you were growing up. Not much room on the data bank for you. Thai’s a shame. The competitive work force now wants to classify students straight out of high school. I can imagine what parents might be saying in a few years. “You’d better stop screwing up, or this list of 100 companies won’t 2vcn give you a second look when you graduate.” Yeah, well, who cares, they’ll be thinking. Yeah, who cares? I bet they take the test, though. Carroll Is a senior ne»»s-editorial major and Dail) Nebraskan columnist and supplements editor. C!._a _i*. . • * _ v>ign<Ai sum euiiunais represent the official policy of the fall 1989 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its members arc Amy Edwards, editor; . Lee Rood, editorial page editor; Jane ; Hirt, managing editor; Brandon Loomis, associate news editor; Jerry uuentncr, senior reporter; Bob Nel son, columnist; and Brian Svoboda, columnist. Editorials do not necessarily re flect the views of the university, its employees, the students or the NU Board of Regents. Editorial columns represent the opinion of the author. The Daily Nebraskan’s publishers arc the regents, who established the UNL Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by the re gents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its student editors.